The Philadelphia Phillies open the 2016 MLB season on Monday, April 4th while six other clubs open up today.
Our annual process of polling the staff here at TBOH as to their predictions for the coming season has been completed, and so we’re rolling out those picks in a series of pieces.
The TBOH staff will reveal our cumulative staff choice, as well as our individual picks, for the order of finish in each of Major League Baseball’s six divisions, the two Wildcard teams from each league, and our World Series favorites.
To determine the staff cumulative pick for each division, I took the predicted order of finish from each of our writers and assigned a numerical value. Teams picked for first place received one point, teams picked to finish in fifth received five points. Thus, the lower your overall total points, the higher your predicted finish. The total points are listed next to each team name.
We’ll also be revealing our staffers picks for the Most Valuable Player Award in both the National and American Leagues, as well as the Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year Award winners in both leagues.
Finally, our staffers have chosen their MLB manager who is most likely to become the first casualty of the season, the first to be fired this year.
Enjoy our picks, and we would love to hear your own. Please feel free to leave your choices in a comment. We’ll be sure to read them.
AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST DIVISION – Staff cumulative pick
- Houston Astros (11) – Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Carlos Gomez all dynamic. Get corner infield production, could win division easily.
- Texas Rangers (11) – when Yu Darvish comes back, Rangers have best pitching combo with Cole Hamels, could prove the difference.
- Seattle Mariners (23) – we have clear tiers here: Tex/Hou at top, Sea/LAA in middle, Oak at bottom. Could flip-flop with Angels.
- Los Angeles Angels (25) – aside from the best player in the game, Mike Trout, and of course Albert Pujols, I like very little about this team.
- Oakland Athletics (35) – Sonny Gray in rotation, and if Sean Doolittle is healthy, really like their pen. That’s it. Not enough offense to win.
Matt Veasey: Texas, Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland
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Ethan Witte – Texas, Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland
Mike Azzalina – Houston, Texas, Los Angeles, Seattle, Oakland
Alexis Girardo – Texas, Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle, Oakland
Tyler DiSalle – Houston, Texas, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland
Ryan Gerstel – Houston, Texas, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland
David Mosemann: Houston, Texas, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland