It’s that time again. The 2017 Major League Baseball season is beginning on Sunday, so it’s time to throw out our staff predictions for purposes of angering the readership/setting ourselves up for mockery late in the season.
On the latter point, though, sometimes we get a lot right. Last year, three of us had the Cubs winning the NL and two of us, myself included, correctly nailed the Cubs as World Series champions. Of course, we’re never going to get everything -- what would be the fun if baseball were so predictable? -- as only one of us (Dayn Perry) had the Indians in the playoffs, and that was as the second AL wild-card team.
How will we do this time? A few of us have the Cubs repeating as champion. Others have a different team finally getting over the hump, including two Indians picks, which would mean that two years in a row, the longest championship drought would be broken.
Below you’ll find our predictions for the 2017 season. Some will be very wrong and some will likely be dead-on accurate. Feel free to take part in the fun by posting your own predictions. Picks here come from senior writers Jonah Keri and Bill Reiter and baseball scribes R.J. Anderson, Mike Axisa, Dayn Perry and Matt Snyder. Be sure to stick around for our bracket predictions below.
| |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL WC 1 |  |  | |  |  |  |
| AL WC 2 |  | |  | |  | |
| NL WC 1 |  |  |  | | | |
| NL WC 2 | | | | | | |
| AL Champ | |  | | |  | |
| NL Champ |  | |  |  | | |
| WS Champ | | | | | | |
| Award | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NL MVP | Corey Seager | Bryce Harper | Corey Seager | Bryce Harper | Kris Bryant | Kris Bryant |
| AL MVP | Mookie Betts | Mike Trout | Carlos Correa | Mike Trout | Mike Trout | Mike Trout |
| NL Cy Young | Noah Syndergaard | Clayton Kershaw | Clayton Kershaw | Noah Syndergaard | Max Scherzer | Clayton Kershaw |
| AL Cy Young | Corey Kluber | Chris Sale | Chris Sale | Jose Quintana | Chris Sale | Corey Kluber |
| NL ROY | Dansby Swanson | Dansby Swanson | Dansby Swanson | Dansby Swanson | Dansby Swanson | Dansby Swanson |
| AL ROY | Andrew Benintendi | Andrew Benintendi | Andrew Benintendi | Andrew Benintendi | Andrew Benintendi | Andrew Benintendi |
| NL MOY | Joe Maddon | Brian Snitker | Pete Mackanin | Bud Black | Mike Matheny | Dave Roberts |
| AL MOY | A.J. Hinch | Scott Servais | Mike Scioscia | Scott Servais | Jeff Banister | Terry Francona |
Jonah Keri’s Playoff Bracket
Matt Snyder’s Playoff Bracket
Dayn Perry’s Playoff Bracket
Mike Axisa’s Playoff Bracket
R.J. Anderson’s Playoff Bracket
Bill Reiter’s Playoff Bracket
