Major League Baseball fully kicked off their season this morning. I know the Padres and Dodgers played overseas last week, but that was like week 0 in college football. This, for all intents and purposes, is the true start of the new season. As I do every year, I will try my best to do a preview and some predictions. RD is the MLB expert on this site, he knows more than I do, but I still love the game of baseball, I just don't watch the MLB much at all anymore. I'll do a sentence, maybe two on each team and pick the division winner. Then I'll do the playoffs and give away some postseason awards. I'll start with the AL. Here goes nothing.

First we have the AL East. The teams here are historic. The Yankees revamped their lineup, signing Juan Soto this offseason. They will hit a ton of homers. The Red Sox seem to be in a minor rebuild. The Rays just keep finding new, young talent and putting together 90 to 95 wins. The Blue Jays have my favorite player, Vlad Guerrero Jr, and they should be above .500. Then we have the Orioles. They seem like the team to beat here. They hit as many homers as the Yankees, but they have the better pitching staff. The Orioles take the AL East.

The AL Central is opposite the East. The East could have every team above .500. The winner of the Central may be right at .500. The Royals and Tigers are too young to win anything of substance right now. The White Sox were middling last year, and Tim Anderson is gone. This division is between the Guardians and Twins. I really don't know where to go from here. The Guardians have a solid pitching staff, so do the Twins. I think I'm going to go with the Guardians because they have the better lineup. They will eek out more wins.

Finally we have the AL West. The reigning champs, the Rangers, are still here and still pretty darn good. Getting a healthy Adolis Garcia will only help. The Astros just keep on winning and winning when they need to. The Angels are out Shohei Ohtani, but they still have Mike Trout. Albeit, that will not matter in the end. And the Mariners may finally get over the hump. They are too talented not to. Oh, the Athletics are bad and moving to Vegas. They are irrelevant this season. I'm going to take the Astros here. They have the veteran leadership and they will be better than last season.

My six AL playoff teams are the Orioles, Guardians, Astros, the division winners, and the Blue Jays, Yankees and Rangers. I'll take Baltimore winning the AL in a pretty convincing fashion.

Now for the NL. I'll start with the East here. The Mets should be a much improved team. They are healthy, older and should be way, way better this season. The Phillies are still very good, with a solid staff and some mashers in their lineup. The Braves may be the best team in all of baseball. Their lineup is loaded, led by Acuna Jr and their pitching staff is the best in baseball. The Marlins are gritty and have some really solid hitters across their lineup. And then there's the Nationals. Save for the Athletics, they may be the worst team in the MLB. This division is tough because they have three very good teams at the top. But I'm going with the Braves. They are absolutely loaded.

Let's move to the Central now. This is the toughest division for me to project. The Cardinals got older, but oddly also better. They cannot be as bad as they were last season. The Cubs seem mediocre, but they got some solid pitchers in free agency and they can hit the ball. The Reds are young and fun and very capable of doing some good things. But RD seems to be very pessimistic about his hometown team. The Pirates are not great, but that doesn't mean they won't fight. And the Brewers are coming off a playoff appearance and a division win. This is wild for me, and I think only one team from this division gets in the playoffs, and that team will be the Brewers yet again. I'd love to pick the Cardinals or Reds, but one is too old and the other is too inexperienced. The Brewers will win almost by default.

Finally we have the NL West. The Diamondbacks are coming off an improbable playoff run all the way to the World Series, but that seemed very fluky. They'll be good, but not that good again this season. The Padres have a killer lineup and some solid pitching, but they cannot get out of their own way. They struggle when they should not. The Rockies are young and fun, but also not very good right now. The Giants are not great, but not too bad either. They are nondescript. And then we have the Dodgers. They are absolutely loaded every single place an MLB team could want to be loaded. They have homerun hitters, line drive hitters and ettra base hitters. They have a dominant pitching staff. They have some of the best position players in the game. Mookie Betts is only behind Vladdy as my favorite player. Even with Shohei Ohtani's off field stuff he has to deal with, he can still mash a baseball. The Dodgers will run away with this division.

That leaves me with the Braves, Brewers and Dodgers as my division winners and top three NL playoff teams. My three wildcards are the Phillies, Diamondbacks and, hell, I'll take the Giants. The NL comes down to the Braves and Dodgers, and I'll take the Braves. The Dodgers seem to blow it in the playoffs and the Braves have the best player in Acuna Jr. That leaves me with the Braves and Orioles in the World Series, and I'll take the Braves to win it all. Acuna Jr is going to be an MVP again, both regular season and playoffs. Spencer Strider is going to win the NL Cy Young. They probably have some stud rookie I don't know about. The Braves are loaded and ready to go. As far as AL MVP, give me Vlad Guerrero Jr. I think he is going to make an even bigger leap. As far as AL Cy Young, I'll go with Luis Castillo from the Mariners. Again, take this with a humongous grain of salt. I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants right now.

Baseball is here for 162 games now. We are officially in it. Go Cards. 

Ty

Another Perspective

This MLB season is going to be a struggle of a few giants against some talented, yet very flawed, teams. The Dodgers, Braves, and Astros are no brainers to make the playoffs. All three of those teams have All-Stars and future Hall of Famers up and down the line-up. Write it in ink, those three will win their divisions.

What about the next tier, talented but flawed? My hometown Cincinnati Reds lead this pack. Elly De La Cruz has the talent to be great, but that talent needs to produce over a full season. If that happens, the rest of the Reds will follow and Cincinnati will win the Central. My old hometown team the Cardinals are like Ty said, the opposite of the Reds. St. Louis is talented, but old. I also think if the Cardinals struggle early, they will fire their manager and write 2024 off. The Yankees, Padres, Blue Jays and Phillies all have world series potential but each team has leadership and durability questions.

Why have I not mentioned the Texas Rangers, the defending World Series champs, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the defending National League winners, or the hyped Baltimore Orioles? I am skeptical that each of these teams can replicate their magic from last year. I think they all three are talented, and they will all make the playoffs, I just do not believe in them as World Series contenders this year.

Here is who I think will make the playoffs

AL

Division Winners - Toronto Blue Jays (E) Minnesota Twins (C) Houston Astros (W)

Wild Cards - Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners

NL

Division Winners - Atlanta Braves (E) Cincinnati Reds (C) LA Dodgers (W)

Wild Cards - Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres

World Series

Blue Jays vs Braves

Champs

Atlanta Braves

That is correct, no Yankees or Cardinals in the playoffs. Both teams will fire their managers before the All Star Game. One last prediction, the Oakland Athletics will lose over 120 games.

Enjoy the season

RD

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

RD is the founder and Head Editor of SeedSing

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