As always I’ll start this by saying that I am not an expert. I am an ass hole who watches a lot of sports. Baseball being the one that I watch the most. I am not the most knowledgeable person with advanced stats in the world but I do have an open mind and try to learn what I can from them. But I feel like any time I debate baseball, someone brings up 14 different kinda WARs like I’m in a fucking history class and I just wanna blow my brains out. With that being said, lets jump in.
I’m glad I waited to write this blog because MLB came to an agreement for an expanded playoffs containing 16 teams. 1st and 2nd place from each division are locks to make the playoffs and the remaining 2 spots will be for the best 2 remaining records from each league.
I’m all for this. I’ve always been a big supporter of expanded playoffs for a ton of other reasons that I’ll probably get into in another blog someday. But in a season that is already far from normal, you might as well throw in another 6 teams to fully embrace the fuckery. Now for some predictions.
As for my playoff standings:
AMERICAN LEAGUE:
- New York Yankees
- Minnesota Twins
- Houston Astros
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Los Angeles Angels
- Cleveland Indians
- Oakland A’s
- Chicago White Sox
I feel really confident about the signings the White Sox made this off season and where their young guys are. That line up has some serious fucking power. Encarnacion, Anderson, Abreu, Grandal, Moncada, Jimenez and the young phenom Robert. Thats really insane to think about. Over the course of a full 162 game season they could all hit 25+ HRs. Combine that with Dylan Cease, Dallas Kuechel and Lucal Giolito? You got yourself a team that can make a run for 2nd in the division. All the other teams really speak for themselves.
NATIONAL LEAGUE:
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Atlanta Braves
- St. Louis Cardinals
- New York Mets
- Chicago Cubs
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Cincinnati Reds
- Washington Nationals
The NL was a little harder to predict because it seems like so many teams improved. Dodger added Mookie, Reds added Castellanos, Bauer, Moustakas and already have Goldschmidt, Suarez and Votto. I believe they could make a run at the division but I have a weak spot for the Cubs and that stacked line up.
WORLD SERIES:
Yankees vs Dodgers: Yankees in 7
I hate to have to be so cliche and predictable but the truth is I don’t think that any team has the pitching staff to shut down either of those teams. If anyone is going to knockout the Yankees before the World Series it’ll have to be the scumbag Astros. If anyone is going to knockout the Dodgers it’ll have to be the Nationals or Cardinals. In the end I think that the Yankees are due for a win and if they stay healthy I think they have the best chance to win by a slight margin.
NL MVP:
Winner: Mookie Betts
Runner up: Eugenio Suarez
There are a lot of other legit contenders for MVP in the NL. Bellinger, Yelich, Acuna, Soto can all put up a convincing case for MVP when all is said and done. I believe that Betts will have a field day against the pitching in the NL West and will probably have a lot of pressure off of him after the Dodger backed up the brinks truck for him. I don’t think people really give a fuck for my Betts explanation seeing as how I put Eugenio Suarez as my runner up. Suarez as turned into one of my favorite players in the NL and I believe with some more support in that line up with Moustakas and Castellanos, he’ll be able to blast some more piss missiles this year.
AL MVP:
Winner: Shohei Ohtani
Runner up: Mike Trout
I’ve seen a lot of people shocked at the thought of Ohtani winning MVP and i’m not sure why. He is the definition of Most Valuable Player. He’s the best starting pitcher the Angels have and the 3rd best hitter behind the best baseball player of all time and one of the best hitters in Rendon. The only players that can threaten him for MVP are Trout, Bregman and Judge. If you want a dark horse, look for Matt Chapman.
NL ROTY:
Dustin May
This guy has some of the most filthy shit I’ve seen in a while. Throws 100 MPH gas with movement. Has the hair of a European Sex God. Tall as fuck. Sick ass off speed pitches. Ironically the only person that can compete with him is a prospect in his own system Gavin Lux.
AL ROTY:
Luis Robert
One of my favorite prospects, the guy is just super fucking entertaining. Beautiful defender, hits absolute tank shots. To top it all off? He’s Cuban.
NL CY YOUNG
Jack Flaherty
There’s some pretty great pitching in the NL but none of them really entertain me the wayt Flaherty does. I’m not gonna get too in depth with numbers and why I think he’ll win but I will leave this nice little stat here. Over the final 2 months of the season, Flaherty posted a 0.92 ERA over 82 IP with a nice cool 100 K’s.
