Baseball: 2018
 

Three weeks-and one day-from the start of the Major League Baseball season.
Time for our New York posters to make unrealistic and delusional predictions about how well the Mets will do. ;)

Seriously, here is one set of predictions on the win-loss possibilities of all the teams. A good place to start the discussion.

Following the team names, the first number is the actual number of wins during the 2017 season. The second number is the projected number of wins for 2018.
Let the discussion begin.
https://www.oddsshark.com/mlb/mlb-season-win-totals

Team
2017 Wins
2018 Win Total
Arizona Diamondbacks
93
85.5

Atlanta Braves
72
74.5

Baltimore Orioles
75
73.0

Boston Red Sox
93
91.5

Chicago Cubs
92
94.5

Chicago White Sox
67
68.0

Cincinnati Reds
68
73.5

Cleveland Indians
102
94.5

Colorado Rockies
87
82

Detroit Tigers
64
68.5

Houston Astros
101
96.5

Kansas City Royals
80
71.5

Los Angeles Angels
80
84.5

Los Angeles Dodgers
104
96.5

Miami Marlins
77
64.5

Milwaukee Brewers
86
84.5

Minnesota Twins
85
82.5

New York Mets
70
81

New York Yankees
91
94.5

Oakland A’s
75
74.5

Philadelphia Phillies
66
75.5

Pittsburgh Pirates
75
73

San Diego Padres
71
69.5
-115
-105
San Francisco Giants
64
81.5

Seattle Mariners
78
81.5


St. Louis Cardinals
83
85.5

Tampa Bay Rays
80
77.5

Texas Rangers
78
77.5

Toronto Blue Jays
76
81.0

Washington Nationals
97
92.5

I think 64 wins is a generous amount of wins for Miami.That team is going to be in full tanque mode for the next couple of years.I doubt they reach 60 wins.It's going to be a long season in Little Havana this year. As a general manager, Derek Jeter is a great shortstop.The good news for me is I live only a couple of hours from Miami and I should be able to score some major league tickets for minor league prices on the secondary market.:)

The sportsbooks don't give away money very often. Losing 98 games is still a really, really bad team. If you remember back a year ago, everyone viewed the Padres similarly to how the Marlins are viewed now: 100 losses seemed like a certainty. Until it wasn't.

The young teams keep trying in September. Young players have a lot to prove.

Not saying I'm betting the over (I will be in LV making my season win totals in 10 days), but don't assume the under is a lock.

Yankees will not win over 94 games this year. Clearly over rated again.

IMO...the best bet on the board is the White Sox UNDER 68.

Frankly I think the Yankees would have been better off keeping Starlin Castro. They've got 2 starting right fielders, two center fielders (I don't know what they are going to do with Ellsbury, but as long as he plays you can count on him going on the DL two or three times in a season), two left fielders (Gardner and Clint Frazier) and potentially rookies at second and third. Nobody in their division will do better than 94 wins.

We've got a 4 oclock game on a Thursday here in the Natti. Actually liking it better than 1 on a Monday! Always look forward to baseball season!

Will the Yankee's batting lineup be a reincarnation of the '27 Yankees? Judge and Stanton taking batting practice is reminiscent of Canseco and McGwire. Of course these guys are clean, right? Judge is listed at 6-7 & 282 lbs. and he plays a skill/finesse sport. Stanton is ONLY 6-6. I remember Frank Howard was also 6-7 and only 255 lbs. These new players are huge.(edit) I'm reading that Hondo's wt. was as high as 280 during his playing career too.

I'm a Tiger fan and think they will be under this year. They couldn't win 70 last year with JV, JD, Upton for over half the season. They are still looking to trade Fulmer who is a health risk. Castallenos who could be their best hitter this season. Granted they are in a terrible division the White Sox who just started a rebuild and the Royals who are losing their best players to free agency.

Astros if healthy are very very good. I may be biased because I live here, but the numbers don't lie. Youth and shear excitement is another factor often overlooked when judging good teams. The Astros seem to have it all in place.

Money continues to come in on the over, now up to 69 1/2 (over at -120).

Their minor leagues are loaded; just a matter of when the prospects get up to the MLB level.

The Tigers will lose more than the Sox. Same division. Terrible division.

AL division winners
Hou
Cle
NYY

Wild cards
Bos
LAA

NL division winners
LAD
Chi
Was

Wild cards
StL
SF

World Series: Cubs beat Astros in six

Time to post my opinion. Most of you know that I am from the Chicago area and I am a Cubs fan-for almost seventy years. So, it will come as no surprise that I think the Cubs are the best team in Major League baseball, and by a wide margin.

Begin with the starting pitching. Top to bottom, no team is as deep as the Cubs.
Lester, Quintana, and Darvish have all been aces either on the Cubs or on their previous teams. Everybody says that Hendricks is an ace of the future and many say the future is now. If you only consider Chatwood's starts away from Coors Field you should be quite impressed. And you should only consider those starts because he will be making at most one start at Coors this season.

What else do they have? The best young catcher in Willson Contreras, both defensively and offensively. A gold glove first baseman who averages thirty home runs a year in Anthony Rizzo The best defensive second baseman in the game and maybe the best defensive infielder of all in Javy Baez. Expect Addison Russell to contend for comeback of the year at short. Then there is Kris Bryant at third. Rookie of the Year; Most Valuable Player and only 25 years old.

In the outfield, a slimmed down Kyle Schwarber has already stolen three bases; Albert Almora is making the impossible catch routine and Ian Happ is tearing the cover off the ball and also making circus catches in Center Field.
Plus he can fill in at second, third and first base.

There are other good teams such as Houston and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Washington Nationals will certainly be heard from as well as the Cleveland Indians and Arizona Diamondbacks. But when all is said and done, it is the Cubs who will be hoisting that World Series trophy.

I seriously doubt that it will. The '27 Yankees hit 36% of the American League home runs that year. Even the most powerful teams barely approach 19% now.

Can Aaron Judge duplicate last year. He dropped off precipitously in both batting average and OPS after the all star game. Giancarlo Stanton had a career year-22 more home runs than in any previous season.

I think the Cubs will hit more home runs than the Yankees and probably the Dodgers and Astros also.