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Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Predictions

We are sooooo close to meaningful baseball games!  This is the time of year where everyone starts to overvalue spring training stats and worry about who the last bullpen guy is going to be. Every team has that one non prospect that comes out of the woodwork and knocks the cover off the ball. Lots of hot takes that go something like this, "I think x non prospect is better than x established mlb guy and should get a chance to make the roster." I'm speaking in terms of the Pirates, but I'm sure all of you have heard the same thing.

I figured I would go ahead and do my 2017 predictions.  My wife is out of town this weekend and I'm likely not going to get much computer time before the season starts. I'm sure these will look really stupid by the end of the year. 


AL East: Red Sox - The team has some depth issues, but on paper they are the most complete team in the division.  Injuries are already starting to pile up so its not hard to see it go to shit, but for now they are my pick. 

AL Central: Indians -  On paper this is probably the weakest division in baseball.  So the AL Champs look to be clear cut favorites. 

AL West: Astros - This one feels close, but I'll take the team with the best lineup. So many good young position players on that team. 

Wildcard 1: Mariners
Wildcard 2: Yankees

Best Record in AL:  Indians

ALCS: Astros over the Red Sox

NL East: Nats - They won a lot of games last year with Harper having a huge dropoff from his 2015 year. He will likely be better so they are still top of the heap this year. 

NL Central:  Cubs - I really don't see how they lose the division. They have so much positional depth. The only area you can be nit picky is the rotation, but then they have the means to go get a big time starter if they need one.  The scary thing is they could easily survive a bad injury to the likes of Rizzo and Bryant because they have Baez and Zobrist. 

NL West: Dodgers - Kershaw is liking have two aces.  They have 75 starting pitchers so depth should be ok as well.  They just don't have many holes. 

Wildcard 1: Mets 
Wildcard 2: Giants

Best record in NL: Cubs

NLCS Dodgers over the Cubs

World Series: Dodgers over the Astros

AL MVP: Mike Trout
NL MVP: Corey Seager

AL Cy Young: Masahiro Tanaka
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw

AL ROY: Andrew Benintendi
NL ROY: Dansby Swanson

AL HR champ: Manny Machado
NL HR champ: Giancarlo Stanton

There you have it.  These will be all wrong.  

The only teams that would surprise me if they didn't make the playoffs would be the Cubs and Dodgers. Cleveland could be in that mix too just because that division looks so bad.  

Thanks for reading! 






14 comments:

  1. All I'll say about Cleveland is that it's easier being the underdog than staying topdog.

    Trout's a pretty bold selection for MVP, what if there's an earthquake? He might only finish top 5 then.

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    1. Well if the Twins ever decide that pitching is an important aspect of baseball they would have been a fun darkhorse pick. They have so many offensive breakout candidates.

      Everyone keeps waiting for Trout to slip a little. He just gets better. It's a shame that more people don't know about him. The league should do a better job of promoting him instead of focusing on Tim Tebow.

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  2. It's a fun time of year for predictions!
    I'm on the Glasnow ROY train!

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    1. The Pirates will have two legitimate candidates this year with him and Josh Bell. Dansby Swanson is going to be tough to beat.

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  3. 75 starting pitchers. ha ha. Anytime I see Dodgers as champions I kind of puke in my mouth.

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    1. I think the Cubs and Dodgers are the two best teams in baseball. I don't want the Cubs to win it so I chose the Dodgers. SCIENCE!

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  4. I sure do hope you are wrong, time for the Giants to start up an odd-year streak in 2017.

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    1. The Giants need to stay healthy. That killed them last year. Getting Melancon should at least help them solve their bullpen woes. In a perfect world the Giants and Dodgers would both be terrible and open a door for my Buccos.

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  5. Hate seeing the Yankees benefit from his success... but I've got to admit, I'd love to see Tanaka take home the AL Cy Young Award.

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    1. Well, he is off to a bad start. The Rays knocked him around pretty good. I was surprised.

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  6. I've pretty much given up on the Tigers winning the WS in my lifetime. (84 doesnt count cuz I wasnt watching then...) I'm on board for the Astros though!

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    1. The Tigers just need everything to go right in order for them to make the playoffs. The talent is there, the Indians are just continue to get better.

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