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Predicting every division winner and star player of a baseball season that hasn’t even started yet is a near impossible thing to do. Especially considering so many new rules will change the game of baseball this year. Many have tried and failed, but here’s a crack at predicting possibly the hardest year in baseball history to predict anyway.

Division Winners

National League West: San Diego Padres

Let’s start things off with the NL. A whole lot has happened out west since the Astros hoisted the World Series trophy last October. Xander Bogaerts is a Padre, the Turner’s are out of L.A., Aaron Judge is a… Yankee (sorry Giants fans). With all the hype around San Diego and the arrival of Bogaerts, it would seem foolish to give the top spot to anyone else. Expect Soto to turn a mediocre 2022 season around into a much more productive 2023. Machado will keep producing his big Machado numbers and Bogaerts is the perfect spark to ignite the Padres’ championship caliber fire. A top ten starting rotation that more often looks closer to number one than number ten coupled with a bullpen that contains Josh Hader should be capable of a 100+ win season this year. It’ll be up to the still-star-studded Dodgers and the Diamondback’s young talent to slow them down. Don’t expect the Rockies or Giants to do a whole lot of damage this year. 

National League Central: St. Louis Cardinals

This may be the easiest pick of all. St. Louis was red-hot all of 2022. Losing Harrison Bader isn’t ideal by any means but the addition of Willson Contreras and rookie Jordan Walker should prove to keep a great team great. The multiple Cincinnati and Pittsburgh series alone should give the Cardinals around twelve wins this year. Yelich’s Brewers are the closest thing to competing with the Cardinals this year, with Chicago in the middle of the pack. Reds and Pirates fans should be overjoyed with 70 win seasons. Don’t expect either to compete for the central title this year. 

National League East: New York Mets

Predicting the National League East Champions is as easy as predicting the President in the year 2050. On one hand, the Mets are obviously good. A good lineup of hitters with the reigning NL batting champ, maybe the best starting rotation in baseball, and a good bullpen should win the East. But the Braves are exciting too. A similar roster to last year with the obvious exception of Dansby Swanson should be as capable of winning the division as anyone. On top of all of this, the defending NL champs should be in the conversation as well. Still though, it seems wild not to pick the Mets. And just because we pick them to win, doesn’t mean we have to root for them! Expect the Mets to win the East with the Braves right behind them. Sorry Nationals fans, you won’t be competing for the East this year. As for the Phillies and Marlins, who knows what can happen. Both teams are certainly exciting to watch play and both have a whole lot of young talent. While the addition of Trea Turner and his potentially MVP caliber play this year could help the Phillies compete out East, the Phillies are as unpredictable a team as they come (i.e. every Phillies season for the past quarter decade). Marlins, we’re all rooting for you to turn this thing around. It seems like the time could very well be now.

American League West: Houston Astros

Oh boy, another toughie. The obvious easy choice is the Astros. They’ve not only won the division in every full length season since 2017, but have also won 100 games in each of them. I think I speak for every non-southern American when I say we hope to see the Astros dethroned this year. It won’t happen. Expect a 100 win Astros team to compete again in October. Those trailing them however, are much more of a story. Mike Trout is the best player in the world, Shohei Ohtani is the best two-way player maybe ever. The Los Angeles Angels are not a good team. This is the definition of the theory that a few superstars can’t win a ring by themselves, and they’ve been proving it to us for quite some time. The two teams that will compete in a big way this year; Seattle and Texas. Texas has been slowly creeping up on becoming a real-deal team. The addition of DeGrom alone will be a big deal. Seattle showed us what they’re capable of last year; the postseason. To recap, the Astros win the division, Texas and Seattle follow right behind. Los Angeles finishes fourth and Ohtani leaves in December. As for the Athletics, this won’t be a blockbuster year but those years are coming soon. Move the team, sell the team, whatever. 

American League Central: Cleveland Guardians

The Guardians are good. The White Sox are good. The Twins are good. The odds of any of these teams winning the division should be even. Now even though it’s hard to do, let’s make some predictions. The Guardians win the division despite the team name “Guardians”. This isn’t a crazy take by any means, they won it last year and they should do it again. Next, let’s take the White Sox. The southsiders have had a decent roster and a good amount of excitement around them for a few years now, and it’s time they start stepping up to the plate. The Twins finish third. Now I realize that this is the exact finish of the AL Central in 2022, but I can’t see it going very differently. For the sake of mixing it up, we’ll take Kansas City at four and the Tigers in last. Bobby Witt Jr. is a fun player to watch and apart from him there won’t be a whole lot of Tigers vs. Royals games playing on my home television. 

American League East: Toronto Blue Jays

Ready for an unpopular sports take? The Yankees don’t win the East. The Toronto Blue Jays are young and they’re damn good. Bo Bichette will have a great 2023 and we all know Vlad Jr. will do his thing. The pitching is good and the bullpen is decent enough for the boys up north to be actual contenders this year. As for the Yankees, they’ll still have a good year. Judge’s production will not be at the same pace as 2022 but he’ll still be baseball’s biggest star. Unpopular opinion number 2? The Orioles finish third, and one place out of a wild card berth this year. Their young talent proves to live up to the excitement. Fourth place goes to the Rays and fifth to the Red Sox. The Rays, Orioles, and Red Sox are all interchangeable here. A lot can happen in 162 games afterall. 

Postseason

NLCS

Give me the San Diego Padres and the New York Mets facing off in an LCS for the ages. Padres take the series in 7 games and the third time becomes the charm for the city of San Diego as they finally get their coveted World Series championship a few weeks later. Machado is your NLCS MVP.

ALCS

The Astros go 7 for 7 in the ALCS department since 2017 and ultimately make their fifth World Series appearance since the same year. They defeat the Guardians in 6 games to make this happen. America cringes the whole time. Yordan Alvarez wins ALCS MVP.

World Series Champions: San Diego Padres

The Padres ride their giant payroll and big bats all the way to the first World Series Championship in franchise history. Xander Bogaerts wins World Series MVP.

Player Awards

NL MVP: Nolan Arenado

There’s a few different players with a real shot at winning the MVP award. My pick is Nolan Arenado. Arenado should have already won the award a few different times in his career, but this just may finally be his year. Runner-up: Machado. His hot bat and the red hot Padres propel him to his first MVP award? Honorable Mention: Trea Turner

AL MVP: Shohei Ohtani

Shohei Ohtani is a GREAT baseball player. A case can easily be made for him to be the AL Cy Young this year and I in fact believe he’ll win that award. However, Ohtani winning the AL MVP will be entirely dependent on voters valuing the fact that he’s a two way player over his actual hitting production. If Ohtani was just a pitcher, he’d still win the Cy Young. However if he were just a hitter, it’s unlikely he would win an MVP. The fact that he’s both will have nearly every baseball writer’s vote for MVP even if he hits .265 this year. Runner-up: Mike Trout. How could I not throw him in here? Honorable Mention: Julio Rodriguez.

NL Cy Young: Jacob Degrom

DeGrom battles back and keeps his same New York level production in front of a revamped Texas fanbase. Runner-ups: Sandy Alcantara or Spencer Strider

AL Cy Young: Shohei Ohtani

This one is interesting. If Ohtani wins one of these awards, he likely won’t win the other. Not a lot of explanation necessary. Runner-ups: Nestor Cortes or Gerrit Cole.

NL ROY: Corbin Carroll

MLB’s most anticipated new rookie will likely take home the hardware from the first month of the season. He’s fast, has a great glove, and most importantly, Major League Baseball won’t stop talking about him. This just so happens to be the case with the AL ROY pick.

AL ROY: Anthony Volpe

Volpe has already garnered attention and the love of the Yankees faithful which is a really hard thing to do. He too is fast and has a great glove. These two player’s attention on the national stage will make or break their Rookie of the Year odds quickly. 

NL MOY: Bob Melvin

If the previous projections hold true, there’s no reason for Melvin not to take home Manager of the Year honors. Even if he is gifted with a 1-9 lineup of heavy hitters.

AL MOY: Dusty Baker

If Baker and the Astros make a deep postseason run this year, Baker deserves to bring home MOY. Years of winning and so many ALCS appearances are deserved of a MOY award for the legendary manager.