2018 MLB Predictions – The National League

So the boss here is a huge baseball fan. Each year, he has emailed his friends his annual predictions for the upcoming MLB season. Since 2016, he has posted his all-in-good-fun predictions on Dahday.com. 

So Collazo is taking another swing at it! If you want to look into tickets for any ballgame, fill out this form and we will help you out. We start with the National League. Are the Dodgers returning to the World Series? Can the Nationals finally get over the playoffs hump? Will Marlins Man get his dope season ticket locations back? Read up and see what Michael Collazo thinks. Click here for his American League and post-season predictions.

Enjoy!

NL East | NL Central | NL West

NL East:

The Nationals: One of baseball’s great dramas plays out each year in our Nation’s Capital. 2017 was another great season – and another playoff disaster. Now, this season D.C. has a huge sense of urgency. Bryce Harper is going to get a big, fat check in the off-season, whether it’s from the Nats or some other team. Matt Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg remain one of game’s best 1-2 punch, but that can’t last forever. Dusty Baker is gone; former Expos OF Dave Martinez is the new manager. The Nats bullpen looks good this year so if that holds true, D.C. needs to take advantage. With Harper, the starters, that bullpen and sleeper MVP candidates like Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner, the Nats should get another crack at the title. If they fall short, GM Mike Rizzo might end up blowing this team up.

The Fightins: Heck yeah I am biased but hear me out. First, with the call-ups of Rhys Hoskins, Nick Williams, Jorge Alfaro and J.P. Crawford late last summer, Philly was basically a .500 team the last two months of the season. Since then, GM Matt Klentak has signed Carlos Santana (walk machine with power and a good glove at 1B), Tommy Hunter (solid reliever), Pat Neshak (ditto), and of course Jake Arrieta (high-end veteran starter). Offensively, the Phillies are going to be a lineup full of nagging, quality at-bats – Cesar Hernandez, Odubel Herrera, Santana, Hoskins and Crawford may each have .350+ on-base percentages at the plate. And that list doesn’t even include Scott Kingery, who reminds scouts of Dustin Pedroia. On the mound, Arrieta joins Aaron Nola — who was sneaky good last year — to form a solid top of the rotation. Philly just needs one of their unproven arms to become a solid 4th or 3rd starter. Maybe that pitcher will be Vince Velasquez or Nick Pivetta, both of whom have dynamite stuff but have yet to put it all together; maybe that pitcher will be Ben Lively or Jerad Eickhoff, who is currently on the disabled list. Even if none of these starters pan out, Philly has prospects to trade and money to spend. The Fightins could be the 2018 version of the ’15 Houston Astros or the ’17 Minnesota Twins.

The Kings of Queens: All that could go wrong in 2017 pretty much did. Noah Syndergaard, Jacob DeGrom, Matt Harvey and Steven Matz all got hurt. Yoenis Cespedes didn’t get 300 at-bats. Jeurys Familia pitched just 24.2 innings. Could the opposite be the case this year? Are the Mets due to have things fall right? If they do, it will be with an elite starting rotation keeping the club in enough games this season. They need Thor, DeGrominator and The Dark Knight. Otherwise, the offense is too limited to contend without a dominant starting staff. David Wright is done. Adrian Gonzalez isn’t that far behind him. Amed Rosario could be a star, but he is a rookie. Dominic Smith may not hit enough to justify his below-average defense and speed as an infielder. With little money to spend and a weaker farm system, the Mets have little margin for error even if the starters come through big time.

The Bravos: Atlanta is likely a year or so off from contending. The excitement surrounding Ronald Acuna notwithstanding, their roster isn’t balanced quite yet. Nick Markakis may be more a fourth outfield for a good team at this point. Dansby Swanson didn’t hit last year, though that could change this year. Freddie Freeman is excellent. Ender Inciarte plays great defense in centerfield and is a solid hitter with limited power. I like Julio Teheran but not as an ace, which is his role with this team. Mike Foltynewicz has an intriguing arm but he has lots to prove he can be a top of the rotation starter. Even if the bullpen pitches lights out this year, I don’t think this team wins more than 74-77 games.

The Fish: Much more interesting than how this team performs on the field – expect very little after the all-too-familiar Florida Firesale this off-season – will be how the organization performs in the executive suite. Sure Lewis Brinson could be fun to watch. Justin Bour will hit. Cameron Maybin will pay homage to Wakanda whenever he gets on base. But will there be some games with less than 1,000 fans in the seats (MLB teams always will announce attendance 8,000-15,000 regardless of the human headcount). Will Derek Jeter make any moves during the season? Will those moves be praised or criticized? Will Marlins Man come back? Will all this rebooting lead to Houston Astros 2.0 and he will look like a genius in seven years?

Stay tuned.

NL Central:

The Cubbies: The Northsiders are in the midst of a run. They have a ring but can get another. Like the Yankees, Astros, Dodgers and a couple others, it is World Series or bust for this team. Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber (who is rather svelte now), Addison Russell, Javier Baez, Wilson Contreras, Ian Happ…loaded. The biggest intrigue for me is how Yu Darvish performs there. Not as dominate as a few years ago, he struggled so much in the 2017 playoffs. Will Darvish put so much pressure on himself during the regular season or in a postseason environment he underwhelms again? Other than a rash of injuries I don’t seevthe rival Cards or Brewers being able to catch Chitown atop the division.

The Brew Crew: Me in 2017: “Milwaukee is not a contender this year.” Don’t take my predictions to Vegas, folks! Milwaukee certainly was. This season, the Brewers added Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, so in joining Domingo Santana their outfield is as talented as anyone in the National League. Travis Shaw is super under-rated. Eric Thames had a nice year after bangin’ in Korea. This year’s contention rests on the shoulders of the starting pitchers. The Brewers have ace in the crew, but Zach Davies, Chase Anderson and Jhoulys Chacin can keep them in a lot of games. Jimmy Nelson is hurt, but if he can get healthy in time to help for the stretch run, that would be a huge boost. The bullpen with Corey Knebel, Matt Albers, Jeremy Jeffress and the rest may have the cover for the starters more than not. If Milwaukee found a way to upgrade their rotation with an in-season trade, I still think they wouldn’t catch the Cubs. Still, they should be interesting to watch this summer.

The Cards: St. Louis ain’t exciting but they win. I feel like instead of having an A+ student with some average kids and some drop-outs, the Cardinals have a bunch of B+ students and test collectively the best. I dig Tommy “What Up?” Pham and Kolten Wong. They brought in Marcell Ozuna, who could be their A student if he can repeat his All Star 2017 season in Missouri. If this team had Alex Reyes and kept Lance Lynn, I would be more bullish on this perennial contender. I am also a hater so don’t want to bump them up.

The Reds: In a far-off way, Cincinnati could be a surprise this year. I don’t expect any playoff contention, but if you look at their lineup, they bash. Joe Votto is an awesome offensive player. Adam Duvall hits bombs. Scooter Gennett had a very productive 2017 season. Eugenio Suarez is under-appreciated. Billy Hamilton is the fastest player in the game and a very intriguing talent. The issue the Reds have is their ace is… Homer Bailey. Luis Castillo is an intriguing arm that could become Cincy’s top arm. Raisel Iglesias could now let it all hang out as a closer. If a couple arms can solidify things, the Reds could float close to .500.

The Buccos: Pittsburgh has moved on from a fine but disappointing run. No post-season success and now it moves on without Face Of The Franchise talent Andrew McCutchen. Though they are in a re-build, they still have decent talent, with Starling Marte off of a suspension, Josh Bell at first, Josh Harrison at second base and Corey Dickerson in the outfield. Gregory Polanco just doesn’t hit enough yet, but I hope he takes a step forward this year. Ivan Nova is their ace and Jameson Taillon has potential to become a strong starter. But in the end, this team is working for the future so the Buccos will serve just as a spunky, 72-77 win team in 2018.

NL West:

The World Series Runner-Up Dodgers: I think L.A. wins this division once again. Not going out on a limb here. Getting so close to winning the World Series, despite all best intentions it’s hard to get back to the mountaintop. Still their lineup is tremendously talented with now Cody Bellinger with Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Corey Seager and the rest. I am a big Hyun-Kin Ryu fan. If he remains healthy and gets back to 2014 levels, this rotation of Kershaw, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill and Alex Wood will be even stronger. Kenley Janson is an elite closer, leading a good bullpen. Arizona will pose a threat, but this is clearly a playoff team that will have a chance to win it all again.

D-Backs: Arizona had an impressive coming out party last summer. It turns out Dave Stewart wasn’t so bad a GM. During the 2015 off-season he thought the D-Backs could contend so he pushed hard. It wasn’t his fault A.J. Pollock got hurt and 2016 all fell down with him. In 2017, Zach Greinke and others a part of that 2015 failure came through. Paul Goldschmidt is the truth. Robbie Ray had that high strikeout total push him to the top of the rotation. I love Archie Bradley throwing smoke out of the bullpen. Even with Pollock being hurt a portion of the year, Arizona gave L.A. all they could handle. If this team still had J.D. Martinez, I would be tempted to put them atop the division past L.A. Maybe Jarrod Dyson and Chris Owings in rightfield spell Martinez or GM Mike Hazen can trade for a hitter during the season, but regardless Arizona is a threat.

Colorado: The Rockies quietly has two of the top 10 or 20 players in baseball. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised they were such a good team in 2017. Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenando are both MVP caliber performers. That lineup rakes when you add Trevor Story, Ian Desmond and D.J. Lemahieu In the era of looking at a pitching staff differently, utilizing smaller spurts of innings and holding seven or eight arms in the bullpen, the Rockies can make it work. Starters Jon Gray, Tyler Anderson and Chad Bettis and bullpen pieces like Wade Davis and Bryan Shaw can string together the outs to win games. I think they contend for the playoffs once again.

The Friars: Another team that will likely be better than people would think, though their ceiling is lower than others in the division. San Diego now as a guy – Eric Hosmer – to build a team and a marketing campaign around. He does everything solid if not spectacularly well. He seems to fit the ballpark well. He will hit in the gaps at Petco Park, field well, run the bases well. Wil Myers now can move back to the outfield. Manuel Margot offensively has a similar game than Javier Baez. Jose Pirela is a nice player. Freddy Galvis the new shortstop will make spectacular plays at SS and be a professional. So if the Padres could get some decent pitching from Clayton Richard, Luis Perdomo and Yankees castaway Bryan Mitchell, this could be a 74-77 win team, which would be a surprise. A good farm system could even produce a winning season by 2019.

Los Gigantes: I admire the Giants going all in during the off-season, bringing in Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria. But I feel like this reminds me of the Phillies when they held onto Chase Utley and Ryan Howard too long. Madison Bumgarner is vulnerable for injuries. Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto are past their best. Ditto Hunter Pence. So why would this team contend if Bumgarner isn’t a Kershaw level starter? I am not bullish on the Giants. I think this team bottoms out and starts trading these veteran assets by July.

Look out for Collazo’s American League and playoff predictions by April 3.

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