Tag: Preview/Prediction

2016 MLB Award Race Odds Updates with 2 Weeks to Go

It doesn’t seem possible, but there are only two weeks left in the 2016 MLB regular season.

While playoff races remain the focus around the baseball universe, the races for each of the game’s individual awards, with one exception, are heating up as well. We’ve had a handful of new additions to the field in some cases, some subtractions in others and shuffling among those who remain in contention.

While statistics remain the driving force in calculating the odds on the pages that follow, both gut feeling and past voting trends played a part as well.

How are the races shaping up with time running out for contenders to make a move? Let’s take a look.

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Updated 2016 MLB Playoff Odds with 3 Weeks Remaining

Roughly three weeks are left in the 2016 MLB regular season, and while the playoff picture is taking shape, there is still a lot to be decided before October.

In the American League, 10 legitimate contenders remain. The Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers have a strong hold on their respective division leads, but the AL East is now a four-team race, and the two wild-card spots are wide open.

The National League picture is not as congested, but six clubs are still in position to reach the postseason. The Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals are locks to claim their respective division crowns, while the Los Angeles Dodgers are a safe bet to be playing in October in some capacity.

Meanwhile, the wild card now looks like a three-team race between the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, as the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins have both fallen off.

At any rate, what follows is a look at each club’s chances of reaching the postseason, with the following factors taken into account:

  • Current standings
  • Recent performance
  • Future schedule
  • Injury concerns

So, with the regular season set to wrap up on Oct. 2, here is an updated division-by-division look at the playoff chances of all the remaining contenders from where they stood one week ago.

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2016 MLB Awards Race Odds Updates with 3 Weeks to Go

With the exception of the Rookie of the Year Award in each league, here’s hoping that those voting for MLB‘s biggest individual honors in 2016 have been filling out their ballots in pencil and not pen.

The races for Comeback Player of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young Award and MVP in the American League and National League remain volatile, with hot-and-cold streaks shuffling the odds and, even this late in the season, adding and subtracting contenders from the field.

While statistics remain the driving force in calculating the odds on the pages that follow, both gut feeling and past voting trends played a part as well.

Let’s take a look at how the races stack up with only three weeks left in the 2016 regular season.

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10 MLB Stars Who’ll Make or Break 2016 Pennant Race Outcomes

Flipping the calendar to September means a number of things: the end of summer, the start of a new school year and a seemingly uncontrollable outbreak of MLB pennant race fever.

It’s also the month in which the biggest stars on teams in the midst of those races have a chance to earn their paychecks. Some will do just that, rising to the occasion and leading their teams to not only regular-season pennants but also (hopefully) postseason success.

Others will succumb to the pressure and fall flat, leading their clubs to disappointing regular-season finishes that find them watching the playoffs from the comfort of their living room couches.

Of course, a player doesn’t necessarily have to be on a contending club to have an impact on the outcomes of those races. Some will have the opportunity to rise to the occasion and play the role of spoiler down the stretch.

Here’s a look at 10 stars who will play crucial roles in deciding which teams wind up atop their respective divisions by season’s end.

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Pujols Looking to Become 4th Player with 14 30-Homer Seasons

Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Albert Pujols enters Friday’s game against the Texas Rangers with 29 home runs for the season, needing just one more to become the fourth player in major league history to record 14 or more seasons with 30 or more home runs, per Sportsnet Stats.

Already universally regarded as one of the best right-handed batters of all time, the 36-year-old slugger should soon find himself in rather fine company, joining Hank Aaron (15 30-plus-homer seasons), Alex Rodriguez (15) and Barry Bonds (14), per Baseball Almanac.

Pujols has had 13 such seasons, tying him with Babe Ruth and Mike Schmidt for fourth-most in major league history.

While still productive in the power department, the Angels’ high-priced DH has otherwise seen his production tail off, even after accounting for his recent hot streak.

His .271 batting average would be solid for most players, but it pales in comparison to his .310 career mark, and the same can be said for his .328 on-base percentage (career .393) and .468 slugging percentage (career .574).

However, if he’s merely being judged by his standards since leaving the St. Louis Cardinals after the 2011 season, this has arguably been Pujols’ best campaign in an Angels uniform.

His 110 RBI are already the most he’s recorded since 2010, and his .796 OPS would represent his best mark since his inaugural season in Los Angeles.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Updated 2016 MLB Playoff Odds with 4 Weeks Remaining

Roughly four weeks are left in the 2016 MLB regular season, and while the playoff picture is taking shape, there is still a lot to be decided before October.

In the American League, 10 legitimate contenders remain. The Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers have a strong hold on their respective division leads, but the AL East is a three-team race, and the two wild-card spots are wide open with the Detroit Tigers making a strong push of late.

The National League picture is not as congested, but eight clubs are still in position to reach the postseason. The Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals are locks to fill two of the five spots, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are close to joining that top-tier of NL clubs.

Meanwhile, the wild card now looks like a three-team race between the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, as the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins have both fallen off the pace.

At any rate, what follows is a look at each club’s chances of reaching the postseason, with the following factors taken into account:

  • Current standings
  • Recent performance
  • Future schedule
  • Injury concerns

So, with the regular season set to wrap up on Oct. 2, here is an updated division-by-division look at the playoff chances of all the remaining contenders from where they stood one week ago.

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2016 MLB Awards Race Odds Updates with 4 Weeks to Go

With roughly four weeks left in the regular season, we’ve entered crunch time in the races for not only division crowns and wild-card berths, but individual awards as well.

There’s been some shuffling atop the leaderboards for baseball’s biggest individual prizes—Comeback Player of the Year, Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year and, perhaps the most coveted honor in each league, the Cy Young Award and MVP Award.

Some of those races are far more exciting than others, with multiple players a hot streak away from overtaking their competition. While we’re focused on statistics, the feeling we’ve got in our guts and past voting trends also factor into the odds you’ll find on the pages that follow.

Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?

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Predicting Boom or Bust for MLB’s Most Hyped September 1 Prospect Call-Ups

The final month of the MLB regular season has arrived, and with that comes roster expansion from 25 to 40 players.

For contenders, it’s a chance to add one last wave of reinforcements for the stretch run, generally in the form of additional bullpen arms and bench bats.

Corey Seager proved that September call-ups are capable of making a real impact last season, though, when he took over as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ everyday shortstop over the final month.

For non-contenders, it’s an opportunity to get an up-close look at some of the minor league talent who may be ready to step into a more prominent role the following season.

Zach Davies turned heads after joining the Milwaukee Brewers rotation in September last year, parlaying that into a spot on the team’s staff in 2016.

Now that teams have made the first wave of call-ups this season, let’s take a look at some of the notable prospects joining the MLB ranks and take a crack at predicting whether they’ll boom or bust down the stretch.

Here’s how we defined those two categories:

  • Boom: A prospect who makes a legitimate impact, whether it’s in a starting role or as a key bat off the bench or an arm in the bullpen.
  • Bust: A prospect who fails to make a legitimate impact due to lack of playing time or poor performance.

These are not meant to be long-term predictions for what type of future these players will have; it’s simply a look ahead to how they might fare in September.

 

Note: To be considered for this list, a player must still have rookie eligibility. That left guys such as Byron Buxton, Cody Reed, Dalton Pompey and Kevin Plawecki excluded from the conversation.

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2016 World Series Odds Update: Cubs, Nationals Remain Atop Betting Board

The Chicago Cubs (86-47) and Washington Nationals (78-55) are near-locks to become the first two National League teams to clinch playoff berths as big division leaders. The Cubs and Nationals are also the two favorites on the odds to win the World Series at +300 (bet $100 to win $300) and +550, respectively, at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

Chicago leads the NL Central by 15.5 games over last year’s division winnerthe St. Louis Cardinals (70-62)who are left to chase one of the wild-card berths instead. Meanwhile, Washington has a 9.5-game lead on the New York Mets (69-65), the defending NL champions who swept the Cubs in the NL Championship Series last year.

While the Cardinals (+2800) and Mets (+5000) are both long shots to win the World Series, the best race in the NL is in the West, where the Los Angeles Dodgers (+1000) and San Francisco Giants (+1400) are duking it out for the division title.

The Dodgers (74-59) are holding on to a slim two-game lead over the Giants (72-61), their bitter rivals who have won the World Series in the last three even-numbered years.

Los Angeles might be a good value bet now, as ace Clayton Kershaw (11-2, 1.79 ERA) is still hoping to return for the playoffs after sitting out since late June because of a back injury. The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner and 2014 NL MVP could be the key to the postseason because good pitching seems to be the only way to stop Chicago this year.

The American League also features a few top contenders on the 2016 World Series odds, led by the AL West-leading Texas Rangers (80-54) at +650. Because the AL beat the NL 4-2 in the MLB All-Star Game on July 12, the team winning the pennant from that league will have home-field advantage in the World Series.

The Kansas City Royals (69-64) used that edge to defeat the Mets in the World Series a year ago, and they are among the AL teams chasing a wild-card spot with a price of +3300 to repeat as champs.

The Royals are three games behind the Detroit Tigers (72-61) and trail the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians (76-56) by 7.5 in the race for the division title. The Indians are +900 to win the World Series, while the Tigers are +2200.

In the AL East, three teams are battling to win the division, as the Toronto Blue Jays (76-57) lead by two games over the Boston Red Sox (74-59) and four over the Baltimore Orioles (72-61). The Blue Jays fell to Kansas City in the 2015 ALCS, and they are +750 to win the World Series ahead of the Red Sox (+1000) and Orioles (+2500).

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


B/R Predicts MLB Playoff Teams, Award Winners and More, 1 Month Out

The final month of the 2016 MLB season has arrived, but there is still a lot to be sorted out before the regular season wraps up and another postseason begins.

As many as 18 teams can still be considered contenders for at least a wild-card berth. As for individual accolades, September performances will decide several major awards.

With that in mind, some of the top MLB writers at Bleacher Report have decided to try their hands at predicting the league’s 10 playoff teams, major award winners and a few other notable things.

These six writers made up our panel of prognosticators:

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