The MLB Trade Rumors Free Agent Prediction Contest is now closed. Over 4,600 people made picks! In the coming weeks, MLBTR will publish a leaderboard for the results.
Further contest info:
- After the window to make picks has closed, we’ll post a public leaderboard page so you can see who’s winning the contest as players sign with teams. We’re going to use entrants’ full names on it. So, if that concerns you, please do not enter the contest. Entries with inappropriate names will be deleted.
- We are also collecting email addresses, which I will use to notify winners.
- If a player signs between now and the close of the contest, that player will be excluded from the contest.
- After you submit your picks, you’ll receive an email from Google Forms. In that email, you’ll see a button that allows you to edit your picks.
- We will announce the winners on MLBTR once all 50 free agents have signed. We will award $500 to first place, $300 to second place, and $100 to third place. We will also be giving one-year memberships to Trade Rumors Front Office for everyone who finishes in the top 15. Winners must respond to an email within one week.
- The winners of this contest will be declared on March 25th, 2026, and any unsigned players will be excluded from the competition.
- Ties in the correct number of picks will be broken by summing up the rankings of the free agents of the correct picks and taking the lower total. For example: Tim and Steve each get two picks correct. Tim gets Kyle Tucker (#1 ranking) and Robert Suarez (#21 ranking) for a total of 22 points. Steve gets Framber Valdez (#6) and Michael King (#14) for a total of 20 points. Steve’s total is lower and he’s ahead of Tim for tiebreaker purposes.
If you have any further questions, ask us in the comment section of this post!
I really enjoy this contest each year, but I won’t be using my full real name. In the past it was stated nobody can use nicknames or just first names, but they ended up being allowed anyway. LOL!
Maybe next year some of the prizes could be lunch with one of the MLBTR writers? Talking baseball in that setting would be quite cool, I wouldn’t mind paying for transportation ;O)
While a cool idea.. A lunch with one of the writers wouldn’t work for us who live paycheck to paycheck, sadly.
But Fever Pitch said he would pay for transportation. Maybe he will shake the couch cushions and pay for hotel as well.
Hotel? I thought he said lunch, not breakfast in bed.
Another – Exactly! I like the writers here, but not THAT much!
Lol
I’d rather have the money tbh. And the logistics are difficult for most people here I would think.
Pete – I think they are all centrally located within the US though, nobody would have to travel from coast to coast.
To each their own, but travelling to have lunch with one of these dudes…?
Yeah but then there’s cost of transportation, lodging, arranging time off from work potentially, etc etc. It’s a significant and probably in many cases inaccessible level of expense and effort for a lot of readers.
You could make it a Zoom hang. BYOB and talk baseball for an hour.
Or make it a 2020 version of life as a baseball fan: Lunch with a cardboard cutout of one of the writers.
Bingo, Rondon! I think we have a winning idea for next year’s contest. Choice of $500 cash or DoorDash gift card and Zoom chat with your favorite MLBTR writer. @TimDierkes, what say you?
Fever, at least 2 of the writers live in Canada
Space Ghost is Coast to Coast
jays – Yeah I know, I should have been more specific. I wouldn’t mind traveling up to Toronto for a lunch. Too bad the Underground Garage is closed, I liked that place.
FPG,
You mean Fever Pitch Guy isn’t your real name? I’ve assumed incorrectly all this time…
gbs – Actually it’s Ben Wrightman, but I’m thinking of legally changing my name to a symbol …..
Ƭ̵̬̊
The Artist Formerly Known As Fever Pitch Guy.
Make it smaller. Like top 10. 50 picks takes too long.
Sure, then there could be 3000 ties to divide up the $900 pain prize money.
I like the idea of doing 50. It’s pretty challenging.
Maybe cut it back a little? There so many virtually-equivalent starters in the middle, and virtually-equivalent relievers at the end that it feels like randomness and luck might play too big a role.
Just a suggestion; really appreciate you doing this.
I’d say it’s for the fun of it, to think about what teams need, what they can afford, and what players may be worth more than the fabulous cash prizes.
I gave up after 22
You could like you know not participate
It would seem that over 4,600 disagree with you.
I think I did badly last season overall though I started well. I was just thinking about this earlier so yay! Let’s go!
I tied Tim last year so .188 or 44th place. I think I would have scored higher just by assigning people to the top free agent signing clubs. Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Phillies or Blue Jays.
I love this. I never do well, but I love it.
Same though I usually don’t submit a form I just kinda have my own guesses, this year I did and I expect to do even worse lol
If you just pick Dodgers on everybody you will win.
How? The Dodgers already have a filled team. If anything, that’s an easy strategy to lose the contest.
If you’re in doubt on someone, choosing Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, or Phillies is probably a good bet. If it’s a player with a lot of question marks, choose the Angels.
If the pitcher is over 35 and has had recent stints on the IL then default them to Angels. Especially if you can just feel an overpay is coming on a 3-4 year contract.
The Red Sox used to be the spot for reclamation projects. Hopefully that has ended.
Take all the money you have and bet on the dodgers to win the World Series.
I picked the Mets for almost every FA pitcher
You have to pick every 4-5 back end guy for them.
Great job mlb trade rumors i wait for this every year
I’ll vote for every player to sign with the Dodgers and will get about 35% right. Extra points for getting deferrals right😂
Love it. This is how I got my membership this yr
Would you pay for it I have wondered about becoming a member?
I enjoy the extea chats and team dee0 dives, will likey purchase after my prize year is up
“Ties in the correct number of picks will be broken by summing up the rankings of the free agents of the correct picks and taking the lower total”
This seems backwards. It’s easier to guess the higher rated players than the lower ones. Not every team is in on Tucker. Any team could be in on Emilio Pagan
I always like the idea of tiebreaker goes according to the timeline; 1st to initially select and guess the correct amount of winners should be first priority to win.
Random is probably the best
Or splitting the pot
Giving favouritism because you happen to be in a certain time zone or have a certain schedule seems weird
Ahhhh, but as of right now the winner is still undecided. It comes down to being right “the most” and that is still undetermined!
MLBTR needs to get with the modern baseball program. We need ways to bet an over/under on how many picks each contestant gets right. Parlay that with prop bets like who signs closest to January 1. Think like Manfred — more and more gambling (unless you are a player).
Can we get action on the probability of this happening on the site?
There is a 20 to 25% chance of getting each correct by putting the Dodgers.
That is actually a relatively sound strategy…
…in the meantime I saw someone say that this contest closed at noon today, and I had less than ten minutes to get it done as I forgot about it. I am thinking that I will be in the running for last place. Again.
I was fishing all day today. Got back just in time to get my picks in 15 minutes before the deadline. I’m going to give you a run for your money for last……….
Winner gets banned by Lookout Landing.
They ban you too? Exclusive little club that doesn’t like dissent.
I like doing the picks, but I get so many wrong 🤣
1 for 50 last year. I can only do better this year, right?!?! 🤪
I’m betting the over 4.5 for you Gwynning. Go get ’em.
Gwynning,
You *could* do worse…
*fast abacus noises*
> A few moments later…
Shoot, yer right gbs. I’ll need a Mark Grace Slumpbuster at that point!
As I attempt to try this contest for the first time, I have one question: Is there a prize for finishing last?
Yes, you get to take the blame next time Ohtani the Lizard Lord gets caught gambling. You will be sentenced to fight a Garthok to the death on planet Remulak
Maintain low tones
My goal is to beat my record of 6. I don’t get a good vibe, though.
I voted. All 50 will sign with the dodgers. Manfred will allow the Dodgers to have a 75 person active roster, because he said Ohtani asked nicely. All 50 will sign 100 year, 10 trillion dollar contracts with all but one penny deferred. Manfred will make all the other teams pay down the contacts, at the request of Ohtani and all the other Lizard People.
Imagine
1) having this thought cross your mind
2) thinking it was so good that you had to post it
The first Lizard Lord joke was funny. The sequel fell flat, though. As most sequels do…
It will NOT let me place Justin Verlander??
So, I wanted to finish my picks today, but when I click on the link that says “Click Here”, it says that I have an invalid link?? How did this happen, I’m so confused
@SFGiantsfan28
Works fine for me. Maybe clear the cache and see if that works.
Picks are in. Sad performance expected.
Kind of a weak class overall this year. Also don’t expect owners wanting to sign on for too many long-term deals not knowing what 2027 and beyond looks like…
This is my favorite thing about this website. Thanks for keeping it going!
testing 1 2 3
My picks are done. Probably going to get 1 or 2 right.
I entered the FA contest today and have not received a email conformation.
Frank Etter
Now that the contest is closed, I can divulge my secret tactic this year. I just went Dodgers on every single reliever. That is almost a guaranteed 3-4 correct. Hope it works.
Being right doesn’t matter, when you are surrounded by people who refuse to admit when they are wrong.
Last year, those dm GMs kept picking the wrong players. It’s amazing how badly THEY screwed up.
There are 29 loser teams and another Dodger WS ring to prove it…..
Shoot!! When was the contedst announced?
I was looking for the post but couldn’t find it!
Anyways, I did bad last year and only got like 21 of 50 right….
That’s amazing given that first place had 13 right last year. You may want to look up how many you really got correct.
I’ll take things that didn’t happen for $1000 Alex!
I was changing picks till the end. Sure you could just say put the big teams for all and you’d probably get a good portion right, but where’s the fun in that? Winning is better when you actually try.
Can yall “re-open” this but leave it jsut for fun? Or maybe just share the google doc CCv I didn’t get mine in in time, would like to just write it down and watch for myself
I am too lazy and incompetent to make it on my own
DAMN!!!! I missed it!!!
Love the contest and hate it at the same time.I think best is 7/50 haha
I won’t participate because I have better success putting “Yankees” down for all of them rather than thinking about it, but its a cool idea.
The winner should have bragging rights e.g. screen name blue instead of red for the next year to demonstrate his/her superiority over the also-ran commenters.
I never received an email after submitting picks. anyone else run into this issue know how to potentially remediate? Thanks!
Started a few days ago but got discouraged after like pick 9 or 10 with all the permutations, overthinking and scenarios. Went back in today emboldened but contest now closed. Oh well. Pretty cool contest tho and will look to hit it next year.
I picked a split of the Dodgers and Mets on all of them. Just send me the check now.
Sitting this one out. My picks over the last couple of attempts have been so bad that even if I stumbled into a win I would consider it pure luck and would prefer to have someone obviously more worthy win it. Seriously .. that bad. Usually out of it before we run out of turkey leftovers.
May the competition and smack talk be fierce, yet polite. and respectful. Well, that will probably end before we even get the leftovers into the tupperware, but sitll. 🙂
OT.Have you ever considered (Or maybe you have it) “Top 30 players to be Traded”??
Post the leaderboard soon. Naylor just started the fun!!!
How do we see how we are doing? I can’t remember half of what I picked!
I never received an email with my picks. Looks like others on here with the same issue.