With July coming to a close tomorrow, it's time for us to buckle up as baseball fans for the final stretch of the season. Once the trade deadline passes on Tuesday evening, we'll have a true idea of who's making a push for a World Series and who's trying to play spoiler while looking ahead to next season. With two months left, there's a ton that can and will happen. Correspondent Kev and I have put our best guesses forward on just what events will transpire on the road to October.
Division Winners:
Ted's Picks: The only real race in the AL is in the central, where I think the Guardians will ultimately end the year on top. Currently sitting just one game back, superstar Jose Ramirez has helped this team steadily compete under the radar all season. I think they'll catch Minnesota. The Yankees and Astros won't lose their division races.
On the NL side, I think that Atlanta completes their divisional comeback and overtakes the Mets, who led by 10.5 games at one point. The Brewers will ultimately edge out the offensively inconsistent Cards in the Central, and the Dodgers already have the West locked up with an 12 game lead over the Padres.
Kevin's Picks:
American
League: Unfortunately for us Oriole fans, the Yankees have the AL East locked
up. Lead by MVP front runner Aaron Judge, it’d take a miracle for Toronto to
catch them. Quietly, I believe the Astros are the best team in baseball and are
running away with the AL West. While Justin Verlander (rightfully so) gets a
lot of credit as the ace of the staff, his supporting cast has been outstanding
this year. Framber Valdez, Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia, and Christian Javier help
to fill out an excellent and deep rotation. I would not want any part of them
in the playoffs. The AL Central is a toss-up, but I will go with the Twins.
They currently have a 2-game lead over the Guardians and 3- game lead over the
White Sox. Their line up is potent enough where they’ll score some runs but
could use another starter in their rotation. They also sneakily have the Major
League’s leading hitter in Luis Arraez who currently has a .333 average.
Aaron Judge
National League: Starting with the NL West, this division is done. The Dodgers will finish up their 9th division title in the last 10 seasons (they took the wild card last year with a mere 106 victories). Simply put, they’re loaded. Former MVP’s Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts along with star Shortstop Trea Turner; the Dodger machine continues to churn out victories. The rotation is loaded with Tony Gonsolin, Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw (weird listing him as the 3rd best pitcher), and Tyler Anderson. The bullpen is a little shaky, the addition of another quality reliever could help to fortify the pen for another October run. I believe the Mets will go wire to wire and win the NL East. After a mid-season slump, Pete Alonso seems to have regained his early MVP form and is the emotional leader of the team. He is one guy the Mets cannot afford to lose. They have a super balanced line up (Eduardo Escobar, Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte) along with a solid rotation led my Max Scherzer as well as the steady presence of Buck Showalter in the dug- out. I think they could benefit from adding another reliever as the pen is shaky outside of Edwin Diaz who is having a season to remember in Queens. The NL Central is the most difficult for me to decide on. The Brewers need a little juice offensively, I think they have the pitching. But it is always hard to count out the Cardinals; they’re one of the best franchises in the league and always seem to contend.
Wild Card Teams:
Kevin's
Picks: It has to be Toronto and TB from the AL East. Each roster is too
talented to miss out on October baseball. Eventually, the cream rises. For the
third wild card team, I’ll go with the Guardians. They always seem to get hot
and figure it out when it matters most.
For the
National League, the always dangerous and defending champion Atlanta Braves
should capture the 1st WC spot with the talented Padres not far behind. For the
3rd and final slot, I’d give it to the Cards. Led by two premier players like
Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, they’ll be able to do enough to sneak in.
Ted's Picks:
The AL East should be able to sneak in two wildcard teams if they don't beat each other up too badly at the end of September. I'd love Baltimore to be one of these teams, but it's going to be the Rays and the Jays. The surging Mariners are my third pick, riding the Julio Rodriguez momentum to beat out the Twins for the final spot. The recent addition of Luis Castillo also really strengthens their rotation.
I see the Padres and Giants also each getting in from the tough NL West. The Giants currently have some work to do for this, but they just always seem to find a way. The Mets will also qualify as a wildcard team, narrowly falling to Atlanta in what should be a tight NL East race.
Pennant and World Series Winners:
Ted's Picks: The Bronx Bombers have been the dominant team in Major League Baseball from the get go this season, and that will carry over into and through the postseason. They'll defeat the upstart Padres in six games to win their 28th World Series title.
Kevin's
Picks: I am going to have to go with the Astros and the Dodgers, a rematch of
the classic 2017 World Series. This would match the two best teams in baseball
in my mind, both teams are loaded from top to bottom. The only real threat to
either would be the Yankees, but their lineup is a little too top heavy for my
liking. To win the whole thing, I think the Astros pitching depth will prevail.
Worst Record in League:
Kevin's
Pick: The Nationals, nothing more to say here. They sold their soul for the 2019
World Series and finished the job. Let the rebuild commence!
Ted's Pick: The Washington Nationals, terrible team with terrible contracts and a pretty iffy farm system at best. We'll see what kind of haul they can get for Juan Soto in the coming days. They'll be picking #1 next year, not the Orioles again!
Patrick Corbin- Very expensive, 6.49 ERA
MVP Winners:
Ted's Picks: Aaron Judge has been must-watch television this season, slashing .297/41/89 thus far. While other candidates are worth considering, the AL MVP is an easy decision. The NL choice is not as straightforward, and I'm going to roll with a bit of a wildcard here in Manny Machado. He surged out of the gate this season but has fallen off a little since his ankle injury. I think Tatis Jr. coming back will take some of the pressure off of him carrying this team offensively, which should in turn improve his performance at the plate. I see the Padres surging late this year.
Kevin's
Picks: Aaron Judge is pulling away after a slight slump. He is the best
player on one of the best teams in baseball. He leads the majors in runs scored
(84) and home runs (41) while also
leading the AL in runs batted in (89). For the National League, I am sticking
with Paul Goldschmidt. He leads the Majors in batting average (.334) and OBP
(.417) while also leading the NL in Slugging (.615) and OPS (1.030). He also
has added in 24 home runs and 78 runs batted in.
Cy Young Winners:
Kevin's
Picks: For the American League, I am sticking with Justin Verlander. The
Astros have the deepest and most talented rotation in the league, and Verlander
is the bona fide ace. He is 14-3 (leads the Majors in wins) with a 1.81 era
with 122 K’s against just 22 walks in 124 innings. For the National League, my
choice remains Sandy Alcantara. He remains the National League leader in era at
1.81 as well as the Major League leader in complete games (2) and innings pitched
with 144.1.
Sandy Alcantara
Ted's Picks: I feel so bad for my choice for the AL Cy Young Shohei Ohtani. He's gone 9-6 with a 2.81 ERA and 13.1 K/9 while wasting his talents away for the Angels with Mike Trout. Word on the street is that LA is at least entertaining offers for the two way player #FreeShohei. Sandy Alcantara is a no-doubter for the NL award. He's had an absolutely dominant season and should be a household name sooner then later.
Rookie of the Year Winners:
Ted's Picks: For the AL, this award has always been Julio Rodriguez'. He's helped to rejuvenate the Mariners toward a legitimate playoff push. I currently have Padres' pitcher MacKenzie Gore as my National League ROY, but I hope that Oneil Cruz storms into play for it. Would undoubtedly mean more dazzling plays from the 6'7" phenom.
Kevin's
Picks: The American League is a runaway for Julio Rodriguez. The young phenom
out in Seattle. Slashing .272/.336/.820 at the ripe age of 21 to go along with
18 home runs and 56 runs batted in, it’s clear that we have a star on our
hands. Dark horse pick who will not win but deserves consideration is Oriole RP
Felix Bautista. With 55 K’s in just 42 Innings, the towering right hander has
proven he deserves to be in the elite reliver conversation. National League ROY
is a little more difficult, I will go with Spencer Strider from Atlanta. He is
5-3 with a 2.91 era in 11 starts (22 total appearances). Year after year, the
Atlanta Braves continue to develop quality pitching.
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@Choppinglines
Compliments to Correspondent Kev for research and input toward this article
*I own no rights to any images found in this blog
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