MLB 2023 season

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Poll: Rob Manfred?
Fire his @$$
14%
 14%  [1]
Get him with a "Piece of Metal"
42%
 42%  [3]
Should be an executive Arbitration Hearing
14%
 14%  [1]
I'm a corporate sychophant and I love 'em and the valube contributions he's made to Baseball
14%
 14%  [1]
Who's your daddy?
14%
 14%  [1]
Total Votes : 7

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cestuneblague
Edgy to the Choir



Location: MA/FL

  • #1
  • Posted: 04/10/2022 18:54
  • Post subject: MLB 2023 season
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Allright so we did actually get baseball this year, it's nice to be reminded how the game is run by greedy, incompetant dickwads, but at least it's here all I can say. The new rules are fine, can look 'em up if you want, though they're still keeping that asidine ghost-runner on second rule- just introduce the point season and have ties after 11 or 12 innings. Anyways, quick predictions:


AL West

Seattle (Just going by a weaker division, like the team though wish they did more to help their rotation, probably going need a bit of luck and are still not WS contenders until their young players get more experience)
Houston (Still have solid depth to perhaps win another division title, but have to ride an aging pitching staff and losing Correa really is going to sting both in the lineup and out in the field)
LA Angels (For all the talk of a major improvement, I still see some gaping holes on the team, and they really are hoping for a lot of injury luck to their pitching staff (or some premature promotions from their farm system), Ohtani should be fun to watch again though (and they pretty much changed the DH rules specifically for him)
Texas (Going by offseason transacations, you'd think they would be immediate contenders, but their new bats are joining one of the worst lineups of last year with few breakout candidates, and that rotation is still terrible. Clearly looked to lock down a long-term core, not be contenders this year- though they'll be better than last)
Oakland (Sold of nearly everything of value, will hope to be contenders again in a few years with all that prospect capitol- hopefully not down in Vegas)

AL Central

Chicago (Still the favorites in the AL's weakest division, but they didn't do much to help a roster that's still relying on career-best performances. Still the favorites by default, but more vulnerable than last year)
Minnesotta (Managing to snag Correa was impressive- though I wonder how he's going to fair moving from the perpetually warm-weather Texas and PR markets to one of the frostiest in the game (have you been to Minnesotta in October? Or hell, sometimes even in April). Clearly they think last year's flop was due to bad injury luck as they were fairly active during the offseason, but I'm still not sure they'll be leagues better especially as they're gambling with a lot of pitching underachievers. Still a decent shot to make it in the expanded playoffs).
Detroit (Could be the surprise of the division, especially with a better pitching staff and if they get Tork for most of the year, but still not a likely playoff contender)
Kansas City (Again building a long-term contender, and Witt's rookie season should be fun to watch, but they're still likely to see only minimal improvement in the standings)
Cleveland (Well, they're not leaving Cleveland anytime soon, good for the 30 fans or so that still make it out regularly to see them play, but the name change is the only change of fortune they'll likely see this year as they're still in re-load mode)

AL East

Boston (Looked like they were in the doldrums for a bit, but once again have perhaps the deepest, most unusally fearsome lineup in the majors. Chris Sale is a needed bounce-back, though, for them to be WS contenders. Also have the best trade chip out there with Mayer so expect them to get better late in the season)
Toronto (Mid-2010's all over again, only luckily for Canada's sole representive they have a younger core in place this time around. Need better pitching to win it all though)
Tampa Bay (Underestimate the Rays and they'll likely be one of the best teams in baseball, however the roster looks on paper will likely be overachieving in the actual field. For the love of JasedGawd though move to Montreal already)
NY Yankees (Wow, times have changed. They did next to nothing to improve their lineup in the offseason, and it looks slightly degraded from last year too. Not signing Judge to a long-term extension may be a blessing in disguise, but I have no idea what their direction is anymore. Could be a rare playoff miss just because so many teams improved, even with the expanded field)
Baltimore (Don't know how the new tanking rules are really going to affect them, but it's starting to get annoying that they're not even trying to put together a basically competitive roster until their star prospect graduate. Rutschman and Grayson debuts should be fun, though, hope to get to some games later in the summer)


NL West

LA Dodgers (Like clockwork, they'll still win the division easily even with a few notable losses, don't expect a downturn until management stops shitting cash)
San Diego (The biggest dissapointments of last year, have they really gotten much better? I like the rotation a lot, but they really underachieved last year. That's not a good sign when a small market spends all it's capitol to Win Now and then that doesn't happen. Expect a massive sell-off if they're down by late July)
San Francisco (Come back-to-earth season, need to find a new identity after the Posey retirement. Pitching still strong, but might need more help to actually make a playoff push)
Colorado (Got some surprisingly notable free-agent pickups, but they're joining a so-so roster and a hapless rotation (given Coors Field never makes it easy)
Arizona (Should be better than last year's bottom-out, but clearly more interested in their long-term future as they have a rather incredible farm system atm)


NL Central

Milwaulkee (Strong-enough lineup, really great pitching staff from top-to-bottom, if Yelich finally regains his power form they're dark horse contenders to win it all)
St Louis (Count against the Cardinals at your own peril. Really solid in every aspect, though maybe not WS contenders at this point)
Chicago (Clearly they think they're contending based on their off-season moves, but I don't buy it at this point)
Cincinatti (Again mostly played sellers as small-market blues are definitely apparent in their payroll situation, but will still score enough to at least not be terrible)
Pittsburgh (I hear PNC park is really great, and well Tickets should be plentiful this summer)

NL East

Atlanta (Pretty much the same roster as their World Series team, and will probably see improvement during the regular season standings)
NY Mets (Oh this is why we can't have nice things. Hopefully Degrom's arm is dying a slow, painful death as what seems to be the case, this was supposed to be the dream rotation. Oh well)
Philadelphia (Reinging MVP (if that matters), top-heavy rotation and bullpent, atrocious defense and lack of athleticism means I expect a post All-star game decline)
Miami (Made some interesting moves, could surprise)
Washington (Don't want to admit it in public but they're in full rebuild mode, wonder how long Strasbourg is going to stay)


Playoff Predictions

American League
Top 2: Boston, Chicago WS
WC: Toronto, Tampa Bay, Seattle, Houston

National League
Top 2: LA Dodgers, Milwaulkee
WC: Atlanta, St Louis, NY Mets, San Diego


World Series Prediction? Boston over Milwaulkee. Please don't let it be Boston-LA, no matter how much the national media is going to shit over the small market teams


Last edited by cestuneblague on 03/31/2023 13:17; edited 1 time in total
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mickilennial
The Most Trusted Name in News


Gender: Female
Age: 35
Location: Detroit
Poland

  • #2
  • Posted: 04/10/2022 22:43
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Quote:
Detroit (Could be the surprise of the division, especially with a better pitching staff and if they get Tork for most of the year, but still not a likely playoff contender)

Hey! We're actually trying for once!
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Romanelli
Bone Swah


Gender: Male
Location: Broomfield, Colorado
United States
Moderator

  • #3
  • Posted: 04/10/2022 23:09
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Sorry...If you think the rotation for the Rockies is hapless, then you have no clue. The Rockies rotation, even with the loss of Jon Gray to Texas, is a MAJOR strength, the best in team history, and better than many MLB teams from 1-5 can throw out there. The weakness of the Rockies the last two years has been the bullpen and (surprisingly) the lack of power from the offense.

Colorado aggressively addressed both this offseason, with the bullpen additions of Alex Colome and hometown kid Ty Blach...who I believe is going to surprise a LOT of people.
Offensively, they got better by adding Kris Bryant and Randal Grichuk, with younger players who should be seeing improved offenseive output this year. They also gave long term deals to Ryan McMahon (who SHOULD have won the 3B GG award over Arenado last year) and catcher Elias Diaz (18 HR in basically less than half a season).

The NL West may be stacked, and they may not win it all...but the Rockies are no longer the weak sister of the division. You may not know their names...but they are now better than you think they are. And they were surprisingly close to the Padres at the end of last year.

Do not sleep on the Rockies.
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'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
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EyeKanFly
Head Bear Master/Galactic Emperor



Age: 33
Location: Gotham
United States

  • #4
  • Posted: 04/11/2022 00:02
  • Post subject: Re: MLB 2022 season
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Love the poll lol

cestuneblague wrote:

Washington (Don't want to admit it in public but they're in full rebuild mode, wonder how long Strasbourg is going to stay)

For what it's worth, he signed a 7-year contract following the Nats' WS win in 2019, and part of that contract has terms very specific to the facilities at Nats Park. I suppose we'll see how his surgery goes, but I doubt he goes anywhere yet unless he's truly forced to retire for health reasons. That'd be a shame, but understandable.

I'm still in shock from Scherzer pitching in a Mets jersey at Nats Park the other day, feels weird.

Also for what it's worth, every Nats fan knows we're in full rebuild mode. They're not even aiming to do anything special this year, and some players and management have come very close to admitting it lol. Honestly my hope is that they don't fire Dave Martinez, give him another few years to do some building.

My predictions:
  • NL West: Padres upset Dodgers for 1st place in the division, and the Dodgers choke again in the playoffs. This looks like it might be the best division in baseball this season.
  • NL Central: Brewers look like the team to beat
  • NL East: Braves don't run away with it as much as they could, this may end up being the weakest division this season.
  • AL West: Astros run away with it, but get taken down a peg easily in the postseason
  • AL Central: the Guardians' logo looks great tbh, might be rooting for them within this division. Looks like all 5 teams might be in a good fight
  • AL East: Sorry B'more, you're the one team that looks worse than the Nats this year (other than maybe the D'backs). Otherwise, Red Sox are overrated; Yanks, Jays, and Rays will be the true battle.
  • World Series: Padres over Yankees


In the past my predictions have been full of shit though, we'll see.
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CA Dreamin



Gender: Male
Location: LA
United States

  • #5
  • Posted: 04/11/2022 04:08
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AL East - May send 4 teams to the playoffs with the third wild card. Rays, Jays, Yanks, and Sox all look to be contending this year. I actually think the Rays and Jays will finish 1st and 2nd. They seem to be the most stacked. Yanks and Sox will be good too. Gerrit Cole and the bullpen will do their thing, but ironically NY seems to have problems on offense. When was the last time that happened, 1919? Whereas the Sox can score, but their rotation is questionable at best. Poor Baltimore, even if they've improved, the division is so tough, 100 losses still looks very likely.

AL Central - White Sox had a quiet off-season but I don't see anyone in the Central gaining enough ground to overtake them. KC, DET, and MIN are rebuilding and could see their records improve, while CLE drops to last.

AL West - Astros lost Correa and Greinke but still have enough weapons to win the West. Mariners and Angels will battle for second. I think the Mariners overperformed last year and won't improve on the 90-win mark. Oakland looks to be tanking, while Texas is trying to rebuild fast. They need a lot more help though before becoming contenders again.

NL East - This will be a 3-way race between NY, Philly, and Atlanta. The Braves are probably still the strongest, but Freeman's exit was a certainly a big loss. The Scherzer-deGrom combo will be exciting in action (and I say that as a Phillies fan) but Lindor needs to live up to his contract to get the Mets into October. As for the Phils, they have 3 good starters and a decent lineup. If their atrocious fielding and bullpen from last year can improve, they might be a wild card. As for Miami and Washington, they'll battle it out for 4th place with Miami probably on top.

NL Central - Brew Crew all the way. Then a sizeable gap, before the Reds and Cards battle for second. St. Louis always finds a way to be good, how do they do it? It's gonna be long miserable year for the Cubs and Pirates.

NL West - Dodgers win again of course. Last year's surprise team will fall to 2nd. Doesn't look good for the Padres. Total collapse last year, and beginning this year with their best player on the IL. They might even drop to 4th if things work out in Colorado. The D'Backs are still bad, but at least Arizona fans having the Suns to look forward to over the next two months.
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cestuneblague
Edgy to the Choir



Location: MA/FL

  • #6
  • Posted: 04/11/2022 16:20
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Lol of the course the Mariners have a winning record and are being healthily outscored, I'm still holding out hope.

To be quite frank I have no idea how this season is going to play out, every team seems to have a potentially fatal flaw, and I think I'm taking back my Boston prediction because that rotation does not look promising atm.
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cestuneblague
Edgy to the Choir



Location: MA/FL

  • #7
  • Posted: 07/30/2022 23:15
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Man being a Mariners fan is like the most painful see-saw ride ever. Of course it was looking like yet another dissapointing season after march hope, then of course the M's win 14 games and the cetner of the baseball world where every fan is now finally excited again, and now after the break they are either sweeping or getting swept. No idea what to think even after the big Castillo trade.

Otherwise interesting season, fascinated how great the Mets have been despite the injuries, generally New York teams have been killing it (although Yankees Suck). The AL West wild card looks pretty stacked, the N.L seems more a pretty clear cut juggle of Padres, Cardinals and Phillies. And dear gawd what the Angels have done to Mike Trout (and increasingly it looks like Ohtani) is sadder than what the M's did to Ichiro or King Felix.
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CA Dreamin



Gender: Male
Location: LA
United States

  • #8
  • Posted: 08/28/2022 20:34
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Just over a month to go, some thoughts/predictions:

NL East - What a great year for meccalecca. The way they stayed on top of the East all year despite deGrom's injury is quite remarkable. Atlanta has made up a lot of ground, but now that deGrom is back, I think meccalecca will hold out an win the East while Atlanta takes the top wild card. Another hot team from the East is CA Dreamin. They've come a long way since Girardi's firing, and will take the #2 wild card spot thanks to a relatively easy remaining schedule.

NL Central - I don't know how Mercury does it, but they always seem competitive, they never have a bad year. Goldschmidt is lighting it up, and will lead Mercury to a division win. The Brewers have really fallen off. While sending Hader to the Padres was perhaps savvy for long-term planning, I think it sent a bad message to the fans, that they're not trying to win it this year. I don't think they'll be a wild card anymore, despite how well they played in the first half.

NL West - Well it's no surprise RoundtheBend is running away with this division. They're basically a super-team, half of them (if not more) could be on the all-star team. Will they become the first 110-win team since 2001 is the question. The Padres have had a turbulent season. They stayed in the playoff hunt all season long, and were even within a few games of RoundtheBend at times. Then they got Soto and Hader at the trade deadline, with Tatis's return from injury imminent. Everything was looking great until the Tatis PED news broke. I feel like that really hurt their morale in addition to their championship hopes. I think they're still a good team and they'll ride out the season to the #3 wild card. Then they'll get smoked in the playoffs. But the biggest surprise in the NL West in benpaco. 107 wins last year, not even breaking .500 this year. What the heck happened?

AL East - RockyRaccoon is a huge surprise this year. After a string of 100-loss seasons, they're over .500? They're even better than baystateoftheart? Wow, what a turnaround. I think it'd be super cool to go from 110 losses to a wild card in one season. But oof, this division is so strong. I feel compelled to stick with my April prediction that the Rays and Jays will make the playoffs. But if either should fail, I think it'd be the Rays due to their injuries. And well, there's nobody catching up with the Yanks. Finally, while I wasn't sold on Repo at the start of the season due to their pitching, I didn't expected them to be under .500 and in last place at this point in the season. They have a lot of work to do this off-season.

AL Central - Um, easily the weakest division in baseball. It's possible a team will miss the playoffs with a better record than whoever wins out of this group. And whoever wins it ain't going far in October. I don't feel compelled to stick with April prediction that the White Sox will win because they've been inconsistent. While it seems the logical prediction is the team with a brand new nickname, I'll go with Tha1ChiefRocka for shits and giggles.

AL West - We all know Houston is the king of this division. The Angels have been a huge letdown. And let's go cestuneblague! It's been too long. So who will be the third wild card, RockyRaccoon or cestuneblague? I'll go with cestuneblague because they have a much easier remaining schedule.
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cestuneblague
Edgy to the Choir



Location: MA/FL

  • #9
  • Posted: 10/01/2022 05:43
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Mariners Ficking Clinch, babbbbbbbyyyyyyyyyy ¡!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my god, a whole fucking generation in wait, its finally here baby, on a fucking walk off nonetheless, oh as somebody who not only remembers 95 but also 01 this is the best feeling a baseball fan can have. Its far too late to party now (penn), but tomorrow having plenty of brew and Coolio and Blue Scholars to celebrate.


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CA Dreamin



Gender: Male
Location: LA
United States

  • #10
  • Posted: 10/04/2022 14:57
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cestuneblague wrote:
Mariners Clinch!!!!!!!
Phillies too! The two longest postseason droughts have ended.
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