My 2021 MLB Predictions (Standings, Awards, and League Leaders)

Welcome everybody to my 2021 MLB Predictions! I’m going to give my standings, award winners, and main stat league leaders. Allow us to begin:

Standings:

AL East:

1. New York Yankees, 108-54. This one shouldn’t need much explaining, they’ve bolstered their pitching rotation and their hitters are ridiculous.
2. Toronto Blue Jays, 89-73. The Jays will shock the whole world of baseball this year, with their young and exciting roster they’ll make headlines this year.
3. Boston Red Sox, 84-78. People are already writing off the Red Sox, but I think they’ll be better than what most think. With Cora, ERod, and Sale all coming back they’ll be a competitive team.
4. Tampa Bay Rays, 81-81. With the loss of Snell, Morton and Nick Anderson I think the Rays will take a hit this season. It’s going to be tough for them but they will certainly be a good team.
5. Baltimore Orioles, 65-97. Matt Harvey is their #2 starter. I hope we get to see Rutchinson though.

AL Central:

1. Chicago White Sox, 98-64. The White Sox are going to turn heads this season. They’ve got Giolito and Lynn leading the rotation and Hendriks closing it. Don’t forget about Cease and Kopech as well, they are JACKED when it comes to pitching. They’ll miss Eloy Jimenez for the beginning but they’ll recover. They also hired HOFer Tony La Russa, and have the reigning MVP. Watch out baseball….
2. Minnesota Twins, 85-77. Minnesota has always had a good team but have never been able to win it all, or get past the Yankees. I think they’ll be a solid team, but won’t do much damage.
3. Kansas City Royals, 77-85. They Royals are getting better each year, but haven’t been able to catch that World Series feeling ever since they won it in 2015. I think that losing stretch continues.
4. Cleveland Indians, 75-87. Oh boy…… I don’t think Cleveland will be as bad as people say. They have the reigning Cy Young winner Shane Bieber and up and comer Zach Plesac. Don’t sleep on ’em.
5. Detroit Tigers: 55-107. The Tigers hired AJ Hinch, but they are a clear work-in-progress.

AL West:

1. Los Angeles Angels, 91-71. Ok before everyone tries to kill me for this, HEAR ME OUT. They’ve got future HOFer Joe Maddon as the manager, the same manager who helped the Cubs win their first WS in over 100 years. Then they’ve got Rendon, Trout, Fletcher, Upton, Adell, Stassi and the Swiss army knife Shohei Ohtani. I understand they’ve got bad pitching but I think Bundy and Heaney can turn over a new tide and improve.
2. Houston Astros, 89-73. I don’t expect the Astros to be great, yes they’ll be competitive but they aren’t going far. Verlander is still going to miss most of the season, Valdez is hurt, and Forest Whitley will be missing a long time. Losing Springer in FA is also terrible, it’ll be an interesting season.
3. Oakland Athletics, 74-88. The A’s just lost Semien and Hendriks, two of their best players. I don’t see them doing much.
4. Seattle Mariners, 68-94. Seattle has an absolutely insane and STACKED farm system, but until those players are playing I don’t see them going far this season. However, the future is extremely bright.
5. Texas Rangers, 48-114. The Rangers lost Lynn and may lose Joey Gallo to trade, don’t see them doing much either.

NL East:

1. Atlanta Braves, 101-61. It’s practically guaranteed that the Braves will be a great team this year. They upgraded their only hole which was pitching.
2. New York Mets, 94-68. The Mets WILL shock everyone this year. They’ll have deGrom, Stroman, Carrasco (when healthy), Noah Syndergaard (when healthy) and Lucchesi leading the rotation. And Lindor, Alonso, Smith, Comforto, Nimmo and McNeil leading the lineup. New York is back, both teams!
3. Philadelphia Phillies, 86-76. For sometime now the Phillies have been not been living up to expectations. They have a jacked lineup but some issues in the bullpen, I expect to look better this year.
4. Miami Marlins, 82-80. Say what you want but last year was not a fluke. I am a believer in Don Mattingly and he’s a heck of a coach. They also have young Ace Sixto Sanchez leading the pack, they will be a competitive team
5. Washington Nationals, 74-88. With such a stacked division, I don’t see the Nats winning as much as they should. Yes, Juan Soto is a young monster and could be a future all-star but he can only do too much on his own. They need Strasbourg and the rest of the pitching staff to be healthy. However, that’s a rare occurrence.

NL Central:

1. St. Louis Cardinals, 91-71. The Cardinals were a good team last year but with the addition of Nolan Arenado, I don’t see the Cubs beating them out for first.
2. Chicago Cubs, 83-79. The Cubs recently lost their Ace, Yu Darvish and are looking to trade Kyle Hendricks or Kris Bryant. It’s not a good look, that World Series team is slowly falling apart.
3. Milwaukee Brewers, 74-88. Not much to say on Milwaukee, that NLCS season seems to have been a fluke. Hopefully Yelich can regain his former MVP self.
4. Cincinatti Reds, 67-95. The Reds don’t have much right now. They lost their main Ace, Trevor Bauer and without him I don’t see them going far. He was their best player and that’s never good for a team.
5. Pittsburgh Pirates, 49-115. Oh boy, this is going to be another tough season. Let’s hope those prospects show up.

NL West:

1. Los Angeles Dodgers, 108-54. This is obvious, the only question is how many games will they win over the 100 win mark. Only NL West competition they have is the Padres. Stacked team.
2. San Diego Padres, 103-59. This rotation is deadly, if it wasn’t for the Dodgers they’d be the division winner.
3. San Fransisco Giants, 79-83. The Giants don’t have much and I don’t see them making a long run.
4. Colorado Rockies, 55-107. They just lost Arenado and are looking to get rid of Trevor Story, yikes.
5. Arizona Diamondbacks, 45-117. Not winning with that roster in this division.

Awards:

AL MVP- NYY Aaron Judge. If Judge can stay healthy for at least 140 games and play at a productive rate, then the trophy’s his. Obviously he’ll have to compete with Trout, but this is his year. I’m confident in him.
NL MVP- WSH Juan Soto. Some call him the second coming of Ted Williams. I think Soto is due for a HUGE season, hopefully he can bring some of that former WS spark to Washington.
AL Cy Young- NYY Ace Gerrit Cole. It’s about time, Cole has to walk away with it. He’s now adjusted into the roster and should be able to have dominant games. His contract sure believes in him.
NL Cy Young- NYM Ace Jacob deGrom. This year will be the season of the NY Ace. I just don’t see anyone beating deGrom out for the spot. Maybe Yu Darvish or Walker Buehler but it’s unlikely.
AL Manager of the Year- LAA Joe Maddon. I predict that the Angels will have a great year and it’ll create a great case for Maddon to be the Manager of the year.
NL Manager of the Year- NYM Luis Rojas. I got the Mets doing big things this year, and Rojas will have a big influence.
AL Hank Aaron Award- CWS Luis Robert. Everyone keeps sleeping on Luis but he’s due to prove himself this year. Expect greatness.
NL Hank Aaron Award- NYM Francisco Lindor. It’s inevitable, he’s got that huge contract and the Mets need him to have a great season. The runner ups would probably be Machado and Tatis Jr. but I’ve got Lindor taking it.
AL Reliever of the Year- CWS Liam Hendriks. I’m not betting against Hendriks, dude’s a ridiculous pitcher.
NL Reliever of the Year- NYM Edwin Diaz. I think Eddy finds his groove back.
AL Rookie of the Year- BAL Ryan Mountcastle. I think that if Ryan can pick up where he left off then he’s going to be the AL ROTY.
NL Rookie of the Year- MIA Sixto Sanchez. I don’t know how he’s eligible for the trophy but he’s definitely taking it.

League Leaders:

Batting:
HR: NYY Aaron Judge (51)
RBIs: CWS Luis Robert (129)
Hits: LAD Mookie Betts (208)

Pitching:
Wins: NYY Domingo Germán (22)
ERA: NYM Jacob deGrom (2.23)
Strikeouts: NYY Gerrit Cole (310)
Saves: CWS Liam Hendriks (40)

Playoff Predictions:

AL:
1. New York Yankees
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Los Angeles Angels
4. Toronto Blue Jays
5. Houston Astros

NL:
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Atlanta Braves
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. San Diego Padres
5. New York Mets

AL Wild Card: Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Houston Astros (Score: 8-5)
NL Wild Card: New York Mets defeat the San Diego Padres (Score: 3-1)

AL Divison Series:
New York Yankees defeat the Toronto Blue Jays (3-1)
Los Angeles Angels defeat the Chicago White Sox (3-2)

NL Divison Series:
Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the New York Mets (3-2)
Atlanta Braves defeat the St. Louis Cardinals (3-0)

AL Championship Series:
New York Yankees defeat the Los Angeles Angels (4-2)

NL Championship Series:
Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Atlanta Braves (4-3)

MLB World Series:
New York Yankees defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers (4-3)

Thanks for reading everybody. This has been Jose Calderon III with FiveBorough Dispatch. Have a great day, everybody!