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| Photo by Daniel Millhouse of Luis Urias (using filter) |
A new baseball season is upon us and as usual, it's prediction time for the upcoming season. Last season, my predictions included Christian Yellich being a top five candidate for MVP (he won). This year, we'll see if I'm right again at the end of this year.
American League:
AL East: 1. New York Yankees, 2. Boston Red Sox, 3. Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays, 4. Toronto Blue Jays, 5. Baltimore Orioles...
The Yankees were already a power house last season, butt they found themselves in the same division, let alone league, that featured the other most powerful team in baseball. This past offseason, the Yankees loaded up. They improved their starting pitching with the additions of J.A. Happ and James Paxton, retained Zach Britton to form the best bullpen in baseball with Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, and Chad Green added to the mix, they obtained DJ Lemahieu to fill in until the summer when Didi comes back, and they retained Luke Voit, to strengthen their corner. The Red Sox lost their closer and their bullpen is a little shakier this season, which is still good enough to get into the playoffs possibly, but not good enough to stave off the Yankees. The Rays will give the Red Soz a run for second place. On a side note, the Orioles are my pick for the worst team in the MLB this season.
AL Central: 1. Cleveland Indians, 2. Minnesota Twins, 3. Chicago White Sox, 4. Detroit Tigers, 5. Kansas City Royals...
The Indians will take the division again behind a stacked starting pitching staff and the great hitting from Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez. What should be taken note is that the Twins will rise up and win over 90 games. Their hitting approved with the additions of Nelson Cruz, C.J. Cron, Marwin Gonzalez, and Jonathan Schoop. Jake Odorizzi also should have a step-up year that will improve the team as a whole. This year is make or break for Bryan Buxton and Miguel Sano. Both have shown flashes of talent and of horror. The White Sox will hit middle ground, but may have a breakout player in Eloy Jimenez.
AL West: 1. Houston Astros, 2. Oakland Athletics, 3. ANAHEIM Angels, 4. Seattle Mariners, 5. Texas Rangers...
The Astros again are the favorite to win the AL West. Despite losing Marwin Gonzalez, they still managed to improve their offense by adding Michael Brantley and upgrading at catcher by adding Robinson Chirinos. Their pitching staff is a top three in the MLB and their bullpen is even stronger by retaining Roberto Osuna and Ryan Pressly. The Oakland A's are in a high ceiling/high reward scenario. They have rookies and younger players who are now in place to break out. Ramon Laureno, Jesus Luzardo, and Jurickson Profar will either step up or fall flat on their faces. If they do, the Angels will be right there to take second and would have been a more sure bet to take second if they had improved on their pitching. The Angels wisely signed Trout to a long term contract, but failed to pick up free agents pitchers such as Dallas Keuchel, Gio Gonzalez, Wade Miley, Marco Estrada, or Tyson Ross.
Award Winners:
MVP - Alex Bregman...the easy answer is to say Mike Trout, but Bregman will be in his age 25 season, fresh off a 30+ homer season and appearing to have improved even more during this past offseason. 2. Mike Trout, 3. Aaron Judge, 4. George Springer, 5. Mookie Betts; next 5 in no particular order, J.D. Martinez, Matt Chapman, Tommy Pham, Eddie Rosario, and Jose Altuve.
Cy Young - Justin Verlander...fresh off signing a contract extension, the ace pitcher for the Astros was second place in the voting last season. If he can lead the Astros to the World Series, the writers will surely consider Verlander one of the top candidates. 2. Chris Sale, 3. Corey Kluber, 4. Charlie Morton, 5. Mike Clevinger; next 5 in no particular order, Gerrit Cole, Blake Snell, Matt Boyd, Yusei Kukuchi, Marcus Strohman
Rookie of The Year - Jesus Luzardo...his rise to the Majors has caught the attention of everyone. Match that with a great Spring Training and the A's feel like they have a potential future star for years to come. 2. Yusei Kikuchi 3. Vlad Guerrero Jr., 4. Eloy Jimenez, 5. Brandon Lowe
Breakout Player - Tim Anderson
Comeback Player - Gary Sanchez
All-AL Team - C Gary Sanchez, 1B Matt Olson, 2B Jose Altuve, 3B Alex Bregman, SS Francisco Lindor, OF Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, George Springer, DH Khris Davis, P Justin Verlander
National League:
NL East: 1. Philadelphia Phillies, 2. Washington Nationals, 3. Atlanta Braves, 4. New York Mets, 5. FLORIDA Marlins...
The Phillies have risen and have their best roster since they were led by Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. Additions of Bryce Harper, Jean Segura, J.T. Realmuto, and Andrew McCutcheon to their everyday staff and an established closer in David Robertson, boost the Phillies to a neck to neck finish with the Nationals. The Nats lost Harper, but are still strong in the outfield with Victor Robles, Adam Eaton, and Juan Soto. They also added Patrick Corbin to their pitching staff, who makes for possibly the best number three pitcher in baseball this season.
NL Central: 1. Milwaukee Brewers, 2. St. Louis Cardinals, 3. Chicago Cubs, 4. Pittsburgh Pirates, 5. Cincinnati Reds...
The Milwaukee Brewers hold on to the NL Central, but not by as much as last season. They managed to upgrade at catcher by adding Yasmani Grandal, but their pitching staff is still full of good pitchers, but not great pitchers. Moose Moustakas will be moving over to second base now, which should provide for an interesting experiment, especially when someone slides hard into him while breaking up a double play. The Cubs may drop down but still can play spoiler and take second place if everyone plays up to their potential.
The Cards upgraded by adding Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew Miller to their roster which should be enough to boost them to second place.The Reds made some noise during the offseason but may now feature a dysfunctional clubhouse if they let Yasiel Puig influence the younger players making up their team.
NL West: 1. Los Angeles Dodgers, 2. San Diego Padres, 3. Colorado Rockies, 4. Arizona Diamondbacks, 5. San Francisco Giants...
The Dodgers will take the NL West again, but their southern neighbors have done enough to close the gap between the two. The Dodgers blew some better trade offers they had in the past for Puig, but they still managed to clear him out of the way, leaving room for them to add AJ Pollock. Once untouchable, Clayton Kershaw's back is giving out on him, possibly due to his unique pitching style, which leaves a giant hole in the Dodgers' starting pitching. The Padres feature the top minor league system in the MLB and some of those minor league stars will be on the roster this season, led by their unsuspected pickup of Manny Machado. The pitching staff is their biggest question mark, but the several of their youngsters have potential to break out this season. If not, the Rockies hitting will lead them into second place.
Award Winners:
MVP - Nolan Arenado...Leader in the National League for home runs last season, Nolan is about as complete of a player one can be. Not only does he hit for power and average, but he has the best glove at third base in Major League Baseball. After being top five in the MVP voting the last three seasons, it's about time for him to take home the award this season; 2. Christian Yellich, 3. Manny Machado, 4. Freddie Freeman, 5. David Peralta; next five in no particular order, Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins, Trevor Storey, Anthony Rizzo, Max Scherzer
Cy Young - Max Scherzer...For the past six years in a row, Scherzer has finished in the top 10 in the Cy Young voting, including winning it three times. He hit the 300 strike out mark last season and could approach that number again this year; 2. Aaron Nola, 3. Jacob deGrom, 4. Patrick Corbin, 5. Walker Buehler; next five in no particular order, German Marquez, , Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, Zack Greinke, Jameson Taillon.
Rookie of the Year - Chris Paddack...One of several Padres rookies that could be potentially top five rookie of the year picks, Paddack is the most suited to keep his position for the entire season due to his readiness; 2. Pete Alonso, 3. Brendan Rodgers, 4. Victor Robles, 5. Luis Urias
Breakout Player - Franmil Reyes
Comeback Player - Sonny Gray
All NL Team - C J.T. Realmuto, 1B Freddie Freeman, 2B Ozzie Albies, 3B Nolan Arenado, SS Trea Turner, OF Bryce Harper, Christian Yellich, David Peralta, P Max Scherzer
Playoffs:
Wildcards: The wildcards for the American League will be the Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins. If the Twins feature several breakouts as they hope they do, they could even find themselves as the Cinderella team in baseball at the end of the season.
In the National League, the wildcards will be the Nationals (or the Phillies if the Nationals can survive the season without any major injuries) and the Chicago Cubs. The Padres have an outside chance if the stars align just right and their youngsters all break out at the same time, but that is a big if.
World Series: The Houston Astros are the team to beat in the American League, though the Yankees will give them a run at some point in the playoffs. The winner will go against the Washington Nationals. What about the Phillies or Dodgers? Well, the Phils will be a great regular season team, the Nationals have a pitching staff made for the playoffs and youngsters who are too dumb/brash to think they're not ready to make it all the way. The Dodgers health will be their problem and the lack of a stable Kershaw in the playoffs will hamper their chances to go all the way.
It should be noted that Mike Trout will enjoy his new found fortune by watching the playoffs on his theater style screen he's surely to put in his new mansion he'll buy.
In the end, the Astros will take the Series in six games against the survivor from the NL East who makes it that far.
