MLB Opening Day is upon us, which means it’s time to predict our playoff squads and the team that will, in early November, hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy.
The Back Sports Page baseball crew is teaming up for a roundtable of MLB predictions! After covering all 30 team previews, it is time to pick some winners. This article will be divided by divisions, with each writer giving their own prediction of a winner and, if applicable, wild card teams. If a team isn’t included as a winner or wild card, they aren’t projected to make the postseason. At the end of all that, we’ve got a list of World Series picks.
AL East
Ben Schneider
Winner: Blue Jays sneak by while Yankees deal with injuries and Rays struggle to find an identity.
Wild Card: Yankees and Orioles
Cliff Connors
Winner: Yankees prevail thanks to a strong pitching staff and another long-ball-ridden Aaron Judge season.
Wild Card: Blue Jays
Nate Powalie
Winner: Yankees
Wild Card: Rays
Mark Grinage
Winner: Yankees
Wild Card: Rays
Jack Devin
Winner: Yankees
Wild Card: Blue Jays
Ben Rossi
Winner: Yankees
Wild Card: Rays
There’s a lot of love for the Bronx Bombers here. It’s easily justifiable, as the Yankees have made the postseason six years in a row and boast a roster that doesn’t make anyone think that pattern will change, headlined by Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, DJ Lemahieu, and the offseason addition to the staff, Carlos Rodón.
The Blue Jays (Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and George Springer), Rays (Randy Arozarena, Wander Franco, and Shane McClanahan), and Orioles (Gunnar Henderson, Cedric Mullins, and Anthony Santander) all get mentions as well, but the Red Sox (Rafael Devers, Chris Sale, and Masataka Yoshida) were left out even though they could make some noise. Out of all the MLB divisions, this one should have the smallest gap between last place and first place.
AL Central
Ben Schneider
Winner: Guardians hit just well enough to withstand late push from Twins.
Cliff Connors
Winner: Guardians become the division winner with the fewest wins this season (sub-90).
Nate Powalie
Winner: White Sox
Wild Card: Guardians
Mark Grinage
Winner: Royals
Jack Devin
Winner: Guardians
Wild Card: White Sox
Ben Rossi
Winner: Guardians
Wild Card: White Sox
While the AL East will be a dogfight because every team is proficient, the AL Central will also be a dogfight because every team is… well, evenly matched. The Guardians (José Ramírez, Shane Bieber, and Andrés Giménez) have the advantage, but the White Sox (Dylan Cease, Tim Anderson, and Lance Lynn) are capable of changing that. Heck, even the Royals (Zack Greinke, Bobby Witt Jr., and Salvador Pérez) get a shout-out. The Twins (Carlos Correa, Pablo López, and Byron Buxton) are motivated to reverse their postseason woes after barely retaining their star shortstop in the offseason. The Tigers (Javier Báez, Miguel Cabrera, and Eduardo Rodríguez) most likely have their sights set on the distant future, but, in an up-for-grabs division, Miggy might get one last ride.
AL West
Ben Schneider
Winner: Astros reload at deadline, leaving competitive division behind.
Wild Card: Mariners
Cliff Connors
Winner: Astros dominate even with elite company in the West.
Wild Card: Mariners and Angels
Nate Powalie
Winner: Astros
Wild Card: Mariners
Mark Grinage
Winner: Mariners
Wild Card: Astros and Angels
Jack Devin
Winner: Astros
Wild Card: Mariners
Ben Rossi
Winner: Astros
Wild Card: Rangers
The Astros make the playoffs in every prediction, and not without reason. The Astros just won the World Series behind Yordan Álvarez, Jeremy Peña, José Altuve, Kyle Tucker, Framber Valdez, and so many more. Although they lost reigning Cy Young winner Justin Verlander to the Mets, they added the 2020 AL MVP José Abreu. Expect greatness. The Mariners (who make it in all but one) are finally a force to be reckoned with after years of futility, boasting Julio Rodríguez, Luis Castillo, Ty France, and Teoscar Hernández.
It’s now or never for the Angels. They must make the postseason, essentially, to have any chance of retaining Shohei Ohtani and giving Mike Trout a shot at playing in October. With Patrick Sandoval, Tyler Anderson, Taylor Ward, and Anthony Rendon, they might finally have the supporting cast to lift those big two to the playoffs. In some of our writers’ picks, the Angels are a wild card, which would stop a midseason trade, but is it enough to ward off all the free agency suitors?
The Rangers and A’s haven’t hit their stride over the past few years, but their ownerships have adopted very different spending mentalities. Texas has spent big and has a chance to tilt its absurdly top-heavy roster into the postseason. Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jacob DeGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, and Adolis García will try to get the job done. Meanwhile, Oakland has gone silent, letting the lowest attendance in MLB dwindle further without caution, considering they plan to possibly follow the Raiders to Las Vegas soon.
NL East
Ben Schneider
Winner: Mets bash their way past Braves in another season-long race.
Wild Card: Braves
Cliff Connors
Winner: Braves usurp Mets in divisional standings in the final week again.
Wild Card: Mets and Phillies
Nate Powalie
Winner: Phillies
Wild Card: Braves
Mark Grinage
Winner: Mets
Wild Card: Phillies and Braves
Jack Devin
Winner: Mets
Wild Card: Phillies and Braves
Ben Rossi
Winner: Braves
Wild Card: Mets
The big three of the NL East dominate our predictions. New York, Atlanta, and Philadelphia could all very feasibly win the World Series. Last season, the Braves rode Max Fried, Spencer Strider, Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Ronald Acuña Jr., and more fantastic contributors to their fifth consecutive division title. The Mets made it as hard as ever behind Max Scherzer, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, and Jacob DeGrom. Despite losing DeGrom to Texas, they somehow (arguably) upgraded with Justin Verlander. Of course, losing their stud closer Edwin Díaz to a freak injury from the World Baseball Classic dampens their excitement, but this team remains a juggernaut with its eyes on the prize.
Despite the stacked competition between the aforementioned two, it was the scrappy, streaky Phillies that won the pennant last year. In the offseason, Philadelphia looked to avoid repeating as “the team that wouldn’t even have been in the Wild Card Game under the old format”, signing Trea Turner to a massive eleven-year contract. Along with Kyle Schwarber, Aaron Nola, Alec Bohm, J.T. Realmuto, and Bryce Harper (who is recovering from injury and will not start the season), the free agency additions (which also include former Mets starting pitcher Taijuan Walker) look to make Philadelphia the third juggernaut.
Life isn’t easy for the remaining two squads, the Marlins and Nationals. Despite having NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, Miami hasn’t made much noise. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Luis Arráez will lead a batting lineup trying to change that. The Nationals are in a full rebuild, having traded away an absurd amount of talent over the past two seasons (Trea Turner, Max Scherzer, Juan Soto, Kyle Schwarber, and Josh Bell) and hoping to develop Keibert Ruiz, Josiah Gray, and C.J. Abrams for a new-look team that somehow won the World Series only three seasons ago.
NL Central
Ben Schneider
Winner: Brewers patch together enough offense to support the aces.
Cliff Connors
Winner: Cardinals out-hit Brewers in pitching-heavy divisional race.
Nate Powalie
Winner: Brewers
Mark Grinage
Winner: Cardinals
Jack Devin
Winner: Cardinals
Ben Rossi
Winner: Cardinals
In MLB, the East and West divisions of both leagues have all the superteams, leaving the Centrals open for anyone. Our only division without a single wild card pick, the NL Central will likely repeat as a two-team race between St. Louis (Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, and Miles Mikolas) and Milwaukee (Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Willy Adames) unless the Cubs can get going, having added Cody Bellinger, Dansby Swanson, Trey Mancini, and Edwin Ríos in the offseason to a core headlined by Seiya Suzuki and Marcus Stroman.
While there will be many a two-team race for the top of the division all over MLB, the AL Central also boasts a two-team race for the bottom of the division. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds will strike it out to see who can finish with fewer wins, possibly repeating as another duo of 100-loss teams at the bottom of the NL Central. On the bright side, Pittsburgh can still entertain with Oneil Cruz, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Bryan Reynolds, and Andrew McCutcheon; as can Cincinnati by sending out Hunter Greene, Joey Votto, and Wil Myers.
NL West
Ben Schneider
Winner: Padres’ many stars finally lead way to a division title.
Wild Card: Dodgers and Diamondbacks
Cliff Connors
Winner: Dodgers’ youngins vault Los Angeles past San Diego in highest-winning top two division neighbors since the 2021 NL West race between San Francisco and LA.
Wild Card: Padres
Nate Powalie
Winner: Dodgers
Wild Card: Giants and Padres
Mark Grinage
Winner: Padres
Wild Card: Dodgers
Jack Devin
Winner: Dodgers
Wild Card: Padres
Ben Rossi
Winner: Padres
Wild Card: Dodgers and Giants
Saving the best for last? You could put it that way, considering the top two teams alone have Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Julio Urías, and Clayton Kershaw in Los Angeles and Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Juan Soto, and Fernando Tatis Jr. down the freeway in San Diego. Don’t let that overshadow the unpredictable Giants, led by their ace Logan Webb and a whole bunch of hitters who could get hot, including Brandon Crawford, Mike Yastrzemski, and Joc Pederson.
The Diamondbacks could be a major sleeper this year. Arizona lost 110 games in 2021, then finished 22 games better last season (though, it should be noted, still fourteen games under .500). Headlined by Opening Day starter Zac Gallen and the recently-extended rookie Corbin Carroll, Arizona, if bolstered by good years from Ketel Marte, Merrill Kelly, and Madison Bumgarner, could be one of the most exciting teams in MLB.
That leaves the poor, poor Colorado Rockies, hoping, begging, and wishing for “.500 ball”. It’s likely that, despite the best efforts of Kris Bryant, C.J. Cron, and Germán Márquez, Colorado begins another rebuilding year in an otherwise burgeoning NL West.
MLB World Series Picks
And finally, the MLB pick that puts all the others to shame. In recent years, October baseball has become more and more defined by streakiness than dominance. The Padres defeated the Dodgers in the NLDS despite not winning a series against them all year. The Phillies represented the National League in the Fall Classic despite being the sixth seed. And if you want an example of a team that actually finished the quest, look no further than the 2021 champ Atlanta Braves, who had the fewest wins of all the playoff teams, and the 2019 Washington Nationals, a wild card squad that started 19-31 and finished by taking down the 106-win Dodgers and the 107-win Astros (along with a 4-game NLCS sweep of the Cardinals).
October Madness is the name of the game, and we at BSP will try our best to account for that.
Ben Schneider
Padres defeat Astros in 7
Cliff Connors
Mets defeat Yankees in 7
Nate Powalie
Phillies defeat White Sox in 6
Mark Grinage
Padres defeat Yankees in 6
Jack Devin
Astros defeat Mets in 6
Ben Rossi
Cardinals defeat Guardians in 6
Well, there you have it. The Padres probably have the best roster in MLB, and the question surrounds whether they can get used to a World Series-or-bust season. That is the same kind of regular season boredom in anticipation of a no-room-for-error postseason that their neighboring Dodgers have experienced for years. Speaking of which, the Dodgers did not get a single mention here, likely due to their massive offseason losses, but Los Angeles could definitely muster something special, ironically in the year where they’re least expected to. Staying in the NL, we still believe in the Mets, even after losing their stud closer. Look at the 2021 Braves, who won the World Series without the then-NL MVP favorite, Ronald Acuña Jr. Can the Phillies repeat as NL champs, and will the offseason additions change their fortunes in the final series?
Turning at the AL, the Astros may deserve more favoritism in these picks, but nobody wants to be boring, as most repeat champ picks tend to be. Also, it’s worth mentioning it’s been 22 years since we’ve had a repeat (in that case, it was a Yankee three-peat from 1998-2000). The Yankees have a bit of pressure on them, considering the vaulted franchise is without a pennant win since 2009. The American League has been less acquainted with postseason chaos in recent years, with Houston and New York usually advancing the furthest, but that could easily change with the presence of a fun Mariners team, a small-ball Guardians squad, and a chaotic Blue Jays crew.
MLB in Perspective
No series-based postseason format is so prone to bedlam, pandemonium, and frenzy as gloriously unpredictable October baseball. The only thing that makes such a performance possible is the 162-game marathon that never seems to lose our attention, with no-hitters out of nowhere, heartbreaking injuries, unbelievably stacked trade deadline deals, walk-offs galore, record-chasers, and streaky Cinderella stories.
Finally, 145 days after the Astros, boosted by a World Series MVP performance from rookie Jeremy Peña, celebrated on the field after defeating the upstart Phillies, MLB baseball is back.
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