After months of negotiations and the owners and commissioner finally giving in and no longer being greedy little pigs, baseball is upon us! We managed to get a full season with an expanded playoff format and it all starts in early April. What a miracle. This article will go over the many predictions for the upcoming season. This includes the playoffs, stats leaders, and the league award winners. There will be plenty of surprises, but I fared pretty well on my predictions article for the 2021 MLB season, so buckle in and let’s see how we fare in a year that is bound to be filled with surprising and exciting baseball.
PLAYOFFS
World Series: Dodgers defeat White Sox in 5 games
ALCS: White Sox defeat Blue Jays in 7 games
NLCS: Dodgers defeat Mets in 6 games
ALDS: White Sox defeat Mariners in 3, Blue Jays defeat Rays in 5
NLDS: Dodgers defeat Braves in 5, Mets defeat Brewers in 4
AL Wild Card: Blue Jays defeat Red Sox, Mariners defeat Astros
NL Wild Card: Brewers defeat Cardinals, Braves defeat Padres
Summary:
I’m going to be boring, my prediction is that the Dodgers win the 2022 World Series. It just makes sense. I think it’ll be the White Sox that meet them there though. The White Sox will take down the Blue Jays to get there, while the Dodgers handle the Mets, who for once won’t disappoint, to get there themselves. We’ll see the Mariners finally get in and beat the Astros in the wild card, the Jays taking down two division rivals, the Padres falling short to the defending champs, and a battle between the only two competent NL Central teams that ends in a Brewers victory.
STANDINGS
AL –
AL East:
1. Rays (100-62)*
2. Blue Jays (95-69)*
3. Red Sox (86-76)*
4. Yankees (82-80)
5. Orioles (71-91)
AL Central:
1. White Sox (101-61)*
2. Tigers (83-79)
3. Twins (77-85)
4. Indians (72-90)
5. Royals (65-97)
AL West:
1. Astros (93-69)*
2. Mariners (84-78)*
3. Angels (82-80)
4. Rangers (73-89)
5. Athletics (54-108)
NL –
NL East:
1. Mets (102-60)*
2. Braves (90-72)*
3. Marlins (81-81)
4. Phillies (78-84)
5. Nationals (63-99)
NL Central:
1. Cardinals (92-70)*
2. Brewers (85-77)*
3. Cubs (75-87)
4. Reds (73-89)
5. Pirates (57-105)
NL West:
1. Dodgers (106-56)*
2. Padres (89-73)*
3. Giants (84-80)
4. Rockies (74-88)
5. Diamondbacks (60-102)
(* = playoffs)
Summary:
There are definitely some surprises and disappointments on this prediction list. We see the Giants and Yankees take a step back, and the Tigers and Marlins take a step forward. The Diamondbacks, Athletics, and Pirates are our 100 loss teams. The Dodgers, Mets, White Sox, and Rays all win 100 games. There is plenty to dissect, but the most important parts have been noted, the rest is up for individual judgement and interpretation.
AWARDS
AL MVP: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (2: Y. Alvarez, S. Ohtani)
NL MVP: Juan Soto (2: F. Freeman, 3: T. O’Neill)
AL Cy Young: Shane Bieber (2: G. Cole, 3: N. Eovaldi)
NL Cy Young: Walker Buehler (2: S. Alcantara, 3: L. Webb)
AL ROTY: Bobby Witt (2: A. Rutschman, 3. V. Brujan)
NL ROTY: O’Neil Cruz (2: K. Ruiz, 3. E Cabrera)
AL Reliever: Emmanuel Clase
NL Reliever: Josh Hader
AL MOY: Scott Servais
NL MOY: David Roberts
Summary:
I decided that Vladdy Jr. would get his revenge after having one of the best non-MVP winning seasons in recent memory by taking the award home this year and beating out Ohtani and Yordan Alvarez. In the NL, we see the best pure hitter in the league, Juan Soto, doing his thing to win an MVP award of his own while beating out Freddie Freeman and the breakout star Tyler O’Neill. A healthy Shane Bieber wins the AL Cy Young, and Walker Buehler gets his own Cy Young as well in the NL.
Bobby Witt is going to be a star, and as long as the Royals put him in the show he should win the AL Rookie of the Year. I have O’Neil Cruz winning the award in the NL, but it’s anyone’s trophy to have there. Emmanuel Clase uses his electric stuff to win the AL Reliever of the Year, and Josh Hader unsurprisingly wins the NL award. We see Mariners manager, Scott Servais, win AL Manager of the Year. David Roberts leads the Dodgers to win the NL award for himself.
STAT LEADERS
AVG: Wander Franco (.344)
OBP: Juan Soto (.459)
HR: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (53)
RBI: Yordan Alvarez (129)
SB: Trea Turner (48)
Pitcher W: Walker Buehler (21)
ERA: Shane Bieber (2.13)
K: Gerrit Cole (261)
SV: Josh Hader (42)
bWAR: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (8.3)
pWAR: Walker Buehler (7.8)
Summary:
Vladdy Jr. proves why he wins the AL MVP with these stat leader predictions. We see the young star, Wander Franco, lead the league in batting average. Juan Soto unsurprisingly leads the league in on base percentage. Yordan Alvarez drives in the most runs. Trea Turner does his usual things on the base paths. Walker Buehler leads the league in pitcher wins while Bieber leads in ERA. We see Gerrit Cole lead in strikeouts and Josh Hader lead in saves. We then see Vladdy and Buehler lead the lead in the coveted WAR category. Plenty to digest here. Take your time.
SILVER SLUGGER TEAMS
AL –
C: Salvador Perez
1B: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
2B: Marcus Semien
3B: Jose Ramirez
SS: Wander Franco
LF: Yordan Alvarez
CF: Luis Robert
RF: Eloy Jimenez
DH: Shohei Ohtani
NL –
C: J.T. Realmuto
1B: Freddie Freeman
2B: Ozzie Albies
3B: Nolan Arenado
SS: Trea Turner
LF: Tyler O’Neill
CF: Bryan Reynolds
RF: Juan Soto
DH: Kyle Schwarber
Summary:
A lot of the AL won’t come as too much of a surprise for the silver slugger team to most, but Wander Franco and the White Sox duo of Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert may surprise some. I’m very high of those guys and think they could make waves and graduate from young star to bonafide superstars in 2022. The NL paints a similar picture to the AL, not many surprises but look out for Tyler O’Neill and Bryan Reynolds. Two more guys that could become household names by the end of the season. Overall, there will be plenty of offense generated by the guys above.
