Signor Baseball's This Is Getting Ridiculous, The Season Is More Than Half Over 2025 MLB Predictions

Signor Baseball has been dealing with a series of annoying health issues that are not your concern.

But boy do they concern him.

Anyway...

AL East

Once again, the Yankees' pitching is a mess. Their ace is out for the whole year. The closer they brought in has been hit and miss so far, as has the rest of their bullpen. Max Fried has been their only consistent starter. The rest alternate good games with bad games. Oh, and Giancarlo Stanton started the season hurt. Again. Still, Cody Bellinger has started to give them a solid left handed bat in addition to Aaron Judge and a rejuvenated Paul Goldschmidt, and their offense is pretty impressive. They can, for the most part, score more than they give up. So, first place in the division. Who knows, if the pitching ever comes around, another trip to the Series. And if the pitching never comes around, they'll be scrambling for a Wild Card. Second will come down to Boston, Toronto, and maybe Tampa Bay. The Red Sox added three very good pieces in Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler and Alex Bregman and should have a slight edge over the Blue Jays who have a Murderer's Row in the middle of their lineup and a somewhat lesser pitching staff. Whichever team's pitching holds up best will have a shot at a Wild Card or two, or the division if the Yankees flounder. In the "not a good sign" category, Baltimore has already fired their manager. Who lost his best starter and top power hitter to free agency. So, after looking really good for a couple of years, but getting absolutely nowhere in the playoffs, the Orioles are at a crossroads. And as Yogi once said, "when you come to a fork in the road, take it." Finally, Tampa Bay is playing their home games this season--and possibly next--in the Yankees' minor league park. Which sounds about right.                 

AL Central

This looked like a very interesting division. When the season started, Cleveland, Kansas City, Detroit and Minnesota all seemed to have  a legitimate shot at winning it. Then Detroit somehow morphed into a powerhouse overnight, and the rest of them are eating the Tiger's dust. Detroit has some good young bats and the best pitching, and if they can all stay healthy the Tigers will win the Central fairly easily, and could have a good shot at the AL pennant. As far as a Wild card team from this division, I don't think so. The Royals, Twins, and Guardians all seem to be 80-85 win teams tops. And that's probably not going to be enough. And in sweet home Chicago, all true White Sox fans are pulling for the Rockies to break the record for futility that the Sox set just last year. We all need goals in life. By the way, I don't consider Chicago style pizza to be real pizza. It's more like a casserole.

AL West

The big surprise here is that the West Sacramento A's aren't the worst team in the AL. Oh sure, they have one of the worst owners--but a lot of teams can say that. A's players look sad about their home surroundings. Better get used to it, because it will take years to build a ballpark in Vegas--if that ever happens. Elsewhere, Houston has reloaded after losing some good players through free agency, and look like the pick of the division. Seattle has a good shot at a Wild Card. And barring that, it will be fun to see if Cal Raleigh, who I must admit I had never heard of before this season, can stay ahead of Aaron Judge for the home run title. Texas is a long shot for a Wild Card, but its a long, long season and stranger things have happened. And out in Anaheim the Angels will essentially waste another year of Mike Trout. Well, at least he got paid. And Disneyland is close by, so...fun for the whole family?

NL East

The Braves dug themselves a deep hole early. So, even though they've played better recently, I don't see them catching up with the Mets or Phillies. A couple of years ago New York spent a fortune and got absolutely nothing in return. This past off season they spent less, but more wisely. So I guess this is a cautionary tale. Philadelphia is just solid. Power throughout the lineup, decent fielding, pretty good starters, above average bullpen. Miami is perpetually stuck in the middle of the pack. The Marlins are sometimes a little better, sometimes a little worse, but almost always mediocre. What good young players they develop seem to leave just as soon as they can. Washington is just bad. Not historically bad. But bad. The Nationals won a pennant not that long ago, too. So I guess this is another cautionary tale. If you're going to blow up a good team, for whatever reason, you better have a plan and some talent in the pipeline 

NL Central

The Cubs? Really? OK. Did not see that coming. At least the Second City has one good team. Should Chicago falter, and teams you did not expect to be good often falter as the season drags on, Milwaukee  will be right there. Depending on what happens in the West, might score one Wild Card here. In old St. Loo, the Cardinals are struggling to keep up. With Sonny Gray (!) as their ace, the struggle may be too much. Cincinnati is a year or two away from being a serious contender, but at least they're trending in the right direction. Whereas in Pittsburgh, just getting close to .500 would be a massive accomplishment.  Paul Skenes is the Steve Carlton of his generation. Carlton somehow won 20+ games in a similar situation 50 years ago in Philadelphia. Skenes is not so lucky.  Great pitcher on a crap team that either can't get him a lead or can't hold onto a lead after he's pulled. Once he reaches free agency, every contender in both leagues will open up the old checkbook for him. This happens to the Pirates on a regular basis because of their owner. Too bad. Beautiful ballpark, great fans. Crap owner.

NL West 

Having spent a billion dollars on pitching, the Dodgers looked like the surest lock in all of baseball. Then a whole bunch of guys started to have arm "issues". So, even when you have seemingly ALL of the pitching, you never have enough pitching. Despite a score of injuries, L.A. is still the bet in the West. San Diego or San Francisco will have a shot at a Wild Card. Both are pretty good--just not good enough. Arizona should petition to swap divisions. I don't think they'll ever be able to consistently compete with the Cali teams. Oh well, at least they managed to extort a minimum of $600 million from our brain dead state legislature for stadium maintenance/improvements. Could start by making their ballpark look less like an abandoned Costco. And, in Colorado, they wait patiently for the football, basketball, and hockey seasons to start. The Rockies are playing a little better than they were, which is, well, somethin'. So that "worst record in baseball history" quest may not happen. They're still awful--but perhaps not the most awful ever. We shall see.

Signor Baseball's 2017 AL Preview

The thing about Spring Training is, that while it might tell us a few things about the season ahead, it is completely unreliable about most things.

For instance, based on Spring Training 2017, you might think that the New York Yankees are going to win 120 games.

Ha ha ha.

AL East: For the aforementioned Yankees, too many unlikely things have to happen for them to really compete. No injuries to the pitching staff and big, full seasons from some young guys who have never played full seasons at this level. Of course, this could happen. But it's a long shot. Better to stick with the Red Sox and Blue Jays. Boston loses David Ortiz, and you never know how missing a dominant player and clubhouse personality will play out. However, their pitching should be improved and they have a lot of good hitters left. Toronto lost two big bats, but they'll still score plenty of runs and their pitching is strong enough to keep close to the Red Sox and in the running for a Wild Card. Down in Baltimore, the Orioles have a very good bullpen (when Buck Showalter remembers how to use them), which is good because their starters aren't impressive. They have a solid everyday lineup that can score runs in bunches. With those starters, they'll need them. One big question for the Orioles is whether or not Mark Trumbo can repeat his somewhat surprising homer barrage from last year. Unless everything miraculously falls into place, injury and young player wise, the Yankees look like a 4th place team and despite good starting pitching, the light hitting Tampa Rays once again pull up the rear.

AL Central: Looks like the Indians are a safe bet to repeat. Their pitching is superior and they've added a big bat in Edwin Encarnacion. Barring injury, Cleveland shouldn't have too much trouble winning the Central. Detroit is old and getting older, but premier players on the down slope are still often better than run of the mill players in their prime.  Verlander, Cabrera, Kinsler and Martinez are still potentially all-stars, and if the Indians slip a little the Tigers could sneak past them. Kansas City's pitching isn't nearly as dominant as it was a couple of years ago, and I can't see the Royals being anything more than competent. The Twins were awful last year. Minnesota should be better (they can't get much worse), and with the White Sox rebuilding, and liable to trade anyone of any value during the course of the season, the Twins could slip past Chicago and avoid last place. Little victories...

AL West: This has all the makings of a 3 team race to the bitter end, with the also-rans having a shot at a Wild Card slot. Houston, Seattle, and Texas seem very evenly matched.  None looks like a completely solid team. The Astros, with the addition of Brian McCann behind the plate, are incredibly strong up the middle. They are loaded with an excellent core of good, young, everyday talent. Their starters, however, once you get past Dallas Keuchel, are a big question mark.  The Mariners have better pitching than the Astros, but their everyday lineup is not as strong. Hamels and Darvish give the Rangers the best 1-2 starter punch in the division, but there's not much starting pitching beyond them. Their infield is solid, including Rougned "One Punch" Odor, and they will score a lot of runs, but their bullpen is just OK and their outfield is average at best. California, on the other hand, has the best all around player in the league, Mike Trout, and Albert Pujols, who even in the twilight of his career is still a potent hitter. But inferior pitching will doom the Angels to also ran status. And in Oakland, Billy Beane will eventually paste together another bargain basement contender with the A's. But not this year, alas.