Mike Trout (right) and the Angels are playing great baseball. (Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports)
Matt Lowe also chimed in on this blog with Matt. Hence the reference to “we.”
Here are 10 bold predictions on baseball’s second half of the season:
Milwaukee’s Khris Davis has more homers at the end of the season than Baltimore’s Chris Davis.
They are tied at 16 long balls each at this point in the season. But Khris has showed a much better plate approach this season as can be seen by his batting average, .252, compared to the .202 batting average of Chris. The fall from 53 homers from Chris has been big, and we think it is here to stay this season. We’ll take Khris over Chris.
The Rays don’t trade Price and make it into the playoffs.
This is certainly a bold prediction. We will know pretty quickly if this one will come to a fruition as the trade deadline is a mere eight days away. As the Rays keep winning and remain in the playoff hunt, it is going to be harder to let go of their most valuable piece.
Evan Gattis leads the Braves in home runs.
Justin Upton has 18 homers to Gattis’ 16. Gattis is finally healthy and with everyday at-bats we feel he can push past Upton in long balls. How does 29 bombs for Evan sound to Upton’s 27?
The Los Angeles Angels win the AL West.
At first glance this prediction does not seem all that bold as Mike Scioscia’s team is currently only two games back of the A’s. The boldness comes into play when you consider them passing the red-hot A’s, who have been playing great ball all year. Predicting Los Angeles over Oakland may not be the craziest of ideas, but we think the Angels are for real.
The Los Angeles Dodgers will have three 15-game winners in their rotation for the first time since 2002.
In a little more than the past decade, there have been three teams to have three or more starters to have at least 15 wins: the 2003 Yankees- Mike Mussina, David Wells, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, 2002 A’s- Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito and the 2002 Braves- Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Kevin Millwood.
This would put this 2014 Dodgers’ rotation in elite company. Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, and Hyun-Jin Ryu all currently sit at 11 wins. We think this dynamic rotation can pull off the impressive feat of three 15-game winners.
The San Diego Padres will end the season as one of the worst offensive teams in MLB history.
The 2010 Mariners and the 2013 Marlins were expected to be historically bad teams heading into those seasons. The same cannot be said for this year’s Padres squad. San Diego wasn’t expected to set the baseball world ablaze, but it certainly wasn’t expected to be this bad. Here is a scary stat: the Padres are on pace to score less than 500 runs.
Three teams from the AL West will make the playoffs. The A’s, Angels and Mariners.
We think the Angels and A’s are locks to make the playoffs, but watch out for the surging Mariners. The Mariners and Angels currently hold the wildcard spots for the AL. We predict them to hold onto those spots and make some noise in the playoffs.
Anthony Rizzo will end the season with the most homers in the NL.
Rizzo currently leads the NL in homers, with 25 bombs, thanks to a two homer game earlier this week. He has the power, but the boldness comes into play when you think of Rizzo having to hold off the likes of Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton and Paul Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt.
Mike Trout wins the Triple Crown
It would seem improbable that there are two Triple Crown winners in the past three years after a 45-year drought. Trout currently is in contention on all three statistical categories (batting average, homer runs, RBIs) and with a big end-of-the-season surge could pull of the improbable.
Flashback to 1988; the A’s and Dodgers meet in the World Series
We like this one primarily because we feel it would provide one of the most exciting World Series atmospheres in recent history. Combine the electric energy that comes with Yasiel Puig and the Dodgers, and the A’s potential at a 100-win season and that’s as much excitement as the World Series can handle.
