10 fearless, probably ridiculous predictions for the 2016 MLB season
Any other year, this goes without saying, but this year the lovable losers are the consensus best team in baseball. It's not that the Cubs can't win the World Series, it's just that they won't. It takes a good bit of luck to win in October, and do you think the team with the curse is going to find fortune on its side?
Chris Davis was the last player to hit 50 dingers in a season, all the way back in 2013. Can you even remember who the president was back then? Ask your grandparents. But Stanton, with the new, shorter Marlins Park fences, a halfway decent lineup around him and (fingers crossed) a full healthy season is going to do it this year. The cumulative distance will be astounding.
The A's were really unlucky last season, finishing an MLB-worst minus-12 on BaseRuns, making a season that should have been around .500 a last-place finish. They kept Sonny Gray and Josh Reddick, get closer Sean Doolittle back and made a silent-but-deadly move for Khris Davis. The A's will be in the hunt for a playoff spot in September.
It was really annoying for Derek Jeter, who, no matter how you feel about him, stacks up with some of the greatest players of all time. It was annoying for Mariano Rivera, who was the greatest closer of all time. And because the Red Sox and the Yankees have to do everything the other does, it'll be annoying for Big Papi. Forget that leaked positive PED test from 2003 — here's a bad oil painting of you hitting a homer at U.S. Cellular Field. The forced burial of subtext will be fantastic. Speaking of which, I can't wait until the amazing cognitive dissonance that will travel with the A-Rod farewell tour next season.
Because they have an excellent 1-2-3 punch in the rotation, a lineup that doesn't strike out and a sterling defense. But more important, it's the mystical even year.
Because there's no problem that a humungous pile of Time Warner money can't solve.
He'll be dominant in the playoffs, but he can't pitch every game. The Giants will take the NLCS in six (both losses come to Kershaw, who would have been ready for a Game 7 start).
Bernie Sanders should take on the extreme stratification of the National League, where there are three good teams in every division and two teams that could only be described as hot garbage. We know about the NL Central's triumvirate. The Diamondbacks should make it three in the NL West. Are the Marlins in the same class as the Mets and Nats in the East? Sure. That's not that impressive of a class. Seriously.
A World Series trophy can't shave down the chips on those wide shoulders. Factor in that AL Central will be the most competitive division in baseball this season (pick the order out of a hat) and there' s plenty of fuel for a few brouhahas.
Led by American League MVP Carlos Correa and George Springer's breakout campaign, the Astros will be the only team in baseball to win 100 games this season, and they'll cruise into the ALCS, where they'll beat the Royals in six games, setting up a showdown with the Giants in the World Series.
Dallas Keuchel, pitching his third game in the series, out-duels Jeff Samardzija in Game 7 in Houston to win the Astros their first ever World Series.
