We have now reached the postseason and then the award season to cap it off. For this article, I gathered award picks and postseason predictions from numerous writers from this site. Some of their thoughts are listed below.
Postseason Predictions
A.L. Wild Card: Oakland Athletics @ New York Yankees
New York Yankees: 62.5%
Oakland Athletics: 37.5%
“Both those teams have truly incredible rosters and Oakland has surprised us in many ways. But, the Yankees offense is incredible and home field advantage with the Yankee stadium dimensions gives them a slight edge in a game that will most likely be decided by which bullpen makes the first mistake.”- Wisdom
N.L. Wild Card: Colorado Rockies @ Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs: 50%
Colorado Rockies: 50%
“Chicago, with an experienced starter in Jon Lester on the mound and a lineup of talented and playoff tested young players, will outlast a Colorado team that lacks vital experience. While Freeland, Arenado & Story are all great players, Chicago just has an advantage in talent and experience”- Matt Hultman
ALDS: Yankees/Athletics @ Boston Red Sox
Red Sox: 62.5%
Yankees/Athletics: 37.5%
“The Red Sox were the best team in baseball this season. Every night they came to play, more so win. I expect the same from them in the playoffs. They have the best offence in the league. Yes, the Yanks and A’s pitching is good, but I believe any good offence can get to any good pitching.”- Riley Radobenko
ALDS: Cleveland Indians @ Houston Astros
Indians: 37.5%
Astros: 62.5%
“The Astros rotation is perfectly suited for a playoff run, and the strength of the 2017 champs will once again be the driving force behind the Astros return to the championship series. The most balanced team in baseball should find no problems against Cleveland.”- Brian Schlosser
NLDS: Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves
Braves: 18.25%
Dodgers: 81.75%
“Playoff experience matters. The last time the Dodgers weren’t in the playoffs there were members of this Braves team that hadn’t reached High School yet. Even some of the new faces on this Dodger team from last year (Machado, Kemp, Dozier) have experienced that playoff atmosphere in the past, unlike almost anyone on the Braves roster.”- Denis Ackerman
NLDS: Rockies/Brewers @ Chicago Cubs
Brewers: 62.5%
Rockies/Cubs: 37.5%
“The Brewers are as hot at just the right time. Leading the charge is MVP candidate Christian Yelich. With a solid rotation of pitching and a good collection of bats they can push through to make it to the world series.”- Diego Franco Carreno
ALCS Winner:
Red Sox: 31.25%
Astros: 37.5%
Yankees: 18.25%
Athletics: 6.25%
Indians: 6.25%
“My pick to win the World Series is for the Houston Astros to repeat. The Red Sox are considered the favorites to go all the way, but the Astros have a better pitching staff by a good amount. Boston has the advantage on offense and it would be great to see if they meet each other in the ALCS. My prediction is that great pitching will prevail and the Astros have the advantage.”- Jacob Gilreath
NLCS Winner:
Cubs: 25%
Brewers: 31.25%
Rockies: 12.5%
Dodgers: 31.25%
“This could be another situation where Postseason experience matters. Although the bullpenning-type strategy of the Brewers could pay off in the long run.” – Jordan Lazowski
World Series Winner:
Red Sox: 25%
Brewers: 12.5%
Astros: 25%
Yankees: 12.5%
Athletics: 6.25%
Cubs: 6.25%
Indians: 6.25%
“The Boston Red Sox are the best team in baseball for one main reason, they can outhit anyone and can pitch with most of the big boys. With all the “juiced up” playoff baseballs talk last year Boston will ride the best 1-2 punch in the game, Betts and Martinez, and the pitching led by a fresh Chris Sale and a dominant Craig Kimbrel will ride home field advantage throughout the playoffs to Boston’s first championship without Theo Epstein and David Ortiz.”- Jordan Skversky
Awards
AL MVP
1). Mookie Betts
2). Mike Trout
3). J.D. Martinez
4). Jose Ramirez
5). Alex Bregman
“Everyone said his 2016 would be his peak year, but then his 2018 is one of the most dominant seasons in MLB history. Led the league in WAR despite missing 26 games and was the biggest part of the Sox winning 108 games.”- John Principe
NL MVP
1). Christian Yelich
2). Jacob deGrom
3). Javier Baez
4). Nolan Arenado
5). Freddie Freeman
“With a great September that saw him make a run at the Triple Crown and earn a Player of the Month award, Christian Yelich has finally pulled ahead of the pack in the MVP race. In 2018, Yelich posted 7.6 fWAR and finished with a league-leading OPS of 1.000, 65 points above second-place Nolan Arenado (.935). While Jacob deGrom makes a strong case to compete for the award, Yelich has done enough to win MVP for the division champion Brewers.”- Alan Kohler
AL Cy Young
1). Blake Snell
2). Justin Verlander
3). Chris Sale
4). Corey Kluber
5). Trevor Bauer
“Snell was simply the best pitcher in the American League. He had 26/30 starts where he allowed less then two runs, he had an ERA of 1.89, had a win-loss record of 21-5 and had a WAR of 7.5, while striking out over 200. If Chris Sale was healthy for the entire year, he would’ve given Snell a run, but because he wasn’t, the Cy Young shouldn’t even be close.”- Riley Radobenko
NL Cy Young
1). Jacob deGrom
2). Max Scherzer
3). Aaron Nola
4). Kyle Freeland
5). Patrick Corbin
“8.7 bWAR, 7.7 fWAR, 1.71 ERA, 2.06 FIP, 31.5 K%, 5.8 BB%, 216 ERA+, 26 consecutive starts THIS SEASON allowing 3 ER or less. DeGrom is not only the clear-cut Cy Young winner, he should also be the unanimous winner. Anyone who doesn’t vote for him stopped reading his stat line after seeing his 8-9 record.”- Jordan Lazowski
AL Rookie of the Year
1). Shohei Ohtani
2). Miguel Andujar
3). Gleyber Torres
4). Joey Wendle
5). Brad Keller
“Andujar and Torres have had fantastic seasons. Nobody could deny that. But Ohtani hit 22 Homeruns, 61 RBI’s, while pitching over 50 quality innings. Being a dual-player is tough, but he made it look easy.”- Riley Radobenko
NL Rookie of the Year
1). Ronald Acuna Jr.
2). Juan Soto
3). Walker Buehler
4). Brian Anderson
5). Harrison Bader
“Acuna vs Soto is one of the closest Rookie of the Year races in recent memory. Just putting the numbers side by side isn’t going to give a definitive answer (.923 OPS .292 avg for Soto, .917 OPS .293 avg for Acuna). Acuna’s defense was a bit better, but the deciding factor is the impact Acuna had on the season as a whole. Acuna was on a team in a playoff hunt the whole season and took his team from playoff contender to division winner. He set records for leadoff Home runs and was the talk of Major League Baseball for weeks at a time. I hate when the deciding factor is something so unquantifiable, but when it’s this close that can be the only option.”- Denis Ackerman
