With the hole in Jake Cronenworth’s Glove and the rest of the Seoul Series behind us and Opening Day upon us, it’s time (or maybe past time) to start thinking about how the 2024 Major League Baseball Season will play out. It’s also time to start making fools of ourselves by attempting to predict the future in the notoriously unpredictable world of Major League Baseball. But hey, that’s what this post is all about!
When I set this blog up over a year ago, I had grand visions of writing every day and posting at least 4 or 5 times a week. I would have even predicted it. And I’d have been wrong. When Spring Training began this year, I started writing this particular post. And here we are, hours away from the first pitch of Opening Day for the whole league and I’m using that first-pitch deadline for myself as motivation. So, if I had to predict how my performance on this site will go – I’ll take the under on an over/under of 3.5 posts. That’s my first prediction and the one that I truly hope is the most wrong. We shall see!
Anyhow, on to some things I’ve been thinking about this offseason in the form of 2024 MLB predictions – please note, these are certainly not scientifically formulated 2024 projections by any means. However, many of the following 2024 MLB Predictions are based on logic and reason (some of which will circle the drain with just one early injury or scandal), some are just hunches (or maybe ‘hopes’ is more accurate for some), and others are just for fun and to kick off some debates. If I get even a few of these right, I’ll be thrilled.
So, with that said, let’s get to it.
I’ll start with the Postseason, Awards, and Final 2024 Regular Season Standings. This way, at least for the first section here you won’t really be able to hold me fully accountable until sometime in late October or early November.
- The Los Angeles Dodgers will not win the World Series
- The New York Yankees will play in the World Series
- The Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, and Los Angeles Angels will all make the playoffs
- One of the teams in #3 will make it to the Divisional Round
- Either the Reds or the Pirates will finish in 2nd Place in the NL Central
- Currently (3/28/24), PECOTA projections show the following teams finishing in 5th place (last) in their division:
- Boston Red Sox
- Chicago White Sox
- Oakland A’s
- Washington Nationals
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- Colorado Rockies
- The prediction here is that the Pirates will either be the only one they get wrong on this list OR the Pirates will have the best record of the six if all are correct
- The AL MVP race will finish as follows:
- MVP – Juan Soto
- Runner-Up – Randy Arozarena
- 3rd Place – Mike Trout
- The NL MVP race will finish as follows:
- MVP – Fernando Tatis Jr.
- Runner-Up – Shohei Ohtani
- 3rd Place – Seiya Suzuki
- Yes, I am aware I don’t have Acuna on this list
- Spencer Strider will get more NL MVP votes than any other pitcher
- O’Neal Cruz will win Comeback Player of the Year in the NL
- Eloy Jimenez will win Comeback Player of the Year in the AL (and play in 140+ games)
- The Cubs will be major buyers at the deadline (Yes, this one qualifies as a hope!)
This next section is purely 2024 MLB All-Star game related:
- In 2024, the NL will extend their MLB All-Star game winning streak to 2
- The two starting pitchers in the 2024 All-Star game will have exceptionally well-kept mustaches, the media will make an unusually large deal about this fact
- The Cincinnati Reds will have three All-Stars in 2024 for the first time since 2018
- The Seattle Mariners will end up with at least one, widely-recognized, 2024 All-Star snub despite leading the AL West going into the break
- Kyle Schwarber will be the 2024 All-Star MVP
- Seiya Suzuki will make his first All-Star game this year, and be joined by his teammate, Shota Imanaga
- Francisco Alvarez will start at Catcher for the National League
- Bobby and Bryce Miller will both be 2024 All-Stars
With games just minutes from starting, it is time to press the ‘Publish’ button here and move forward. I’ll work on making sure to get some more predictions out there this week. Some of those will be a little more predictable – like the Braves will make the playoffs…at least. And, if I can actually pull that off I’ll be two thirds of the way towards proving myself wrong about the very first prediction in this post! Before we go, however, a couple Opening Day-specific predictions, so I can be on the hook as soon as possible:
- Tarik Skubal will be the first starting pitcher credited with a Win in 2024 UPDATE: Tyler Glasnow was the first starting pitcher to win yesterday (3/28/24) – the Dodgers beat the Cardinals, 7-1 with 6.0 IP for Glasnow about an hour and 45 minutes prior to Skubal receiving credit for his win. I suspected the Dodgers would win their game handily, what I did not expect at all was for Dave Roberts to allow Glasnow to go six innings. It’s worth noting that Yuki Matsui was also credited with a win about 15 minutes after Glasnow got his. Matsui was making his Major League Debut with the Padres and came in for 5 outs of no-hit relief late in the game to earn the W. So long story short, Skubal was the 2nd starter to earn a W yesterday – no credit for this one!
- Logan Webb vs. Yu Darvish will not be the pitchers dual it should be today UPDATE: It 100% was a fantastic pitchers dual until both of these outstanding pitchers were pulled from the game. I could not have missed this much worse.
- Tyler Glasnow will record a quality start and throw 85+ pitches today UPDATE: Partial credit here. My bet hedging only sort of worked. Glasnow threw 81 pitches and was credited with a Quality Start and a W
- Miguel Sano will hit the first HR of the 2024 Major League Baseball season off of Corbin Burnes, sparking conversation about just how strong the 2024 Angels’ offense could be
- The Arizona Diamondbacks will look alarmingly good on both sides of the ball tonight
- If Justin Steele can put together a typical start for him tonight, on ESPN, he will instantly be in early 2024 Cy Young conversations
- Seiya Suzuki will have 2+ hits tonight
- The biggest stretch on this list – the Oakland A’s will beat Shane Bieber tonight
Well, as ridiculous as much of this sounds, it would have been a pretty big stretch to call the Diamondbacks vs. the Rangers at the beginning of the 2023 season. With the East and West Coast Divisions all having at least 3 very competitive teams (OK, the Mets may be an exception, but they’re still projected to win exactly as many games as the NL Central winner) and the Central Divisions having no real, clear, agreed-upon favorite, we are gearing up for a fun and exciting 2024 Major League Baseball season. There will be some teams that absolutely should make the playoffs getting bounced, and some others that will surprise us all or sneak in. The Shohei/Ippei story could throw a wrench into things as well, although, I hope, for the love of baseball, that it doesn’t.
Comment down below, tell me why I’m wrong, tell me why I’m right, or tell me anything else you’d like to see on this blog moving forward.
Cheers!
