In Vegas, there is no such thing as “luck”. There is only strategic timing and seeing when the odds present the most value. This is why you double down. This is why you increase your bet when the point is a 6 or 8. This is why you stay in with a strong pair when the river comes.
In fantasy baseball, this “luck” thing is called value. It is why you are not going to draft Kris Bryant in the 10th round. This is where the bold predictions come in handy if you know the variances and can bet when the value is right.
Not all of these bold predictions come true. But, if a handful break your way, you can be on easy street.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
The Fish’s Henderson Alvarez doesn’t throw another no-hitter but he figures out to throw strikeouts. 15+ wins, 160 K’s and leads the league in shutouts.
Yasmani Tomas has more errors than homers.
Starling Marte gets MVP votes. 20/75/100 with .300 AVG and 40 steals. People will think he is really McCutch sans dreadlocks.
No Braves pitcher breaks the Top 50.
Freddie Freeman gets MVP votes (in fantasy).
Their second baseman combine for 60 steals.
Jimmy Nelson throws 160 Ks and gets an All-Star nod.
Raisel Iglesias of the Reds wins the NL ROY with 12 wins and 180 K’s. But, that doesn’t help the pain of seeing Chapman traded to the Dodgers.
The best Cubs youngster is Arismendy Alcantara.
The Marlins’ outfield has more homers than the Diamondbacks have wins. Ozuna gets 30+.
Hundley is a Top 10 catcher for the Rockies and Nolan Arenado is the top NL 3B.
Jimmy Rollins is a Top 15 SS despite beliefs about his demise.
Anthony Rendon is not a Top 30 guy (I swear I wrote that before recent injury news).
Johnny Cueto doesn’t win the Cy Young only because he is in the AL in September. 2.80 ERA, 20 wins, 220 K’s and a WHIP lower than Marge Schott’s soul.
DeGrom is degone from any playoff fantasy team.
My friend Bryce is happy as his Giants collapse and finish second to last and get a great draft pick.
Matt “Who?” Carpenter. Wong is wrong. Waino goes down the draino. Cards finish fourth.
Ted “Ironical Immigrant” Cruz gets more electoral votes than Cole Hamels gets wins.
Jean Segura = 20/20.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Micah Johnson will swipe 40 bags and lead the AL. While Kris Bryant walks on the waters of Lake Michigan, Micah will be running across like the Flash.
Yan Gomes is the #2 catcher in all leagues.
Blue Jays’ rookie Dalton Pompey is a Top 30 OF with 15/20.
His teammate Drew Hutchison will get 200 K’s.
Joke Odorizzi introduces the world to his Thing 2 pitch as he wins 18+ games with 3.10 ERA.
Chris Davis goes back to Crush Davis and sends away 45 homers. His pharmacist runs for Baltimore City Council.
Oakland’s Tyler Clippard finishes in the top 5 in saves.
Josh who? CJ Cron will hit 20+ RBI’s and score 100 runs for the Angels.
DJ Peterson will take over for an injured Logan Morrison in Seattle and hit 15 homes in the 2nd half.
Francisco Lindor never plays SS in the majors this year… unless, Kipnis is hurt and it’s September. Jose Ramirez is an All-Star.
The Twins Oswaldo Arcia hits 20 bombs but only gets 60 RBIs. Sad, but true.
Oakland’s Brett Lawrie breaks out and is this year Brantley or Rendon.
The Bean Town faithful wish they had signed Hanley Ramirez to play third as Pablo flatlines. .240, 12 homers, and some bad press.
The Astros’ Luis Valbuena is valuable in deep leagues. .260 with pop and 70 RBI’s.
Please join my money league if you really think Alexei Ramirez should really be drafted 4th off the board amongst shortstops. He doesn’t break Top 15…. And I’m being generous.
Carlos Carrasco is a Top 8 AL pitcher… and I will continue to kick myself for dropping him too early last year. Stupid!
Billy Burns steals 12 in March but it will take him the rest of the season to do the same.
Nate Eovaldi will be the clear ace of the Yanks. 3.40 ERA, 160+ K’s.
Miggy doesn’t break 20 homers. Ummm… okay, I’ll go 22. Tops. Maybe. So, does Nick Castellanos. One would be considered a flop and the other a steal.
Devon Travis is your sleeper pick for deep leagues. Average will hurt at .230 but cheap counting stats.
Chicago’s Jose Abreu and Adam LaRoche combine for 200 RBI’s and 70 homers.
The White Sox earn a playoff spot. Millions of White Sox fans suddenly realize what a good TV announcer sounds like when Joe Buck comes on. Yeah… there is someone worse than Buck out there. Actually,
Marcus Semien goes 20/20. Jokes are bad. Lots of dirty jokes.
Ironically, Rougned Odor is not the stinky one as he leads the Rangers in WAR. That’s good for him, bad for the team.
Wait… Leonys Martin is so under the radar that he wasn’t calculated into that sentence. He breaks out as he learns power.
Sal Perez is not a top 15 catcher.
Emilio Bonifacio will hit … wait, a second, I thought he was in the Mexican League this year.
Mike Trout can’t hit high heat and the secret is out. He doesn’t break the top 25 player rater.
Jeff Samardzija isn’t a Top 100 pitcher as his home run rate breaks 2/9 for most of the year.
The Mariners will do very well, which leads to the national media to show more games, which leads to the rest of the nation’s fans to idiotically call Mariner fans “bandwagoners” not realizing Mariners fans don’t control the national media ignoring all Seattle teams especially during the sucky years. Rant over, since that isn’t very ‘bold’.
My for real predictions:
I’m not jinxing a possible Seattle vs. Los Angeles World Series matchup.
NL Division Winners – Nationals, Pirates, Dodgers
NL Wildcard Winners – Padres, Marlins
NL Champ – Nationals
AL Division Winners – Boston, Cleveland, Seattle
AL Wild Card Winners – Baltimore, Oakland
AL Champ – Cleveland
World Series Champs …. Cleveland Indians
Brian Reddoch is a CraveOnline reporter and rabid fan of all teams Seattle. You can follow him on Twitter @ReddReddoch or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
Photo Credit: Getty
