2022 MLB Predictions and General Discussion Thread

[TJ]

Post your 2022 MLB predictions. More teams will make the playoffs this season.

The Braves will look to defend their championship from last season. I think they have an even stronger team this yer. They won last year without their best player in Ronald Acuna Jr. The loss of Freddie Freeman will hurt them, but Matt Olson is a pretty good replacement. He's a Georgia native. He should enjoy playing in a more hitter friendly park. The Braves have the best bullpen in baseball with Kenley Jansen as their new closer.

I think Chicago is the team to beat in the AL unless Tony La Russa manages to screw thing up. Toronto should win the AL East. Detroit looks to be much improved. They are going to score some runs. I'm not sure if they have pitching enough to overtake Chicago. A winning season and a wild card spot isn't out of the question if they get off to a good start.

NL East - Atlanta
NL Central - Milwaukee
NL West - Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Wild Cards - New York Mets, St. Louis, San Francisco
NL Champion - Atlanta over Los Angeles Dodgers in 7 games

AL East - Toronto
AL Central - Chicago White Sox
AL West - Houston
AL Wild Cards - Tampa Bay, New York Yankees, Detroit
AL Champion - Chicago over Toronto in 6 games

World Series Champion - Atlanta over Chicago White Sox in 7 games

NL MVP - Ronald Acuna Jr.
NL Cy Young - Walker Buehler
NL Rookie of the Year - Oneil Cruz

AL MVP - Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
AL Cy Young - Lucas Giolito
AL Rookie of the Year - Bobby Witt Jr.

[opus]

I'll just copy and paste what I said in the boycott thread last night

Originally Posted by opus

Yankees rallied 3 times today to finally beat the Red Sox in the home opener, which I sense may be the highlight of the season. As currently constructed, right now I see them ending up around .500, but with the expanded playoff format (2 more teams in each league), who knows, maybe mediocre gets in.

Talk to me in October to see how brilliant or stupid I am.

[GentlemanJim]

Originally Posted by TJ

NL East - Atlanta
NL Central - Milwaukee
NL West - Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Wild Cards - New York Mets, St. Louis, San Francisco
NL Champion - Atlanta over Los Angeles Dodgers in 7 games

AL East - Toronto
AL Central - Chicago White Sox
AL West - Houston
AL Wild Cards - Tampa Bay, New York Yankees, Detroit
AL Champion - Chicago over Toronto in 6 games

World Series Champion - Atlanta over Chicago White Sox in 7 games

NL MVP - Ronald Acuna Jr.
NL Cy Young - Walker Buehler
NL Rookie of the Year - Oneil Cruz

AL MVP - Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
AL Cy Young - Lucas Giolito
AL Rookie of the Year - Bobby Witt Jr.

I think your team picks are pretty good...but I believe The ALCS will be Toronto vs Houston, and the NLCS will be Dodgers vs Braves...and Toronto and the Dodgers play the world series this year

As far as MVP/CY/ROY.... your picks seem to echo what I've been hearing from others

I might go along with the MVP picks, but too much is up in the air on the others to pick.

Personally, I hope that "Moonshot" Torkelson wins AL ROY

[ponytail]

I predict my Dbacks to end up last in NL west. No pitching, no hitting as usual. I really, really want them to do good, but it looks like the same outcome.

[GentlemanJim]

Well, I see there is a new article over at ESPN.com predicting that not only will some team OTHER than the White Sox will win the AL central, but that Tony LaRussa won't last the entire season as Sox manager.

[opus]

Should mention the Bears shutting out the Steelers (ummm, I mean Cubs and Pirates)

Cubs crush Pirates, 21-0, handing them worst loss in franchise history

[opus]

I wish the Orioles battled the rest of the division as tough as they play the Yankees.

There was one season they really seemed to have the Red Sox number. More of that please.

[opus]

If you think your team sucks this season, please bear in mind the Cincinnati Reds are 3-19.

If your team is the Cincinnati Reds, sorry, can't help you.

[1960'sTVfan]

The Reds currently have the worst record, but after the season is over and all the games are played I wouldn't be surprised if it's the A's who have the worst record.

I hope MLB will be getting rid of that ridiculous automatic runner on 2nd base in extra innings rule, it's a terrible rule and is making a mockery of the game, it gives a big disadvantage to the pitchers. I am surprised the pitchers are going along with this rule. A rule like this does not belong in major league baseball, it sounds more like something they would have in the kiddie leagues/little leagues.

[GentlemanJim]

Just some thoughts, but offense is way down this year. League wide batting average for the entire league during the month of April was the lowest for ANY April, in the entire history of the sport.

All 30 teams are now using humidors to store their baseballs in, and the inner windings inside the baseball have reduced tension....by intent. Trying to cure the "lively baseball" problem of excessive home runs they experienced in 2019.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...coring-drought

[opus]

Originally Posted by 1960'sTVfan

I hope MLB will be getting rid of that ridiculous automatic runner on 2nd base in extra innings rule, it's a terrible rule and is making a mockery of the game, it gives a big disadvantage to the pitchers. I am surprised the pitchers are going along with this rule. A rule like this does not belong in major league baseball, it sounds more like something they would have in the kiddie leagues/little leagues.

I know, right? When the lockout is over news broke this rule was reportedly gone, but somehow it survived

[opus]

Originally Posted by opus

As currently constructed, right now I see them ending up around .500

Yankees at 18-6 currently making me look foolish.

And I certainly don't need any help in that department!

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by opus

I know, right? When the lockout is over news broke this rule was reportedly gone, but somehow it survived

Hopefully this is the last year for that ridiculous rule, we will see what happens.

2022 is shaping up to be a lost year for the A's, the main news coming from Oakland this year is a vote scheduled for June 30th that will determine if the A's still have a future in Oakland. A yes vote would approve the construction of a new ballpark at the proposed Howard Terminal site, a no vote would basically mean the A's will relocate, probably to Las Vegas and join the Raiders there.

The A's owner is not popular with fans of the team, he trades off the teams most talented and expensive players and then raises ticket prices, nice way to run a ball club if you want to alienate your fan base. It reminds me of the late 1970's era when Charlie Finley still owned the team. Finley was not a popular owner either and low numbers of fans would attend the home games, 2,000 to 3,000 fans attending the games was a common thing then, and again now.

[opus]

Originally Posted by 1960'sTVfan

Hopefully this is the last year for that ridiculous rule, we will see what happens.

2022 is shaping up to be a lost year for the A's, the main news coming from Oakland this year is a vote scheduled for June 30th that will determine if the A's still have a future in Oakland. A yes vote would approve the construction of a new ballpark at the proposed Howard Terminal site, a no vote would basically mean the A's will relocate, probably to Las Vegas and join the Raiders there.

The A's owner is not popular with fans of the team, he trades off the teams most talented and expensive players and then raises ticket prices, nice way to run a ball club if you want to alienate your fan base. It reminds me of the late 1970's era when Charlie Finley still owned the team. Finley was not a popular owner either and low numbers of fans would attend the home games, 2,000 to 3,000 fans attending the games was a common thing then, and again now.

I’m like 90% sure I’ve probably asked you this before, but where does your A’s fandom come from? And would you still follow the franchise if they moved, since you’re not in the Oakland area anyways?

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by opus

I’m like 90% sure I’ve probably asked you this before, but where does your A’s fandom come from? And would you still follow the franchise if they moved, since you’re not in the Oakland area anyways?

I was originally a Cubs fan, but after the 1976 season they traded my favorite players on the team, Bill Madlock to the Giants and Rick Monday to the Dodgers. So in 1977 I just decided to start following the A's because I took a liking to some of their players, guys like Mitchell Page, Tony Armas, etc.

I've posted here before about my love for the 1978 A's team, they got off to a surprisingly hot start and were the talk of baseball for a good portion of the season and stayed in the division race through about the first week of August before tailing off badly down the stretch and skidded to a 6th place finish. I'm still bummed about the way they finished that season but their schedule was very tough down the stretch and they just didn't have the equal talent level to keep up with teams like New York, Boston, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Kansas City, California, and Texas. The '78 A's won 69 games, I think they were good enough to win about 75 games or thereabouts but it is what it is.

Taking a closer look at the 1978 A's season, their inability to win games vs. three teams was the reason for their 69-93 record. They were 2-8 vs. New York, 1-9 vs. Milwaukee, and 0-11 vs. Baltimore for a combined 3-28. That is embarrassing. But against the rest of the league, they basically broke even at 66-65. How about that.

If the A's end up moving, don't know yet if I will still follow the team. Not being in Oakland anymore sure wouldn't be the same, but regardless of where they play the philosophy needs to change and stop this rebuilding process that happens every five years or so. Develop a winning team and keep it together, pay the good players what they deserve and stop trading them off because they get too "expensive" to keep around.