With baseball season around the corner, every blogger and writer with an internet connection is scrambling to put out their predictions for this upcoming season. The truth is, they don’t have any clue what’s about to happen. Luckily for you, we do! As we here at LWOS never like to miss out on the fun, we now proudly present our 2016 MLB Season Predictions: Part Three.
American League Champion
Daniel Sperry – Houston Astros: They were eight or nine outs away from being in the ALCS last season, and the addition of Doug Fister will help their rotation in the playoffs. He can either be their fourth starter or be a long relief guy in the pen come post-season. I also expect them to be active in searching for more bullpen help around the deadline, which should put them over the edge this season. If Toronto had kept David Price, they’d be up here. Cueto’s quality is what won the AL for KC last year and he now pitches in an entirely different league. Houston is the favorite out of the AL this year.
Mike Salvatore – Astros: The young Astros will prove that last season was no fluke, and Carlos Correa will lead the club to its first World Series title following a six-game victory over the Pirates. For a team that was only expected to begin playing .500 baseball this season, they will complete one of the most impressive turnarounds in the history of the sport.
Eric Kabakoff – Toronto Blue Jays: They pick up another starter for the stretch run, like last year, and head to the World Series to meet the Cubs. They have unfinished business in the playoffs.
Sean Couch – Astros: The Houston Astros came just shy of knocking the eventual champion Kansas City Royals out of the playoffs in 2015, but 2016 may be the year they go all the way. They still have Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel leading a great pitching staff, backed up by perhaps the best up-the-middle defense in the majors, thanks to Carlos Correa and Jose Atluve. In 2016, the Astros may be the team to beat.
Joshua Greenberg – Astros: They’re young, they can hit, and they can pitch. Jose Altuve will be hoisting some MVP hardware at the end of the series.
John Daniel Mosier – Kansas City Royals: Most of the Royals core has returned for 2016 season in hopes of a third straight world series appearance. The game plan will likely not change, not when you have one of the most dominant bullpens in league history: get a lead early, and the shut the door on them. It will be business as usual for the boys in blue this year.
Jesse Smith – Astros: I needed a wildcard here, and I think it’s about time for the youthful shift in baseball. The boys in the south are about to make a lot of noise, and who am I to deny the talent. Houston takes the AL Pennant, and fairly easily I might add.
Brandon Murphy – Kansas City Royals: Why not three years in a row? KC is budding a dynasty that isn’t going away anytime soon.
Matt Bruder – Blue Jays: With key contracts for core pieces st to expire at the end of the season, it’s time for the Blue Jays to make it happen. If the pitching can hold its own, they should waltz through their division and into the World Series.
Jake Aferiat – Cleveland Indians: Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar, and Carlos Carrasco are all tremendous pitchers. Factor in Jason Kipnis and MVP-caliber player Michael Brantley, as well as Yan Gomes and Carlos Santana, and the Indians could give teams like Toronto a run for their money.
Nick Primeau – Blue Jays: The Royals starting pitching troubles will finally hurt them in October, and the Red Sox rotation problems after David Price will haunt an otherwise talented team. Improved pitching across the board and the best lineup in baseball will vault the Blue Jays into the World Series. Losing Price hurts their chances, but nearly the rest of their team returns after narrowly missing out on the World Series just last year.
Andrew Grishaw – Astros: Houston has so much young talent that is just waiting for the season to start again. Carlos Correa is going to carry this team offensively and defensively, and the rotation, led by Dallas Keuchel, will be even better than last year. Houston’s experience in the postseason last year will help them win the pennant in 2016.
Michael Beard – Astros: Just back in 2013, the Houston Astros were the doormat of baseball; since then, everything has changed for them. Last season, they were five outs away from going the World Series to face the New York Mets. They have just as good of a young core as the Chicago Cubs, and now have a legitimate closer in Ken Giles to shut the door on their opposition. This young core now has playoff experience under its belt and is hungry to build upon its success from 2015.
National League Champion
Daniel Sperry – San Francisco Giants: It’s an even year; need I say anything else? Outside of that weird voodoo they have going, they do everything exceptionally well. They hit, they pitch, they play defense, and they are DEEP. The Cubs are very tough, but as we saw last postseason (and seemingly every other postseason before that) that pitching and defense always prove more important than offense.
Mike Salvatore – Pittsburgh Pirates: They won’t win the division, again. However, they’ll finally win that darned Wild Card game, take that momentum, and then run through the rest of the National League. They might not have the best lineup or best rotation, but they are the most balanced team in the NL, and Andrew McCutchen will dominate en route to winning the MVP award this season.
Eric Kabakoff – Chicago Cubs: They won ninety-eight games, and then added Ben Zobrist, Jason Heyward, and John Lackey. They have good young players, solid veterans, and all the ingredients.
Sean Couch – Cubs: The long-suffering Chicago Cubs are stacked from top to bottom and have a great rotation to go along with it. This revamped Cubs team is good enough to pry the NL central division title away from the St. Louis Cardinals, and they’re good enough in 2016 to win the pennant.
Joshua Greenberg – New York Mets: That pitching staff will make so many games extremely winnable that the Mets will have no choice but to win most of them. In a playoff series, I’d bet on those starters.
John Daniel Mosier – Giants: After a $250 million off-season spending spree that netted a pair of accomplished starters in Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, and a talented outfielder in Denard Span, the Giants are going into 2016 with a whole lot of confidence. They’ll be looking for more even-year luck in 2016.
Jesse Smith – Pirates: Before I get smacked upside the head from the collective hand of Northern Chicago, hear me out. This is a veteran team with a surprising amount of playoff experience. The Bucs have the fire power in the lineup to keep up and a better pitching staff than Chicago.
Brandon Murphy – Mets: The offense will falter at some point during the season, but this rotation is as solid as you can get for a pennant-winning team.
Matt Bruder –Mets: With the best rotation in baseball, you’re made for the post-season. That’s where the Mets will shine. A young rotation, except for ageless wonder Bartolo Colon, could be even better this year than it was last year. With some decent bats and good base-runners, they are a force in the NL.
Jake Aferiat – Mets: The Mets do everything well except run the bases, but that got them to World Series last year. They lost postseason hero Daniel Murphy, but acquired two bona-fide replacements in Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker. St. Louis has fared well without hero David Freese, so there’s not much cause for concern.
Nick Primeau – Giants: The Cubs and Mets are the favorites, and the Dodgers, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Nationals, Pirates all conceivably have enough talent and could go on runs to win the NL. However, I think the Giants will end up on top. Newly acquired pitchers Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samadzija, and a healthy Matt Cain, will lighten the load of ace Madison Bumgarner. An underrated offense will see the Giants at the top of the heap. Plus, it’s an even year, and after winning the World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014, it is just their time once again.
Andrew Grishaw – Cubs: If the Cubs stay healthy, they will win the World Series.
Michael Beard – Cubs: After Joe Maddon’s freshman year at the helm of the Chicago Cubs in 2015, the whole team is drinking the Koolaide coming into the 2016 season. Theo Epstein built a team that needed the best possible match as their head coach, and in stepped Joe. Maddon took a team that wasn’t supposed to be in contention until 2016 and made them look like winning championships could become an every-year thing on the North Side. Theo and Joe added pieces to the lineup that, on paper, will increase run support and save runs from crossing the plate for opposing teams.
World Series
It looks like the majority of our writers believe the 2016 World Series will see the Houston Astros (seven votes) square off with either the Chicago Cubs or the New York Mets (four votes apiece). The Mets rotation outclasses that of the Cubs, but Chicago is likely the more well-rounded team. As for the Astros, they can probably keep pace with either rotation, and will hit as well as, if not better than, the Cubs. Either possible series could should down to the bullpens, or could even be decided by defensive miscues.
So, now that we’ve had our say on what to expect this season, we turn the crystal ball over to you. Who do you think would win in a series between Chicago and New York? Could either team beat the Astros in a seven-game series? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
If you missed the previous parts of this trilogy, you can find Part One here, and Part Two here.
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