No prediction will ever be perfect. Whether you rely on a sophisticated algorithm or the rumblings from your gut, a full major-league season is just about impossible to fully predict. Injuries can derail seasons, and out-of-nowhere star turns happen often enough to turn the whole league on its head. 

That doesn’t stop us from trying, of course. As Fantasy analysts, our whole job is to make predictions, and that doesn’t just stop with Fantasy outcomes. We’re looking at the league as a whole this time out, providing our best guesses for what’s going to happen this coming season. 

We’ve also gone out on a limb a bit more, providing three bold predictions each. These are all a little on the outlandish side, but not so outlandish they aren’t in the realm of possibility. Fantasy Baseball Today podcast host Adam Aizer has joined Heath Cummings, Scott White and I to preview the 2017 season all offseason long, so it’s only natural he gets a crack at making predictions too. Let’s all agree to return to these in September and only talk about what we got right. 

Postseason Picks

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Adam Aizer
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Heath Cummings
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Chris Towers
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Scott White
World Series winner
World Series runner-up
Award Picks
Award
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Adam Aizer
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Heath Cummings
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Chris Towers
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Scott White
AL MVP Mike Trout Mike Trout Mike Trout Josh Donaldson
NL MVP Kris Bryant Anthony Rizzo Bryce Harper Bryce Harper
AL Cy Young Chris Archer Chris Sale Marcus Stroman Justin Verlander
NL Cy Young Jacob deGrom Clayton Kershaw Clayton Kershaw Clayton Kershaw
AL Rookie of the Year Andrew Benintendi Andrew Benintendi Andrew Benintendi Andrew Benintendi
NL Rookie of the Year Hunter Renfroe Koda Glover Dansby Swanson Dansby Swanson

Adam’s Bold Predictions

  • “Gregory Polanco will be the best Pirates outfielder”
  • “Blake Snell gets demoted before the All-Star Break”
  • “Greg Bird has a better season than Hanley Ramirez”

Polanco showed what he is capable of in the first half of last season, when he hit .287/.362/.500 before the All-Star break. A slump wrecked his season numbers, but he still took a nice step forward, and has 25-25 upside, with the skills to hit .300 to boot. This isn’t a bad prediction, though overcoming Starling Marte’s edge in stolen bases will be tough, not to mention a potential bounceback season for Andrew McCutchen.  

Heath’s Bold Predictions

  • “Danny Salazar leads the AL in strikeouts”
  • “Felix Hernandez wins 20 games for first time in his career”
  • “Maikel Franco is a top-10 3B in both formats”

Catch him on the right night, and Danny Salazar certainly looks the part of a Cy Young candidate. He’s never hit the 200-strikeout mark, but coming off a season in which he struck out 10.6 per nine innings, it doesn’t take much projection to put him among the league leaders. The biggest thing is getting through a whole season healthy. If he can do that, a strikeout title isn’t far-fetched.   

Chris’ Bold Predictions

  • “Two hitters reach 50 homers”
  • “Billy Hamilton steals 100 bases”
  • “Joc Pederson finishes top-five in NL MVP”

We’ve only had three 50-homer seasons in the last decade, and there haven’t been two in the same season since 2006. However, with star sluggers like Giancarlo Stanton, Kris Bryant, and Bryce Harper, as well as other players like Mark Trumbo and Miguel Sano with plenty of raw power to spare, I think we see a return to the big numbers of the early 2000’s. The middling hitters got the bulk of the home run increase last season; it’s time to let the big fellas play.   

Scott’s Bold Predictions

  • “James Paxton is one of the three AL Cy Young finalists”
  • “Xander Bogaerts slips outside of the top eight shortstops”
  • “Matt Harvey is the Mets’ best pitcher from May 1 on”

Scott still hasn’t given up on Harvey, despite his spring struggles. Harvey’s spring has put him under a microscope, with the radar gun results of every pitch the source of breathless speculation. What Scott thinks is that it’s not what the radar gun says in March that matters. Even a slow start might not be enough to shake his faith in the former Cy Young winner, who could simply need some time to work back to full strength.