Standings, Playoffs & Awards Predictions – 2021

Last season, this piece was all queued up and ready to go and then BANG… the world shut down and baseball wouldn’t return until July. With all the optimism surrounding a full season in 2021, we’re excited to again let our predictions shine (or not) over 162 games plus playoffs. Here is how we see the standings, postseason and awards shaking out.

STANDINGS

AL EAST
New York Yankees (94-68)
Tampa Bay Rays (90-72)
Toronto Blue Jays (88-74)
Boston Red Sox (75-87)
Baltimore Orioles (59-103)

AL CENTRAL
Chicago White Sox (95-67)
Minnesota Twins (91-71)
Cleveland Indians (84-78)
Kansas City Royals (71-91)
Detroit Tigers (66-96)

AL WEST
Houston Astros (87-75)
Oakland Athletics (84-78)
Los Angeles Angels (80-82)
Seattle Mariners (73-89)
Texas Rangers (69-93)

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves (93-69)
New York Mets (91-71)
Philadelphia Phillies (84-78)
Washington Nationals (82-80)
Miami Marlins (69-93)

NL CENTRAL
Cincinnati Reds (90-72)
St. Louis Cardinals (87-75)
Milwaukee Brewers (80-82)
Chicago Cubs (79-83)
Pittsburgh Pirates (58-104)

NL WEST
Los Angeles Dodgers (103-59)
San Diego Padres (94-68)
Arizona Diamondbacks (78-84)
San Francisco Giants (73-89)
Colorado Rockies (63-99)

PLAYOFFS

WILD CARD SERIES’
Rays over Twins
Mets over Padres

DIVISION SERIES’
White Sox over Rays
Yankees over Astros
Dodgers over Mets
Braves over Reds

CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES’
White Sox over Yankees
Braves over Dodgers

WORLD SERIES
Braves over White Sox

AWARDS
AL Manager – 1st: Tony LaRussa, 2nd: Charlie Montoyo, 3rd: Aaron Boone
NL Manager – 1st: Jayce Tingler, 2nd: Luis Rojas, 3rd: David Bell

AL ROY – 1st: Alex Kirilloff, 2nd: Andrew Vaughn, 3rd: Nate Pearson, Sleeper: Nolan Jones/Logan Gilbert
NL ROY – 1st: Sixto Sanchez, 2nd: Dylan Carlson, 3rd: Ke’Bryan Hayes, Sleeper: Spencer Howard

AL Cy Young – 1st: Gerrit Cole, 2nd: Shane Bieber, 3rd: Hyun Jin Ryu, Sleeper: Jesus Luzardo
NL Cy Young – 1st: Jack Flaherty, 2nd: Aaron Nola, 3rd: Jacob deGrom, Sleeper: Luis Castillo

AL MVP – 1st: Mike Trout, 2nd: Aaron Judge, 3rd: Bo Bichette, Sleeper: Max Kepler
NL MVP – 1st: Mookie Betts, 2nd: Ronald Acuna Jr., 3rd: Michael Conforto, Sleeper: Corey Seager

Notes: It feels like Toronto is a little short in the pitching dept… would not be surprised if Houston did not win the division this season… actually had the Mets graded out higher than ATL overall, but it’s the Mets… that NL Central – who the hell knows?!… Not going to lie, no scientific thought or data ever goes into the playoff portion of this (a lot goes into the standings, however). It’s strictly gut feeling and it’s actually done well for me in the past (I had Dodgers over Rays in ’20); Nationals in the WS in ’19, for example) so I was surprised to see where I ended up with the World Series this year… Padres unfortunately get deGrom in the Wild Card game… hedging my bet on the NL Manager award. If the Reds do actually win the division, David Bell wins the award… Like most of my player evaluations (most of which end up being correct), I needed to see Bobby Witt Jr. take just one spring at bat to know he’s legit. Just not sure he’ll get enough at bats this season to be considered… Pitchers have to have an incredible year to overtake a position player in ROY, but I think Sanchez can do it… AL Cy is tough as there aren’t many true aces in that league… Zac Gallen was my NL Cy sleeper until he got hurt. Castillo has been expected to break out for a long time and he had a really nice 2020… Pretty unoriginal for first in MVP but getting some guys in at the third spots who I think may put themselves in the spotlight. Just realized I don’t have Juan Soto in the top 3 – probably a dumb move.