Baseball season has finally arrived in North America, one week after the MLB season began in Korea with a pair of games and some shocking revelations involving the game’s best player, Shohei Ohtani.
The refortified Dodgers, featuring two-time MVP Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, will seek their first non-pandemic World Series since 1988, while the Texas Rangers, also free spenders, aim to repeat as surprise champs in Bruce Bochy’s second year.
Speaking of free-agent additions, the Giants made two significant splashes during spring training, adding Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman and reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell. Whether they and fellow newcomer Jorge Soler will provide the starpower to take San Francisco back to the playoffs remains to be seen in a division with the Dodgers, the aggressive Padres and the Diamondbacks, winners of last year’s pennant.
In Oakland, where the A’s may be opening their final season at the Coliseum, the picture is less rosy: Alex Wood and Ross Stripling may fortify the rotation and Zach Gelof has hopes of a breakout first full season, but nobody is expecting the A’s to compete for much beyond fourth place in the American League West.
Here are our staff’s predictions for the 2024 MLB season:
Evan Webeck
AL East: Yankees
AL Central: Twins
AL West: Astros
AL wild cards: Orioles, Rangers, Rays
ALCS: Orioles over Astros
NL East: Braves
NL Central: Reds
NL West: Dodgers
NL wild cards: Phillies, Cubs, D’backs
NLCS: Braves over Reds
World Series: Braves over Orioles
AL MVP: Adley Rutschman
NL MVP: Ronald Acuña Jr.
Dieter Kurtenbach
AL East: Orioles
AL Central: Tigers
AL West: Astros
AL wild cards: Yankees, Rays, Mariners
ALCS: Yankees over Mariners
NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: Dodgers
NL wild cards: Braves, Cardinals, Marlins
NLCS: Dodgers over Phillies
World Series: Yankees over Dodgers
AL MVP: Juan Soto
NL MVP: Trea Turner
Jason Mastrodonato
AL East: Orioles
AL Central: Guardians
AL West: Mariners
AL wild cards: Yankees, Astros, Rangers
ALCS: Orioles over Mariners
NL East: Braves
NL Central: Reds
NL West: Dodgers
NL wild cards: Phillies, D’backs, Giants
NLCS: Braves over D’backs
World Series: Orioles over Braves
AL MVP: Julio Rodriguez
NL MVP: Mookie Betts
Laurence Miedema
AL East: Blue Jays
AL Central: Twins
AL West: Astros
AL wild cards: Mariners, Orioles, Rangers
ALCS: Mariners over Astros
NL East: Braves
NL Central: Reds
NL West: Dodgers
NL wild cards: Phillies, Marlins, D’backs
NLCS: Braves over Dodgers
World Series: Braves over Mariners
AL MVP: Bo Bichette
NL MVP: Austin Riley