WASHINGTON — At long last, spring returns.
It’s been a cold and dark winter for 29 teams — colder and darker for some. But as Opening Day cascades its way around the nation Monday (and Sunday night in Chicago), hope abounds anew for every team. Well, for most teams — sorry, Philadelphia.
Here in Washington, there’s a particular brand of hope, stronger and more desperate than in most every other baseball town. With four key players chugging down the track toward free agency, the initial window of contention that opened for the Washington Nationals in 2012 threatens to close, or at least shrink, at the end of the season. That makes former manager Davey Johnson’s 2013 declaration of “World Series or bust” even more relevant this year.
On paper, Washington is one of the strongest two clubs in the game. The Nats don’t appear to have a true contender in the division, with only their playoff ghosts standing in the way of a deep run into October. Their rotation is not only the best the town has ever seen, but one of the strongest in the history of the game.
But, as the saying goes, games aren’t played on paper. Injury issues and a badly thinned bullpen loom as potential red flags that could keep the Nationals from attaining that elusive October glory.
When the dust settles after 162 games, this is how we believe the cards will play out. Below are our aggregated team-by-team predictions for the entire league.
Among our five prognosticators, we have a number of consensus picks. Each of us expect the Nats to win the NL East, the Dodgers to win the West, Felix Hernandez to capture his second AL Cy Young and Cubs wunderprospect Kris Bryant to take home top rookie honors.
But we’ve got four different American League champion picks between us, and three different title winners. While as a group we have the Orioles winning the most games in the AL East, only two of us actually picked Baltimore to make the playoffs.
Click through the slideshow to see each of our playoff and award predictions, and see each of our boldest season predictions below.
Bold predictions:
J. Brooks — Sports Reporter
Someone will take a no-hitter into the 8th inning on Opening Day, April 6. Pete Rose will be reinstated, but won’t appear on the ballot for induction to the Hall of Fame. David Ortiz will be fined and/or suspended for not following the new rule to stay in the box and Kris Bryant will be up with the Cubs by end of April. Johnny Vander Meer’s record of back-to-back no hitters will be tied, with a no-no on the last day of the regular season. Finally, a player will hit for the cycle in the World Series.
Chris Cichon — Operations
Alex Rodriguez will blast 20 home runs and Chris Tillman will lead the American League East in wins, making him too expensive for the Orioles to afford next offseason.
Noah Frank — Digital Sports Editor
The most overlooked team in baseball — due to its remote location and time zone — is overlooked no more. On the back of the best rotation in baseball (sorry, Washington) and with a revamped offense, the Seattle Mariners win the AL West for the first time since 2001 on the way to their first-ever World Series title.
George Wallace — Sports Reporter
As much as it pains me to say this, Alex Rodriguez will make it to the All-Star break without getting injured, and he will reach some of the career home run milestones that will trigger bonuses from the Yankees. On the flip side, the Yankees will suffer through a losing season for the first time in 20 years. Pete Rose gets reinstated and into the Hall of Fame.
Jonathan Warner — Sports Reporter
Both 2014 NLCS teams miss the playoffs — the World Champion Giants and Cardinals. Yeah, it’s crazy, but I’m tired of seeing them in the playoffs.
