2020 MLB Preview: Award picks, Fantasy standouts, World Series winners, and more

The Fantasy Baseball Today team gives their predictions for divisions, World Series winners, and league awards for 2020.

By Chris Towers

Jul 22, 2020 at 1:21 pm ET • 5 min read

The MLB season starts Thursday, and there is still so much we don't know. Final rosters are being set, but even more so than usual, those rosters will be subject to change on a daily basis as teams try to navigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic all season long. That will play a big part in the Fantasy season as well as the real MLB season, and it's an unknown factor at this point.

Which makes the whole idea of predictions even harder than usual. Add in a shortened season, and this season promises to be more unpredictable than ever. The Fantasy Baseball Today team gave you our bold predictions Wednesday, and we're back with our preview of how the 2020 MLB season will go. We've got division winners, World Series and award picks, but we'll be starting with our attempts to answer some of the biggest questions facing Fantasy players and MLB fans as a whole heading into 2020.

Two big Fantasy questions and one big MLB question

1. Who will be the top waiver-wire add of the year?

Scott White: Brendan Rodgers will turn out to be the Rockies up-and-comer everyone is sleeping on, finding his way into regular at-bats at second base and finally making good on his top prospect standing.

Frank Stampfl: Corbin Burnes. Brewers, if you're reading this, please put Burnes in the rotation! Burnes, like Mitch Keller, had terrible surface numbers last season with an 8.82 ERA and a 1.84 WHIP. All the while, he averaged 12.9 K/9 with an insane 17.2% swinging strike rate. His slider is already one of the best in baseball. He's worked as a starter throughout summer camp and if he stays in the rotation of the entirety of the season, he could be a league-winner.

Chris Towers: Edward Olivares. Olivares isn't nearly the same kind of prospect as any of the rest of this group, but he's got a very Fantasy-friendly profile, coming off a season where he hit .283 with 18 homers and 35 steals in Double-A. His chances of earning a significant role are being underrated, and if he's playing everyday, Olivares could be the kind of power-speed threat we typically trip over ourselves to draft.

Adam Aizer: MacKenzie Gore. The Padres are aggressive with prospects, so if they are contending don't be surprised if Gore is in the rotation.

2. What is one thing we'll have to ignore from 2020 when looking ahead at 2021?

Scott: The final SP rankings, which could be warped by a rogue start here and there or the sort of wacky win-loss records we're likely to see with most pitchers making only a dozen starts. The underlying skill indicators might still be of value, but we'll want take the base numbers with a grain of salt.

Frank: This is two-fold. I think we're going to have to temper our reactions. There will be players who come out of nowhere and put up ridiculous stat lines. There will be big names who underperform tremendously. While this season's data should matter somewhat for 2021, I don't think we should overreact too much to outlier production.

Chris: Everything? I don't mean that literally, but pretty much everything is going to be suspect in a 60-game season. For a two-month stretch last May and June, Hunter Renfroe was 21st and Jackie Bradley Jr. was 29th in MLB in OPS, while Blake Snell had the third-worst ERA in baseball and Jack Flaherty was eighth-worst. We'll be able to decipher some skill changes amid the noise, but figuring out what was a skill change and what was just a hot two months will be nearly impossible.

Adam: Managers will have short hooks for their starting pitchers. I suspect this will mostly be true for pitchers at the back end of the rotation, but with a shortened season and an increased importance for each game, you can expect to see managers go to their bullpens earlier than they normally would.

3. Who is your dark-horse World Series contender?

Scott: I'm not sure if they count, but the Reds. I could see things going really right for the starting trio of Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo and Trevor Bauer — like, all three contending for the Cy Young — and the lineup is deep and balanced after the additions of Nick Castellanos, Mike Moustakas and Shogo Akiyama.

Frank: White Sox. I think this is a top-five lineup in baseball and might compete for the best in baseball. The pitching is a little iffy, but if Yasmani Grandal could help Reynaldo Lopez and Dylan Cease take that next step, they could be dangerous.

Chris: Angels. The Angels are one of the most top-heavy teams in baseball, which gives them a very narrow margin for error. But if Tommy La Stella's 2019 was for real and Justin Upton bounces back, this is one of the best top-fives in baseball, and Jo Adell could make it absolutely terrifying before long. There are rotation questions, but it could be good enough, especially if one or two of the non-Shohei Ohtani arms makes a leap.

Adam: Brewers: They won 89 games last season without anything resembling an ace on their pitching staff. The NL Central is wide open and Milwaukee's lineup could still be great, plus adding Corey Knebel should give their bullpen a nice boost.