Well fans it is my favorite time of the year, opening day for major league baseball. For the next seven months I will be drowning in a sea of baseball while I follow the best sport in the world from first pitch to World Series win for one lucky team. Every year I give you my fearless predictions and every year I never come close to being correct. For you long time readers you know that I never let the facts or my stupidity get in the way of a good blog.
I was going to look up my last years predictions to see how I did but I already know that I only got about four things right. I predicted correctly that Corbin Carroll and Gunner Henderson would be the rookies of the year, and I correctly predicted that the Dodgers and Braves would win their divisions. Unfortunately then things went sideways and we will leave it there.
Trivia: If a pitcher struck out 250 batters a year for the next 22 years he would still not have as many strikeouts as Nolan Ryan.
Alright, let's get to my 2024 awards predictions.
Rookie of the Year in the American League returns to the Baltimore Orioles as Jackson Holliday wins this, barely, over Evan Carter of Texas. Colt Keith of Detroit and Austin Wells of the Yankees also get some votes. In the National League after a brief break the Dodgers once again have a winner in Yoshinobu Yamamoto in another close vote over Jackson Merrill of the Padres. Also getting votes will be Jacob Amaya of Miami and Jung Hoo Lee of the Giants.
The Cy Young battle will be extremely close in both leagues this year especially with Gerrit Cole of the Yankees missing the first part of the season. In the end Pablo Lopez of the Twins will get the nod over a revitalized Corbin Burns now with the Orioles and Cole Ragans of the Royals. Gerrit Cole will get a few votes also. Over in the senior circuit in the end Spencer Strider from Atlanta will do just enough to beat Zach Wheeler of the Phillies with Dylan Cease of the Padres and Kodai Senga of the Mets getting a few votes.
The Most Valuable Player award will be the most interesting this year as both leagues are loaded with stars. I believe Adley Rutschman of the Orioles will come out on top over Juan Soto from the Yankees, Julio Rodriquez of the Mariners, and Corey Seager of Texas in the American League voting. Over in the National League it is going to be even crazier but Ronald Acuna will repeat as the MVP over Mookie Betts of the Dodgers, Corbin Carroll of Arizona, and Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres.
Trivia: There has been only one walk-off, inside the park, grand slam home run in baseball history and it was done by Roberto Clemente.
Now for the part that I usually am way off on but have a strong conviction for, who will win this year.
In the American League:
East: Baltimore, Toronto, New York, Tampa, Boston will be the final results.
Central: Minnesota, Kansas City, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit.
West: Texas, Seattle, Houston, Los Angeles, Oakland
Wild Card Round: Minnesota defeats Toronto and Houston beats Seattle
LDS: Baltimore beats Houston and Texas beats Minnesota
LCS: Baltimore beats Texas
In the National League:
East: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami, New York, Washington
Central: Cubs, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee
West: Dodgers, Arizona, San Diego, San Francisco, Colorado
Wild Card Round: San Diego beats Cubs and Arizona beats Philadelphia
LDS: Atlanta beats Arizona and San Diego beats Los Angeles
LCS: Atlanta beats San Diego
World Series:
Atlanta defeats Baltimore 4-2
Trivia: In his career, Greg Maddux faced 20,421 batters and only 133 of them saw a 3-0 count.
Once again I feel like I have nailed it this year and once again come October I will be looking at this and saying to myself, what the hell was I thinking.