Saturday, March 3, 2018

Bold Predictions for the MLB Season. AL Part

This is the 2018 edition of Bold Predictions for the MLB Season, we'll tackle all 30 teams with a couple of predictions for each.

Note: The boldness will vary from really bold to sort of, as it's impossible to give 60 different predictions on the same level.

Each division will get its own page and the 5 teams will be distributed according to where we'll predict they finish the year.

Note: Take this lightly, not seriously,


AL East.


1, New York Yankees.

1rst: Sonny Gray will lead the team in ERA.
2nd: Greg Bird will be the starting 1B for the American League All-Star team.


2, Red Sox.

1rst: Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi will combine for 7.5+ WAR.
2nd: David Price will have a bounce-back year and finish the season in the top 10 of the AL Cy Young award.


3, Blue Jays.

1: Josh Donaldson will finish in the top 3 of MVP voting.
2: The Jays' rotation will have the lowest ERA in the AL East.


4, Rays.

1: Kevin Kiermaier and Chris Archer will combine for 10+ WAR.
2: 2 of Justin Williams, Jake Bauers, and Christian Arroyo will finish the year as everyday players.


5, Orioles.

1rst: Manny Machado will lead all Shortstops in HR and WAR.
2nd: Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman will combine for a sub 4 ERA.





AL Central.


1, Indians.

1rst: Yandy Diaz will become an everyday player by the end of the year, hitting 15+ HR. Note: He had 0 HR in 179 PA last year.
2nd: Bradley Zimmer will steal 40+ bases.


2, Twins.

1rst: Byron Buxton will have a 5 WAR season, 100+ wRC+ and 35+ SB.
2nd: Brian Dozier and Miguel Sano will combine for 70+ HR.


3, White Sox.

1rst: Yoan Moncada will be the team's most prolific player, leading the roster in WAR, Stolen Bases and Runs Scored.
2nd: Carlos Rodon will improve his WAR (0.6) by at least 2.5 wins while Avisail Garcia will experience a 2.5 wins decline at least in his WAR of last year (4.1).


4, Royals.

1rst: Jorge Soler will hit 30+ Home Runs.
2nd: The Royals' pitching staff will have 0 Complete Games and 0 Shutouts.


5, Tigers.

1rst: Miguel Cabrera will have a big bounce-back year leading the team in all of the following offensive categories
Hits, Extra Base Hits, Home Runs, Runs Batted In, ISO, AVG, OBP, SLG, wRC+, wOBA, and WAR.
2nd: Daniel Norris will lead the team in Strikeouts.




AL West.

1, Astros.

1rst: Gerrit Cole will lead the pitching staff in ERA, IP, and WAR.
2nd: Ken Giles won't finish the year as the team's closer.


2, Angels.

1rst: Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani will combine for a staggering 17.5+ WAR.
2nd: No Angels pitcher will exceed the 170 Innings mark.


3, Mariners.

1rst: They will eventually wind up bringing Ichiro Suzuki in and he'll lead the team in triples. Oh, wait Dee Gordon is there, make that second.
2nd: Mike Zunino will hit 30+ HR and be elected as the backup catcher for the AL All-Star team.


4, Athletics.

1rst: The A's will have the fewest Stolen Bases in the American League with no player reaching double digits.
2nd: They'll also have the highest BB% of any American League teamSurpassingng double digits.


5, Rangers.
1rst: Matt Moore will eventually become the ace of the staff finishing the year with a sub 4 ERA.
2nd: Two of Cole Hamels, Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre get traded at the deadline.


Part 2 coming within the next couple of days.

Expect a lot of stuff.

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