Will Mike Trout win the MVP this season after a historic rookie year? (credit: AP) This year they get their hardware and the Pirates are the first team to miss the playoffs with both the MVP and Cy Young award winners. The two young stars of this generation both deserved it last year, they just ran into statistically anomalies (Amazing catcher and Triple Crown) to put them behind the eight ball. MVP’s? I’ll go Andrew McCutchen (biased) and Mike Trout.
I say McDonald replicates first half of last season and by the end of the season leads in the National League in wins with a low ERA and top 5 strikeout. The Pirates gave him the third spot in the rotation and need him to do well if they reach. He then developed Steve Blass syndrome and found himself in the bullpen. McDonald’s first half numbers and stuff were filthy and downright uninhabitable. Don’t kill me, but here’s my logic: every year there are a handful of pitchers who come out of nowhere to do well. In the National League, I’ll go WAY out there: James McDonald. Love his pure stuff and think Seattle gets some good vibes going. Dickey? Really? Cy Young for me could be any pitcher in the AL but I’ll go Felix Hernandez. Who wins each of the main awards this year?ĪP: I always stink at award picking. I’ll still say the Dodgers are the favorite at this point, but I’m not as confident about this as I used to be. I’ve waned a bit on them since then, but I do still like the Los Angeles rotation better than Washington’s, even though I think the Nationals have the better lineup. In our previous roundtable, I said the Dodgers were likely the favorite, in part because I’m higher on that rotation than most. The National League is much closer, without a clear favorite. Basically, at this point, I don’t see how the Tigers aren’t the favorites for the AL pennant heading into the season. Beyond that, it’s much, much rarer when a team sweeps the Yankees in the ALCS and improves in the off-season. It’s even rarer when that team has eight starting position players that could potentially make the All-Star team. TW: It’s not often that the team with the consensus best pitcher in baseball has a very strong pitching corps to support him, both in the rotation and in the bullpen. The Nationals do get to beat up on the Mets and Marlins which will help. They are this year’s paper champions but injuries could change that in a hurry. I’ll go with the Dodgers because of the lineup combined with rotation. In the National League, the Dodgers, Braves, Giants and Nationals all have a shot.
I’ll go with the Tigers just because you know they will be good based off last year. Better pitching than the Halos with just as good of a lineup, but with a more unpredictable division. Like I said with divisional picks, the Jays have the AL in their hands. Who are the favorites to win the pennant in each league?ĪP: Pennant is going to be impossible to predict in the AL. For now, I’ll say Toronto wins the division and the Yankees take the second wild card. I think the AL East is the toughest division in baseball this year, and I think that any of the five teams could challenge for a playoff spot (though Baltimore would be a bit of a stretch). In the American League, I have the Tigers soundly taking the Central, with the Rangers taking a wild card spot in the West behind the Angels. In fact, the only other teams I could even conceivably see challenging for a playoff spot, unless significant trade movement is made, are the Phillies and Brewers, and even that would take a lot of fortune. I have the exact same teams making it to the playoffs, with the Braves and Giants winning the wild card spots. Tucker Warner: I agree with Andy on the National League, there’s very little variance there this year. Our staff likes the Tigers’ chances this year, a lot of which has to do with Justin Verlander.