After a long winter of hot stove transactions, Opening Day is just around the corner. For every trade, signing, release, waiver claim and DFA, fans ultimately have just one question about every move: how did this help my team improve? What may be a minor transaction or an under-the-radar signing over the winter could pay huge dividends come October.
The beauty of baseball is that you just never know when “next year” will come. The Rangers, Astros and Cubs had three of the eight worst records in 2014 yet made the postseason in 2015. The Mets and Blue Jays each returned to the playoffs after years of frustration. And, most of all, the Royals firmly erased any doubt that their 2014 AL pennant was a fluke when they broke through for the franchise’s second-ever World Series championship.
The 2016 season will undoubtedly have a lot of surprises, and come October, will the last two teams standing be preseason favorites, or could another unexpected club (or two) rise up to win a pennant? With this in mind, give us your take on which two teams will square off in the World Series. (MLBTR app users can weigh in here for the American League champion and here for the National League champion.)
Who Will Win The AL Pennant?
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Blue Jays 23% (2,897)
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Astros 16% (1,966)
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Royals 12% (1,463)
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Red Sox 10% (1,208)
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Rangers 8% (985)
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Yankees 6% (751)
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Tigers 5% (643)
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Indians 4% (522)
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Orioles 4% (513)
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White Sox 3% (438)
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Mariners 3% (328)
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Angels 3% (323)
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Twins 2% (212)
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Rays 1% (188)
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Athletics 1% (143)
Total votes: 12,580
Who Will Win The NL Pennant?
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Cubs 33% (3,863)
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Mets 15% (1,714)
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Giants 13% (1,570)
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Nationals 8% (984)
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Cardinals 8% (969)
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Pirates 6% (750)
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Dodgers 6% (651)
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Diamondbacks 4% (439)
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Braves 2% (199)
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Phillies 1% (166)
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Padres 1% (127)
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Reds 1% (117)
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Brewers 1% (80)
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Marlins 1% (80)
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Rockies 0% (48)
Total votes: 11,757
I voted Athletics and Phillies #letsgooooo
Genius
I dont get the Blue Jays pick. They couldnt win the pennant with Price, but now without him and with their sluggers one more year older they are expected to do better than last year? Im doubting it, but should be fun watch regardless.
No reason a full year of Stroman can’t replace 11 regular season starts and a mediocre post season out of price
Uhh ok? They didn’t have tulo or Stroman the whole year? Bautista and Encarnacion stay consistent throughout seasons, Donaldson your MVP, pillar should improve, Martin is an above average catcher, bullpen upgrade, Smoak power and Collabello contact at first base, goins should improve, Saunders can come back, Estrada and Happ are pretty good pitchers.
Ok? We didn’t have tulo or Stroman the whole year. Best offense in baseball. Pretty good starting pitching, their bullpen is pretty underrated. I don’t see what’s wrong with them :-/.
Ok? But the playoffs don’t take into account a whole year? They had them for their failed playoff run. So this whole not having them for the full season is bs.
That said, what happened last year shouldn’t influence one’s thoughts on this year. SSS of baseball games can see the best teams get swept by the worst.
You also have the factor in that the playoffs are a crapshoot.
I mean, the 2014 WS was both wild card teams.
The idea that the playoffs are a crapshoot is such a bogus notion, crafted by the guy who doesn’t know how to build a playoff-winning ball club. There is a reason Oakland has failed to win even a single LSC since the implementation of the wild-card…because the playoffs are not a crapshoot. They are won by the teams that play the best playoff baseball. Every team that has won it all in the last ten years does it by pitching well, playing good defense, and being able to be productive offensively. And by productive I do not mean smashing home runs and throwing your bat like you’re king kong, but by being able to get timely hits, moving runners over—bunting, “giving yourself up” or any term you want to use might not be the most productive way to win over 162 games, but in a short series, against the best in baseball, being able to move a runner from 1st to 2nd or 2nd to 3rd and—gasp!—potentially lower you OBP, it can be the difference between winning and losing.
The team that wins it all this year will win by doing the same. The WS champion is not going to be a team that wins 12-10 games.
D-Backs had best offense in baseball before the trade deadline
Wut? D-backs were never even close to the Jays in runs. The Jays were lapping the field from pretty much the end of April on. By the end of June they were 60 runs ahead of the next highest scoring team (the Yankees) and 76 runs ahead of the D-Backs. By July 28 (before the deadline and on the day they got Tulo) they were 96 runs ahead of the D-Backs.
I was in full agreement until you mentioned Happ. One of the worst moves in the off season for any team.
I strongly agree they won’t win anything with their new president from Cleveland as he’s dirt cheap.
Blue Jays seem to be the popular pick in the AL and it’s fairly well deserved. But I gotta go with the Astros as the AL favorite. They were a tough team to beat last year and the Giles trade made them better.
In the NL, well among the best NL teams last year the Cubs made the best on paper moves to get better and they seem prepared to go all in no mater what. So I’m picking the Cubs in the NL.
All those scrub teams getting enough votes put together to equal a team that actually has a chance like the Cardinals.. People took this poll really seriously.
Uhh Cardinals are 5th place. You in trade rumors?
I mean.. in their defense, we’ve seen 4th and 5th place teams jump to the top on a handful of different occasions in the last few years.
What happened last year has nothing to do with what happens this year. Just look at the giants for a perfect example of how one season does not carry over to the next. Baseball is crazy/awesome that way, that’s why it’s so much fun to watch.
My picks are cubs/giants/mets and Rangers/Astros/Jays. It’s too hard to pick just one with such a long season and so many changes that can be made at the deadline.
Blue jays vs. Giants
AL East: Blue Jays
AL Central: Tigers
AL West: Rangers
WC: Royals v Astros
NL East: Mets
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: Giants
WC: Cardinals v Dodgers
WS: Cubs vs Rangers
Can we just talk about how dangerous the Giants could be if Shark and Cain randomly found their old form? That would be the best rotation in baseball. Huge if though.
What old form for shark? The one year he was good? And what old form for cain, pre injury? Yeah if those things happen, that’d be a rotation to rival the mets and the giants offense is way better.
Add to that, what cueto are they getting? The giants are going to be my favorite non-cubs team to watch this year, for sure. They could go really well, or poorly.
Dodgers, Cubs, Nats – Angels, Det, Tor
1-5 they are deep. Bumgarner, Cueto, Shark, Peavy & Cain. With Heston as the swing man. Not to mention they have the best Catcher in baseball, Crawford is a stud and we all know what Pence can do when he is healthy. And oh yeah, it’s 2016 an even year so let’s see if the streak continues.
Lol… Some guy must be walking around out there with nothing at all because you got it all… An even year lol
Well thats a shocker that everybody chose Chicago to win lol
Cubs aren’t winning the World Series, or getting there, this year. Arrieta is going to regress. He threw 90+ more innings last year than his previous high. There is always a price to pay for that.
Lester is an excellent pitcher but he has a lot of mileage on his left arm. He’s getting to the age where he will start declining. Lackey is old and no lock to reproduce past results. Hammel is a .500 pitcher. I think the Cubs are a disappointment this year.
Jays don’t have enough pitching to win it all. Stroman is good but he has never thrown 200 innings and is not a big guy so even if he can hit that goal, he might not be effective. Happ, Dickey and Sanchez scare no one.
I say Mets vs. Astros in the WS.
That’s a worse case scenario across the field for every single pitcher in the Cubs rotation. Everything you said about Arrieta can be seen in the Mets rotation as well. A lot of extra miles on a lot of previous TJ pitchers; at least with the Cubs, they have a dynamite offense to make up for pitching issues. The Mets only factor is their pitching, albeit a very good factor, but they have no quality positional depth, below average defense across the board, and thin hitting with the whole line-up depending on Cespedes and Conforto. Remember, before Cespedes came over and out performed anyone’s expectations, the Mets were well out of first place. If Murphy never turned into Babe Ruth in the NLCS, the Mets shouldn’t have ever made it out of the divisional series. I agree that the Cubs are asking a lot from Arrieta, Lester, and Lackey, but less than normal performances from them three are better than what you think. This Cubs line up doesn’t need all of their pitchers to throw sub 3 era seasons to be successful.
Good points. That’s why it’s so fun to watch the twists and turns of a 162- game season. Not trying to cut down the Cubs, just don’t think they’re a lock to win it all like a majority of people.
Actually, the Mets were not “well out of first place;” they were only three games back at the trade deadline. Additionally, the Mets’ lineup is solid, hardly dependent on just two players.
Why is everyone so down on the royals they didn’t lose anyone that important
I don’t understand it either. My guess is that people are very high on the Tigers offseason.
Cueto, Zobrist, Madson, Holland, and Morales are pretty important.
They have replaced all those that left. And almost all of their players continue to get better.
This reminds me of last year when people asked how they could possibly replace Shields, Aoki, and Butler.
And what Morales did they lose?
They didn’t replace Rios or Zobrist.Infante and Orlando currently sit atop their depth chart at 2B/RF.
If you want to count Ian Kennedy as replacing Johnny Cueto, you can, but I mean.. not really.
Ryan Madson, Greg Holland and Franklin Morales got replaced by Soria, Dillon Gee and Chien-Ming Wang.
I think with the ChiSox and Tigers improving significantly from last year, The Royals losing key players and replacing them with mediocrity, that is why people are down on them.
Thats not even mentioning the fact they have a depleted farm system
Cueto was terrible for them. Zobrist is replaceable, morales is trash, Madison was replaced by Soria and they didn’t have holland last year
There are a few things at work with the Royals…….
First off, people want something new. They want to get the new sandwich at Burger King because they tired of Taco Bell.
Next, most fans in America cannot possibly watch 30 teams games. So they depend on highlights and statistics. Much of what the Royals do to win is the sort of thing that one has to watch a number of games to understand. Other then Royals fans and baseball aficionados, fans don’t have that sort of time.
Wow, the Braves and the Phillies actually garnered some votes here. I believe this will be a pennant race on who’ll be getting that first pick.
I don’t know what is more insane : that the braves are currently at 100 votes or that the Orioles are at 295 votes (and almost 5% of the AL vote).
How can the Cubs not easily make the WS? America’s darlings.
What could possibly go wrong?
Darlings–really?!
I think sarcasm is just a tad lost on you. =)
Last time I checked it was 2016, which is an even year, so it’s clearly the Giants in the NL.
Red Sox/Dodgers WS. Placed the bet in Vegas!
Rangers and Cubs
Mets vs. Blue Jays. Epic pitching vs hitting. Astros and Cubs are also top considerations.
spot on bro
You know it
I am a proud fan (possibly one of the few according to the numbers) of the team with the fewest votes in the poll. I’m not going to say that the Rockies will win the pennant, but I bet they will finish with a better record than the Braves, Reds, Padres, and Brewers at the very least. I won’t throw the Phillies in that group because they are my sleeper team this season. I really think they can make a Rangers-like rebound with a few breaks.
Rockies offense is potent, they’re always a tough team to pitch to. IMO, the only thing holding Rockies back from winning is their pitching, which seems to always be a tough find for them. Good luck!
Rays/Indians/Rangers
Mariners-Yankees
Nationals/Cubs/Giants
Pirates-Mets (had D’Backs over the Mets until yesterday)
Giants over Rangers in the WS
I’m gonna say New York Yankees. Just because they are the New York Yankees !
Mets Royals again
Division Winners
Yankees Mets
Royals Cubs
Rangers Giants
Wildcard
Indians Nationals
Astros Pirates
Alcs
Rangers vs Royals
Nlcs
Cubs vs Mets
World Series
Rangers beat Cubs in 7 games at Wrigley
Houston vs San Francisco! Houston snaps San Franciso’s every other year of winning W.S. Houston in 6 games!
Astros vs. Pirates in the World Series. And, if not the Pirates, then one of the Cubs or Dodgers.
I’m not a Tigers fan, but I’m waiting for the moment when they blow everyone away and win the AL. They seem underrated. Go Dodgers!