After a lengthy winter, baseball is finally nearly back!
Spring training has been awful for me, only whetting my appetite for baseball without truly satisfying it. However, it does serve a purpose. Spring training gives us a first glimpse at the configurations of each team. It provides us with tentative answers as to where each player will bat in the order, or who’ll close, or any number of things.
Today we’ll use some of that information in making our Over/Under predictions for the 2016 MLB season. First, let’s discuss a few best bets for the upcoming season. After that, we’ll zip through the rest of the picks.
Let’s get started!
Best Bets
Chicago Cubs: 92.5: OVER
They can’t make this number high enough for me. If it were raised to 95.5, I’d have to take it off my “Best Bets” list, but it would have to be over 100 for me to even consider taking the under.
Unlike other teams, who may have depth but no superstars, or superstars but no depth, the Cubs are in the enviable position of having both. In fact, although having superstars like Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta, and Kris Bryant is important, what might be more impressive is that their worst regular is Dexter Fowler, a center fielder who, last season, smacked seventeen homers, swiped twenty bases, with a .346 OBP. On any other team, that’s a way above average player. Wow.
Chicago’s immense depth will allow to work its way through whatever obstacles it might face during the lengthy season, and its superstars will allow it to excel throughout the campaign. It’s tough to envision a scenario in which the Cubs don’t manage to win ninety games, making this an easy choice for the “Best Bets” list.
Houston Astros: 87.5: OVER
The Astros are eerily similar to the Cubs. They’re both young, up-and-coming teams coming off painful defeats in last year’s playoffs. They’re both led by a pair of young, stud infielders (Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve, and Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, respectively) and each’s ace was absolutely awful before having a very good season in 2014 and winning the Cy Young in 2015 (Dallas Keuchel, and Jake Arrieta, respectively). And, just like the Cubs, the Astros are set to improve spectacularly on last season’s 86-76 record.
Houston definitely shouldn’t have any trouble gaining an extra two wins over last season. George Springer played only two-thirds of the season; a full season from him could get them over the hump by itself. When Correa’s inevitable improvement as he gains MLB experience is factored in, the Astros should be able to surpass the total that Bovada has set for them with ease.
San Diego Padres: 73.5: UNDER
Before last season, Padres GM A.J. Preller went on an offseason trading spree, nabbing Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, Wil Myers, Derek Norris, and Craig Kimbrel in an effort to win big. That effort failed miserably, and the team is now a wreck, with no hope in the present or in the future.
After Preller failed to turn the Padres into a contender, he sloughed off his two biggest acquisitions, with Upton leaving in free agency and Kimbrel being traded to the Red Sox. The team is now left with a desolate wasteland of a roster with no hope of contention.
In a challenging division with three teams expected to contend for the playoffs, it will be hard for San Diego to make it to seventy wins.
The Best of the Rest
Philadelphia Phillies: 65.5: UNDER
The Phillies won 63 games last year and now have even less talent. The scale of their rebuild is on par with that of the Astros a few of years ago, and those Houston teams won 56, 55, and 51 games from 2011-2013.
St. Louis Cardinals: 87.5: OVER and Pittsburgh Pirates: 86.5: OVER
I group these two teams together because they’re both NL Central teams who had the two highest win totals in MLB last season, didn’t get appreciably worse over the offseason, and are not getting much love from Bovada. These two teams are about the same as they were last year, and last year they won 100 and 98 games, respectively. How is each’s win total expected to decline by double digits?
Over/Under Picks for Entire MLB
Houston Astros: 87.5: OVER
Texas Rangers: 84.5: UNDER
Seattle Mariners: 82.5: UNDER
Los Angeles Angels: 81.5: UNDER
Oakland Athletics: 75.5: UNDER
Kansas City Royals: 85.5: OVER
Cleveland Indians: 84.5: UNDER
Detroit Tigers: 81.5: OVER
Chicago White Sox: 80.5: OVER
Minnesota Twins: 78.5: OVER
Toronto Blue Jays: 87.5: OVER
Boston Red Sox: 86.5: OVER
New York Yankees: 85.5: UNDER
Tampa Bay Rays: 81.5: UNDER
Baltimore Orioles: 79.5: OVER
San Francisco Giants: 89.5: UNDER
Los Angeles Dodgers: 88.5: OVER
Arizona Diamondbacks: 82.5: OVER
San Diego Padres: 73.5: UNDER
Colorado Rockies: 70.5: UNDER
Chicago Cubs: 92.5: OVER
St. Louis Cardinals: 87.5: OVER
Pittsburgh Pirates: 86.5: OVER
Cincinnati Reds: 70.5: UNDER
Milwaukee Brewers: 69.5: UNDER
New York Mets: 89.5: OVER
Washington Nationals: 89.5: UNDER
Miami Marlins: 79.5: UNDER
Atlanta Braves: 66.5: UNDER
Philadelphia Phillies: 65.5: UNDER
Liked your review of the new MLB season, which starts tonight. Error: you listed Kris Bryant under both Cubs & Astros.
Glad you enjoyed!
Kris Bryant (and Anthony Rizzo and Jake Arrieta, for that matter), are listed as Cubs, but are included in the Astros section as a comparison to some of the Astros’ players.