The big thread of probably wrong baseball predictions

Humans love making predictions. We love thinking about what the future holds, even if none of us really have a good idea of what that will be. A hundred years ago, people had some very odd thoughts on what life might be like today, but they were probably no worse at predicting the future than we are.

We love sports for their unpredictability. We cheer the underdogs, we remember the upsets, we look bug-eyed at the amazing plays were weren’t expecting. We thought baseball was really predictable last year, and yet none of us correctly picked the Boston Red Sox to win the championship, or even win the pennant. Even in the age of the “superteams”, baseball remains hard to predict.

I collected predictions on the 2019 season from our writing staff as well as over 200 responses from readers like you, and here is what I got - a bunch of answers that will almost certainly be wrong. And that’s just fine by me.

Royals predictions

Reader vote

Royals position player WAR leader: Adalberto Mondesi 47.5%, Whit Merrifield 47%

Royals pitcher WAR leader: Brad Keller 36.1%, Jakob Junis 32.3%, Brad Boxberger 9.9%

Critical spirits! None of our writers chose the Royals to have a winning record, although they all predict the team to improve considerably. The readers seem to be a lot more bullish on Brad Keller than the writers. No surprise that most seem to think the best player will either be Whit Merrifield or Adalberto Mondesi.

American League predictions

Reader vote

AL East: Boston 56.4%, New York 41.6%

AL Central: Cleveland 82.2%, Minnesota 8.9%, Kansas City 6.9%

AL West: Houston 86%, Los Angeles 8.5%, Oakland 3.5%

AL Wildcards (two): New York 51%, Boston 39.1%, Los Angeles 30%, Oakland 23.8%, Tampa Bay 15.3%, Houston 9.9%, Seattle 8.4%, Kansas City 5.9%, Minnesota 5.4%, Cleveland 5.4%

The American League seems fairly predictable, although there is some split over who will win the East.

National League predictions

Reader vote

NL East: Philadelphia 50.5%, Atlanta 34.5%, Washington 10.5%, New York 4.5%

NL Central: Milwaukee 56.9%, Chicago 24.8%, St. Louis 15.3%, Cincinnati 3%

NL West: Los Angeles 74.1%, Colorado 17.4%, San Diego 4%, Arizona 4%

NL Wild cards (two): St. Louis 32.2%, Atlanta 29.7%, Chicago 27.2%, Colorado 20.8%, Milwaukee 19.3%, Philadelphia 19.3%, Los Angeles 11.4%, San Diego 10.4%, Arizona 7.4%, Washington 6.9%, Cincinnati 5.9%

The Bryce Harper signing seemed to sway readers to pick the Phillies as the only non-repeat division winner.

Award predictions

Reader vote

AL MVP: Mike Trout, LAA 56.9%; Mookie Betts, BOS 7.9%; Aaron Judge, NYY 5.4%; Alex Bregman, HOU 5%; Jose Altuve, HOU 4%; J.D. Martinez, BOS 4%; Francisco Lindor, CLE 3%; Someone else 9.9%

NL MVP: Nolan Arenado, COL 20.3%; Bryce Harper, PHI 15.3%; Paul Goldschmidt, STL 12.9%; Ronald Acuna, ATL 10.4%; Christian Yelich, MIL 8.9%; Manny Machado, SDP 5.4%; Kris Bryant, CHC 4.5%; Someone else 15.3%

AL Cy Young: Chris Sale, BOS 28.4%; Justin Verlander, HOU 12.4%; Gerrit Cole, HOU 9%; Corey Kluber, CLE 6.5%; Blake Snell, TBR 6%; James Paxton, NYY 4.5%; Someone else 28.9%

NL Cy Young: Max Scherzer, WSN 39.8%; Jacob deGrom, NYM 14.4%; Aaron Nola, PHI 10.9%; Noah Syndergaard, NYM 6%; Clayton Kershaw, LAD 4.5%; Stephen Strasburg, WSN 4.5%; Someone else 14.9%

AL Rookie of the Year: Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., TOR 47.8%; Eloy Jimenez, CHW 17.4%; Yusei Kikuchi, SEA 5.5%; Someone else 24.4%

NL Rookie of the Year: Fernando Tatis, Jr. SDP 33.3%; Victor Robles, WSN 20.4%; Francsico Mejia, SDP 10%; Touki Toussant, ATL 7%; Peter Alonso, NYM 5%; Nick Senzel, CIN 4.5%; Someone else 19.4%

All right, who will win the whole shebang?

World Series predictions

Reader vote

American League pennant: Houston 35.7%, New York 30.1%, Boston 22.4%, Kansas City 4.6%, Cleveland 3.1%

National League pennant: Milwaukee 27.9%, Philadelphia 18.9%, Los Angeles, 14.9%, Atlanta 11.9%, St. Louis 8.%, Chicago 7.5%, Washington 4%, Colorado 4%

World Series champion: Houston 22.9%, NY Yankees 20.3%, Boston 16.7%, Milwaukee 16.7%, Philadelphia 4.2%, LA Dodgers 3.6%, Kansas City 3.6%

What are your predictions for the season?