Baseline Times MLB Predictions 2017

Who’s winning what: This year in baseball.

I’m not sure why we do this. The only thing that will come from this will be some embarrassingly wrong picks to look back on at the end of the season, but here we are. Continue reading for this year’s playoff and award predictions from the Baseline Times MLB staff.

NL East

Kory: Mets

Dustin: Nationals

Charles: Mets

Kyle: Nationals

It’s an even split (Neil breaks the tie, I’m sure, by picking the Mets), as each team has a few question marks. Ultimately, I think the Mets will take it. Their staff, even with its current question marks, will be tough to beat. Once Matz is healthy, look out.

 

NL Central

Kory: Cubs

Dustin: Cubs

Charles: Cubs

Kyle: Cubs

I’m glad to see that nobody here is insane. Sure, the Cardinals or Pirates could keep it interesting until August or so, but barring some very unforeseen setback, the Cubs should handle this mediocre division nicely.

 

NL West

Kory: Dodgers

Dustin: Dodgers

Charles: Dodgers

Kyle: Giants

My prediction is Kyle will be wrong.

 

NL Wild Cards

Kory: Nationals and Diamondbacks

Dustin: Mets and Rockies

Charles: Nationals and Giants

Kyle: Mets and Dodgers

It’s interesting to note that we essentially agreed on a core of teams who would make the playoffs in the NL, even though we chose different avenues for those teams to get there. Each one of us chose the Mets, Nationals, Cubs, and Dodgers to make the playoffs. Unlike Charles and Kyle, Dustin and I have no faith in the Giants. We chose to put our faith in the Rockies and the Diamondbacks to sneak in the second wild card, instead.

 

NL Pennant

Kory: Cubs

Dustin: Cubs

Charles: Cubs

Kyle: Cubs

As a Cubs fan, this scares me.

 

AL East

Kory: Red Sox

Dustin: Red Sox

Charles: Red Sox

Kyle: Red Sox

Kyle says: “The Bawston Killer B’s (Benintendi, Betts, Bradley) keep the mojo going, and a resurgent Panda (or resurgent enough) hold off the biggest threat…the Blue Jays?”

Charles says: “I think they will win the division, but we shouldn’t underestimate how big of a loss Big Papi is. It will come down to the wire for the division, I think, between Baltimore and the Yankees [competing with the Red Sox].”

 

AL Central

Kory: Cleveland

Dustin: Cleveland

Charles: Cleveland

Kyle: Cleveland

It’s a relatively easy clean sweep. They won’t have much of a challenge in this division.

 

AL West

Kory: Astros

Dustin: Mariners

Charles: Astros

Kyle: Astros

Kyle (he’s an Astros fan) says : “Accept it, boners. We finally avoid the Rangers voodoo.”

 

AL Wild Cards

Kory: Mariners and Rangers

Dustin: Astros and Blue Jays

Charles: Rangers and Orioles

Kyle: Blue Jays and Mariners

Charles says: “The Orioles underachieved relative to their talent level last year.” I say they overachieved.

 

AL Pennant

Kory: Astros

Dustin: Cleveland

Charles: Cleveland

Kyle: Astros

  

World Series Winner

Kory: Astros in 6

Dustin: Cleveland in 6

Charles: Cleveland in 7

Kyle: Cubs in 6

It’s hard to bet against the teams that made it to the final series last season, especially when neither of them got noticeably worse in the offseason. My money is on the Astros cashing in on their offseason investments.

Kyle says: “Bullpens, offense, and versatility wins championships. And so it goes. Astros grind out a few wins between McCullers and the offense throughout the playoffs, but are out of their element against the best team in baseball.”

Charles says: “The Chapman-less Cubs can’t close it out this time. And so ends the only remaining WS drought. With no “curses” remaining, MLB needs to figure out how to manufacture some good storylines. Otherwise, what do we have to root for/against? They better hope Harper signs with the Yankees and revives the Evil Empire otherwise we’re looking at a league with no driving storylines that struggles to promote its stars.”

 

NL Rookie of the Year

Kory: Josh Bell

Dustin: Dansby Swanson

Charles: Josh Bell

Kyle: Ozzie Albies

Dustin is the only one of us to go with the odds-on, industry-favorite Dansby Swanson.

 

AL Rookie of the Year

Kory: Jharel Cotton

Dustin: Andrew Benintendi

Charles: Andrew Benintendi

Kyle: Andrew Benintendi

Everybody is all-in on Benintendi (truthfully, so am I), but I needed to throw in a little bit of contrarianism here. Cotton will be fun to watch, but this is my least confident pick in this entire article.

 

NL Cy Young

Kory: Clayton Kershaw

Dustin: Clayton Kershaw

Charles: Noah Syndergaard

Kyle:  Clayton Kershaw

Charles, channeling his inner Neil, decided to go contrarian here and pick the Mets’ ace to overtake Kershaw this season.

 

AL Cy Young

Kory: Yu Darvish

Dustin: Corey Kluber

Charles: Masahiro Tanaka

Kyle:  Carlos Carrasco

Hopefully Charles didn’t watch the first game of the season today. Dustin is betting on Mr. Reliable, and Kyle and I are betting on some injury risks to stay healthy. Nice to see this much disagreement. Warms my heart.

 

NL MVP

Kory: Paul Goldschmidt

Dustin: Bryce Harper

Charles: Kris Bryant

Kyle: Nolan Arenado

Much like the AL Cy Young, we just can’t seem to agree on who will win the NL MVP. Dustin and Charles played it safe with Harper and Bryant. They’re the best players on two of the best teams in the league, so they’ll have the “playoff push.” Arenado and Goldschmidt will very likely continue to put up the MVP-type numbers we’ve been seeing from then, but winning the MVP will probably require their teams to stay in the hunt the entire season.  

 

AL MVP

Kory: Mike Trout

Dustin: Mike Trout

Charles: Manny Machado

Kyle: Mike Trout

Ever the contrarian, Charles chooses Manny Machado. I don’t hate it, but it’ll take quite the campaign to dethrone Trout atop the AL.

 

Bonus Pick: Winner of ABC’s The Bachelorette

Kory: DeMario

Dustin: DeMario

Charles: DeMario

Kyle: DeMario

Duh.

 

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