BYB Predictions Post: Our annual exercise to remind us just how wrong we can be

Major League Baseball has returned to us after a long, long winter of discontent. With the regular season about to get underway, it’s time for our yearly exercise in futility. The longer many of us have covered the game, the more apt we become to just throw up our hands and scream about the various injuries and disasters that have undone predictions past. As a singer once sung, “the past is a grotesque animal, and in its eyes you see, how completely wrong, you can be.”

But hey it’s worth discussing anyway, and at least sparks the conversation in terms of expectations for various top teams and players this season. You won’t be surprised to note that the Tigers are not picked to go deep in the playoffs this year. A few us give them a shot at the wild card round, however.

We’ll break this up into American League, National League, and then an awards and World Series champ section, because with the expanded wild card this whole thing is getting too long to fit.

There are some interesting trends. The NL West is packed with three teams that could all be among the top five in all of baseball this year. The potential for wild finishes and postseason reversals are plentiful. The American League feels more up for grabs this season than the past couple, as the Astros are a bit weakened by the loss of Carlos Correa, while upstarts like the Mariners and Blue Jays are threatening to tip the usual power balances in the East and West.

One thing most of us agree on: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Juan Soto are likely to win the respective league MVP awards. Another is that the AL Central is looking particularly weak, which presents the Tigers an opportunity if they can reverse last year’s results, and beat up on their divisional opponents this season. We didn’t revise our predictions based on the Twins trade for Chris Paddack, but it probably wouldn’t move the needle anyway.

We’ll be interested to hear your predictions in the comments. Happy Opening Day!