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With the first pitch of the Mariners season coming in just a few hours, the LL staff got together and made our predictions. We’d love to hear yours too — please submit your picks through this link or the form embedded at the bottom of this post!
Let’s start off with our staff predictions:
LL Staff Predictions
| Grant | John | Anders | Ben | Nat | Matthew | Connor | Eric | Jake | Tim | Kate | Mikey | Amanda | Becca | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grant | John | Anders | Ben | Nat | Matthew | Connor | Eric | Jake | Tim | Kate | Mikey | Amanda | Becca | |
| Division/WC Winners | ||||||||||||||
| ALW | Ughstros | Astros | Astros | Astros | Astros | Cheaters | Astros | Asstros | Lastros | Athletics | Athletics | Astros | Angels | Angels |
| ALC | Twins | Twins | Twins | Twins | Twins | White Sox | Twins | White Sox | Twins | Twins | Twins | Twins | White Sox | White Sox |
| ALE | Rays | Yankees | Yankees | Yankees | Yankees | Yankees | Yankees | Rays | Yankees | Yankees | Rays | Rays | Rays | Rays |
| WC - 2nd, ALW | Athletics | Athletics | A's | Angels | A's | A's | A's | Rangers | A's | Astros | Astros | Athletics | Astros | Astros |
| WC - 2nd, ALC | Cleveland | White Sox | Cleveland | Indians | White Sox | Twins | White Sox | Cleveland | Cleveland | Cleveland | White Sox | Twins | ||
| WC - 2nd, ALE | Yankees | Rays | Blue Jays | Rays | Rays | Rays | Rays | Yankees | Rays | Rays | Yankees | Yankees | Yankees | Yankees |
| AL WC1 | White Sox | Cleveland | Red Sox | A's | Cleveland Spiders | Angels | Red Sox | Twins | White Sox | White Sox | Cleveland | A's | ||
| AL WC2 | Red Sox | Red Sox | Rays | Rangers | Mariners | Blue Jays | Mariners | Red Sox | Angels | Mariners | Blue Jays | Mariners | ||
| NLW | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers |
| NLC | Reds | Cardinals | Reds | Reds | Brewers | Brewers | Brewers | Brewers | Brewers | Brewers | Cardinals | Brewers | Brewers | Reds |
| NLE | Braves | Phillies | Phillies | Phillies | Braves | Phillies | Braves | Braves | Braves | Braves | Braves | Braves | Braves | Braves |
| WC - 2nd, NLW | Padres | Diamondbacks | Padres | D-Backs | Diamondbacks | Padres | Diamondbacks | Padres | Padres | Padres | Padres | Padres | Padres | |
| WC - 2nd, NLC | Brewers | Reds | Brewers | Brewers | Reds | Reds | Reds | Reds | Reds | Cardinals | Brewers | Cardinals | Reds | |
| WC - 2nd, NLE | Nationals | Braves | Nationals | Nationals | Phillies | Mets | Nationals | Phillies | Nationals | Phillies | Phillies | Nationals | Nationals | Nationals |
| NL WC 1 | Diamondbacks | Nationals | Braves | Braves | Mets | Braves | Padres | Phillies | Cubs | Diamondbacks | Reds | Cardinals | ||
| NL WC 2 | Reds | Padres | Nationals | Cardinals | Nats | Cardinals | Cubs | Mets | Diamondbacks | Mets | Diamondbacks | Reds | ||
| AL Sleeper Team | White Sox | White Sox | White Sox | Twins? | White Sox | Blue Jays | White Sox | Rangers | White Sox | Mariners | White Sox | White Sox | Mariners | Twins |
| NL Sleeper Team | Reds | Diamondbacks | Brewers | Marlins | Diamondbacks | Diamondbacks | Giants | Diamondbacks | Padres | Reds | Padres | Mets | Padres | Diamondbacks |
| Playoffs | ||||||||||||||
| ALCS Winner | Rays | Astros | Twins | Yankees | Yankees | Yankees | Yankees | Yankees | Yankees | Rays | Athletics | Rays | Rays | Yankees |
| NLCS Winner | Dodgers | Dodgers | Reds | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Brewers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers |
| WS Winner | Dodgers | Dodgers | Twins | Yankees | Dodgers | Dodgers | Brewers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Dodgers | Rays | Dodgers |
| Awards | ||||||||||||||
| AL MVP | Mike Trout | Giancarlo Stanton | Yordan Álvarez | Lindor | Matt Chapman | Tim Anderson | Mike Trout | Tim Anderson | Alex Bregman | Michael Nelson Trout | Mike Trout | Mike Trout | Giancarlo Stanton | Mike Trout |
| NL MVP | Mookie Betts | Ronald Acuña Jr. | Cody Bellinger | McNeil | Acuna | Bryce Harper | Christian Yelich | Ronald Acuña, Jr. | Cody Bellinger | Cody Bellinger | Mookie Betts | Ketel Marte | Manny Machado | Ronald Acuna Jr. |
| AL Cy Young | Shane Bieber | Lance McCullers Jr. | Shane Bieber | McCullers | Glasnow | Lucas Giolito | Charlie Morton | Carrot Cole | Gerrit Cole | Gerrit Cole | Gerrit Cole | Shane Bieber | Mike Clevinger | Gerrit Cole |
| NL Cy Young | Walker Buehler | Jack Flaherty | Walker Buehler | deGrom | deGrom | Luis Castillo | Jacob deGrom | Jacob deGrom | Walker Buehler | Jacob deGrom | Max Scherzer | Jacob deGrom | Yu Darvish | Walker Buehler |
| AL ROY | Luis Robert | Luis Robert | Kyle Lewis baby | Pearson | Luis Robert | Kyle Lewis | Luis Robert | Evan White | Luis Robert | Yoshitomo Tsutsugo | Luis Robert | Kyle Lewis | Jarred Kelenic | Kyle Lewis |
| NL ROY | Gavin Lux | Shogo Akiyama | Carter Kieboom | Carlson | Kieboom | Carter Kieboom | Dylan Carlson | Carter Kieboom | Gavin Lux | Gavin Lux | Dylan Carlson | Carter Kieboom | Dustin May | Carter Kieboom |
| Misc | ||||||||||||||
| Mariners Wins | 24 | 25 | 28 | 24 | 22 | 23 | 30 | 15 | 26 | 29 | 21 | 26 | 33 | 27 |
| Kyle Lewis HR | 10 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 20 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 13 |
| Jarred Kelenic PA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 200 | 10 |
| # of trades Dipoto makes | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| % chance you will get a $30 fan cutout | 10% | I'll pool with someone | Thought about it but no | 0 | Will pool with John on Otey The Possum Fan Cutout | No | No | lol no | Nah | No | can I get my cat one | Joseph Stalin,,,, | 0% | 0% |
| Will the season be completed as planned? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | If I only could, I'd make a deal with God, and I'd get him to swap our places. Be running up that road. Be running up that hill. Be running up that building. See if I only could, oh | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yeth | It will be completed, but I imagine it will not go as planned | hard to say |
| Taijuan Walker FIP | 4.21 | 4.48 | 4.53 | 4.34 | 3.99 | 4.69 | 3.85 | 4.20 | 4.35 | 4.20 | 4.05 | 3.90 | 3.75 | 4.15 |
| Shed Long bat flips | 7.5 | 10 | You gonna count this? Uhh 8 | 2 | 4 | infinity | 6 | 10.5 | 3 | 0 | how can I number the stars | Big bat flip | 14 | 5.75 |
| Biggest prospect success | Justus Sheffield | Logan Gilbert | Lewis | Evan White | Kyle Lewis | Kyle Lewis | Evan White | Evan White | Evan White | Justin Dunn | Evan White | Jarred Kelenic | Evan White | |
| Biggest prospect disappointment | Jake Fraley | Evan White | Dunn | Dunn | Jake Fraley | Jake Fraley | Justus Sheffield | Jake Fraley | Kyle Lewis | no Kelenic in MLB in 2020 | Justin Dunn | All of our prospects are the best, why would you even ask this? | Jake Fraley | |
| Bold Predictions | ||||||||||||||
| Mariners Prediction | Yusei Kikuchi is the Mariners WAR leader | Kendall Graveman leads Mariners starters in ERA | Kendall Graveman earns an extension | Dee Gordon plays at least one game at DH | Austin Nola, Tim Lopes, and Dylan Moore combine for more WAR than the entire bullpen | Shed Long and J.P. Crawford combine for a six-win pace | Kyle Lewis has a good season but strikes out a lot, Evan White should win ROY but doesn't because Mariners, Daniel Vogelbach hits 15 home runs, Kendall Graveman leads the staff in ERA, WHIP, Wins, and Strikeouts | Evan White finishes a close second to Robert in the AL ROY voting | Kendall Graveman is the staff ace, gets downballot ALCY votes, and signs an extension; Marco is traded by New Year's | Kendall Graveman is a top-10 starter in MLB | Austin Adams leads the MLB in FIP and K% | Due to injuries/the 'roni, Kelenic gets called up after a week or so and tears up MLB like a cheap steak | Julio gets an AB (hey, anything can happen) | |
| MLB Prediction | Several players opt out midseason | We see two Game 61s in MLB | 4 AL West teams will make the playoffs | Madison Bumgarner semi returns to form? | Mark Canha opts out to pursue his dream of opening a shitty restuarant that prices out all the competitors in the neighborhood. The city of Oakland turns on him. He's exiled to playing in Japan, which is fine with him because "the food is tight". | The Marlins finish at or near .500 | Astros win the AL West out of pure spite even though they are repeatedly hit by opposing pitchers, Dodgers finally get over the WS hump, the Angels win 20 games and Moreno is fired, Matt Chapman retires from baseball | The Dodgers won't lose a single game in the playoffs. | One (but only one) team has to withdraw from the season. | White Sox win 40 games | Shane Bieber finishes the year with a sub-2.50 ERA; Andrew Heaney sports a 25%+ K-BB% and sub-3.00 ERA; Clayton Kershaw finishes with a 3.50 ERA or worse | Several big names opt out after 2-3 weeks, throw the season into crisis | Season gets cut short? |
Here’s a brief summary of our playoff & awards picks:
Regular Season
AL West: Houston Astros (10), Oakland Athletics (2), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County (2)
AL Central: Minnesota Twins (10), Chicago White Sox (4)
AL East: New York Yankees (8), Tampa Bay Rays (6)
AL West (2nd): Athletics (8), Astros (4), Angels (1), Rangers (1)
AL Central (2nd): Cleveland (6), White Sox (4), Twins (2)
AL East (2nd): Rays (7), Yankees (6), Blue Jays (1)
AL Wild Card 4/5: Boston Red Sox (5), Seattle Mariners (4), White Sox (3), Cleveland (3), Athletics (2), Angels (2), Blue Jays (2), Rays (1), Rangers (1), Twins (1)
NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers (14)
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers (8), Cincinnati Reds (4), St. Louis Cardinals (2)
NL East: Atlanta Braves (10), Philadelphia Phillies (4)
NL West (2nd): San Diego Padres (9), Arizona Diamondbacks (4)
NL Central (2nd): Reds (7), Brewers (4), Cardinals (2)
NL East (2nd): Nationals (8), Phillies (4), Mets (1), Braves (1)
NL Wild Card 4/5: Diamondbacks (4), Reds (3), Braves (3), Cardinals (3), Nationals (3), Mets (3), Cubs (2), Padres (2), Phillies (1)
Playoffs
AL champ: Yankees (7), Rays (4), Astros (1), Twins (1), Athletics (1)
NL champ: Dodgers (12), Reds (1), Brewers (1)
World Series champ: Dodgers (10), Twins (1), Rays (1), Brewers (1), Yankees (1)
Awards Voting
AL MVP: Mike Trout (6), Tim Anderson (2), Giancarlo Stanton (2), Francisco Lindor (1), Alex Bregman (1), Matt Chapman (1), Yordan Álvarez (1)
NL MVP: Ronald Acuna Jr. (4), Cody Bellinger (3), Mookie Betts (2), Manny Machado (1), Ketel Marte (1), Jeff McNeil (1), Christian Yelich (1), Bryce Harper (1)
AL Cy Young: Gerrit Cole (5), Shane Bieber (3), Lance McCullers Jr. (2), Mike Clevinger (1), Tyler Glasnow (1), Charlie Morton (1), Lucas Giolito (1)
NL Cy Young: Jacob deGrom (6), Walker Buehler (4), Jack Flaherty (1), Max Scherzer (1), Luis Castillo (1), Yu Darvish (1)
AL Rookie of the Year: Luis Robert (6), Kyle Lewis (4), Jarred Kelenic (1), Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (1), Evan White (1), Nate Pearson (1)
NL Rookie of the Year: Carter Kieboom (6), Dylan Carlson (3), Gavin Lux (3), Shogo Akiyama (1), Dustin May (1)
Your Turn
Here’s the link to the Google Form, and it’s also embedded below.