Major League Baseball has such parity. Sure we can probably narrow down the field of competition to around 15 teams before the season even starts. Roughly half the league is actually competing for a championship. But that’s a hell of a lot better than the annual three team dance in the NFL or the one team in the NBA that has a chance to win (I’ll give you a hint, it rhymes with Olden Plate Warriors). Jayson Stark from ESPN (and Winterfell) writes a brilliant annual column showing how the parity in MLB compares to that of the NFL. It really gives you an idea of how even the MLB playing field is, and how hard it is to predict the outcome of the season. Honestly, if you want the real crystal ball just look at the Vegas lines. Vegas knows better than me or any of the other baseball writers. That being said, if you want some of my magic insight, here are my playoff and player award predictions for 2016:
The Metssiah’s Player Award Predictions:
AL MVP: Manny Machado. Yeah I didn’t pick Mike Trout. I’m crazy!! Machado had a breakout season last year, he’s young, and he’s part of a beastly lineup. Plus my scouts (google images) say Machado’s head looks enormous this spring. Maybe he’s been getting his swoll on this offseason. I’m no phrenology expert, but big head equals big season.
AL Cy Young: Chris Archer
AL Rookie of the Year: Byron Buxton
NL MVP: Bryce Harper. Again. That being said, Yoenis Cespedes is going off at 25 to 1 in Vegas for MVP. I like that sweet action.
NL Cy Young: Max Scherzer. Yeah I’m betting against my boys, but I’ll say Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard finish 2, 3 and 4 respectively so I feel better about the betrayal.
NL Rookie of the Year: Corey Seager. But Steven Matz will probably be in the conversation.
The Metssiah’s American League Playoff Predictions:
WC Game: Rangers over Blue Jays
ALDS: Royals over Rangers and Astros over Yankees
ALCS: Astros over Royals
The Metssiah’s National League Playoff Predictions
WC Game: Nationals over Pirates
NLDS: Cubs over Nationals and Mets over Giants
NLCS: Mets over Cubs
World Series Prediction: Mets over Astros
Also, for my previously published divisional predictions see these posts:
The Metssiah 