MLB roundtable: Who will throw the next no-hitter this season?

There have already been six no-hitters this season -- and two in two days. So who's next?

The 2021 MLB regular season is now seven weeks old and I think we've all settled into the daily grind that is marathon regular season baseball. The 60-game sprint was fun in its own way last year given the circumstances. Give me the full 162-game experience every day of the week though.

Throughout the season the CBS Sports MLB scribes will bring you a weekly roundtable breaking down, well, pretty much anything. The latest news, a historical question, thoughts about the future of baseball, all sorts of stuff. Last week we debated the dropped-third-strike rule. This week we'll take a shot predicting the next no-hitter.

Who will throw MLB's next no-hitter?

R.J. Anderson: Obviously predicting these things is akin to playing the lottery, but let's go with Brandon Woodruff. He has the second-lowest batting average against in the majors (among qualifiers); a strikeout percentage over 33 percent; and a schedule that should get him a few more cracks against the Pirates, the worst offense in the majors.

Matt Snyder: Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux and Steve Carlton combined for zero career no-hitters. Within the past year, Alec Mills and Wade Miley have thrown one. Do you remember Chris Heston? Yeah, he has one. So do Bud Smith and John Montefusco. This isn't to say great pitchers don't do it. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander have multiple no-hitters. I'm simply saying that greatness isn't necessarily the best route to make a prediction. Trying to earnestly pick a pitcher who is going to be the next one to hurl a no-no seems like a waste of time. Anyone could strike at any time. I'll avoid teams like the Rays who probably wouldn't even let their guy finish and otherwise just grab a random name. I was leaning toward Kevin Gausman based upon how he's pitched with the Giants, but that's not random enough. Congratulations to A's starter Cole Irvin. You are tossing the next no-hitter. 

Dayn Perry: Oh, why not. I'll say Shohei Ohtani. It's his year for baseball miracles, and there's a reasonable chance he gets to face the Mariners multiple times the rest of the way. He's certainly got the stuff to miss bats, and thus far in 2021 he's shown a knack for limiting hard contact. Yes, I realize the sample size underlying that last point is tiny, but I'm not interested in rigor when trying to predict who throws the next no-hitter.  

Mike Axisa: It's impossible to make an earnest prediction, so I'll have some fun with this question and say Blue Jays righty Alek Manoah. Manoah has ripped through Triple-A hitters this season (18 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 27 K) and is receiving rave reviews, and he should be in the mix for a call-up soon. And wouldn't you know it, the Mariners visit the Blue Jays next month. My prediction is Manoah comes up before then, gets his MLB debut out of the way, then no-hits the Mariners at some point during their three-game series from June 29 to July 1 at Sahlen Field in Buffalo. Seattle would become the first team in history to be no-hit three times in a single season. That feels like a very Mariners record, doesn't it?