I've done this
30.) Verlander and Cole
There's obviously more Astros related points on this than other teams. That is 95% homerism and 5% because I find them an endlessly fascinating team, starting with the two guys who are free agents at the end of the year. Justin Verlander and Gerritt Cole were both absolutely incredible last year, with 275+ strikeouts each (the first teammates to do that, despite limited innings, since Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling). Two years, two trades, both magical, and gives Houston something so few teams have. I will be interested to see if Verlander can continue this amazing rennaissance, and if Cole can continue his rebirth - being every bit the pitcher who deserved to go #1 overall in 2011. It will be interesting if the Astros retain one of the two (hard to imagine they can get both with all the big contracts now and in future), and sadly I think they'll pick Cole over Verlander, but if this is the end, it will be a glorious one.
29.) The Damn Cardinals and Goofy Cubs
Thank God for the competitiveness of the NL Central (and NL East, and to some degree the NL West). It is hard to remember a division where there is so little separating first place and last. And while we may love the Reds (they're to come) and marvel at the Brewers ability to rebuild on the fly, in the end it will probably come down to the Cards and Cubs. The Cardinals made the offseason splash with Goldschmidt, and that outfield of Bader and Ozuna is nice, but I do worrry about their pitching - worry until I remember some random AAA guy will have a 2.82 ERA in September. For the Cubs, I can't say it hasn't been fun watching their run so quickly end. Remember when we all thought they were a dynasty in the making? Now, PECOTA picked them to finish in last place - albeit winning 80 games. It is great to see the turmoil and the drama around a team that can still roll out Darvish, Hamels, Quintana and Lester - of course, three of those names would have carried way more fear in 2015.
28.) Judge and Stanton (et. al.)
The Yankees quietly won 100 games last year. They quietly mired their way to a down season for a lot of their top players. Most likely, that's not happening again, and while their picthing seems to be worse with Severino out (Gio Gonzalez a nice nifty pickup), but man I'm sure Judge and Stanton will pick up the slack. We all should be lucky enough to call seasons of OPS+ of 126 (Stanton) and 145 (Judge) down years. We always have an outside shot of both of them just going bananas in 2019. It will happen some year in this Yankee run - just hopefully not when they play Houston, especially ina potential ALDS/CS. The more interesting question to me though is if Bird and Sanchez and the others can make this into the truly lethal lineup they still have the ability to be.
27.) The Rockies and D'Backs Trying to Retain Relevance
It's been great watching the Rockies and D'Backs these last two years try and compete with the Dodgers. No one was particularly close in 2017, but they got both wild cards. Last year, the D'Backs fell off late, but the Rockies forced the Dodgers into a 1-game playoff. Neither seems particularly likely to challenge the Dodgers this year either, but damn if you ain't trying. I so love the Rockies extending Arenado early. I love them building with pitching, and I so hope Jon Gray gets back to his 2017 form. That city should embrace baseball like it has its other sports. For teh D'Backs, just watching Zack Greinke is worth the price of admission.
26.) What do the Mets Do?
I'm so curious about everything going on with the Mets - starting from the second Brodie Van Wagenen was named GM. It was an oddball choice that would have been met, I truly believe, with a very different reaction of it was any other team but the LOLMETS. He made weird trades that probably on the whole made the team better. He has two giant trade chips in DeGrom and Syndergaard, and while they try to recapture 2015 for a fourth time, maybe it works. It probably won't in waht may be the toughest division
25.) The Reds Experiment
The Reds are not a good team. More accurately, they were not a good team, losing 95 games last year. But when you look at their rotation, and look at their lineup - aided in large part by a quizzical salary dump trade by the Dodgers - things don't look so bad. That rotation with Wood (always good stuff when healthy), a potentially reborn Sonny Gray and Tanner Roark isn't too bad. A lineup with Joey Votto, Eugenio Suarez, Jose Peraza and Yasiel Piug (getting to hit in a band-box let's not forget) is even better. The prospect of super-prospect Nick Senzel coming up is the cherry on top. Most likely outcome is a solid 79-win season for the Reds, but man will it be a fun 79 wins.
24.) Good Ol' MLB.tv
I'm really hoping MLB.tv fixed the issue of allowing people to watch four games at once again. They took this away last year and it was so terrible. But even without that added bonus feature, MLB.tv remained a gold standard for live sports streaming. The qualtiy so good. The ability to overlay radio amnnouncing is brilliant. The just great thrill of throwing up a random game in a random town on a random June night? That is honestly what makes baseball special. In reality, NHL gamecenter is about as good, but then again that was built off of MLBAM. We can think baseball is for the old fogies, but they got digital way before any other sport.
23.) Tucker and Whitley
There were so many trade ideas floated about around the Astros this offseason, particularly around JT Realmuto. The names Kyle Tucker (Keith Law's #15 prospect) and Forrest Whitley (#5, top pitching prospect), both 21-22, were often in those trade announcements. Thankfully, Jeff Luhnow said no, and the Astros still have two enviable prospects. Tucker may start the year in the majors. Sure, he had a really rough cup of coffee last year, but go back and look at what Alex Bregman did in 2016 and tell me how relevant two months is. For Whitley, he's a big boy that throws 95. The Astros are likely to lose major guys soon, be it this year (Verlander and/or Cole) or next (George Springer and others). It is the Tucker's and Whitley's that will keep this amazing window amazingly open.
22.) The Nationals in a post-Bryce World
There's a common refrain right now that that the Nationals may be better without Bryce Harper, and honestly, there's a lot of truth to that. Not that losing Harper will help them, not some stupid Ewing Theory shit, but that this is a loaded team that underachieved (Harper included) last year, and is closer to the 97-win monster in 2017. They have two prodigies in the outfield, and oh by the way signed the best free agent pitcher in Patrick Corbin. This is a better team that last year's unit.. Even if you assume some regression for a 34-year-old Max Scherzer, you should equally assume some upward regression from Strasburg to counter that. The Nationals to me still have the best all-around team in the division... maybe.
21.) Random Nights in Random Ballparks
This is tied somewaht to the MLB.tv point, but what I love about baseball is how the different ballpark styles naturally make watching games, whether in person or on tv, so different depending where they are. Forgot the places we all know (Wrigley, Fenway, New Yankee Stadium, AT&T Park - or whatever it is called now), but how about watching the light flow through the weird roof in Miller Park while the sausage race happens, or how the Philly faithful take to Harper, or that stunningly beautiful Petco Park, or the sight of the river in Pittsburgh, or even the sad mausoleum that is Oakland. Every ballpark is beautiful in some way. Every ballpark is amazing. Every ballpark deserves our respect. Some day, I hope to visit all of them - for now, just visiting them over MLB.tv is good enough.
30.) Verlander and Cole
There's obviously more Astros related points on this than other teams. That is 95% homerism and 5% because I find them an endlessly fascinating team, starting with the two guys who are free agents at the end of the year. Justin Verlander and Gerritt Cole were both absolutely incredible last year, with 275+ strikeouts each (the first teammates to do that, despite limited innings, since Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling). Two years, two trades, both magical, and gives Houston something so few teams have. I will be interested to see if Verlander can continue this amazing rennaissance, and if Cole can continue his rebirth - being every bit the pitcher who deserved to go #1 overall in 2011. It will be interesting if the Astros retain one of the two (hard to imagine they can get both with all the big contracts now and in future), and sadly I think they'll pick Cole over Verlander, but if this is the end, it will be a glorious one.
29.) The Damn Cardinals and Goofy Cubs
Thank God for the competitiveness of the NL Central (and NL East, and to some degree the NL West). It is hard to remember a division where there is so little separating first place and last. And while we may love the Reds (they're to come) and marvel at the Brewers ability to rebuild on the fly, in the end it will probably come down to the Cards and Cubs. The Cardinals made the offseason splash with Goldschmidt, and that outfield of Bader and Ozuna is nice, but I do worrry about their pitching - worry until I remember some random AAA guy will have a 2.82 ERA in September. For the Cubs, I can't say it hasn't been fun watching their run so quickly end. Remember when we all thought they were a dynasty in the making? Now, PECOTA picked them to finish in last place - albeit winning 80 games. It is great to see the turmoil and the drama around a team that can still roll out Darvish, Hamels, Quintana and Lester - of course, three of those names would have carried way more fear in 2015.
28.) Judge and Stanton (et. al.)
The Yankees quietly won 100 games last year. They quietly mired their way to a down season for a lot of their top players. Most likely, that's not happening again, and while their picthing seems to be worse with Severino out (Gio Gonzalez a nice nifty pickup), but man I'm sure Judge and Stanton will pick up the slack. We all should be lucky enough to call seasons of OPS+ of 126 (Stanton) and 145 (Judge) down years. We always have an outside shot of both of them just going bananas in 2019. It will happen some year in this Yankee run - just hopefully not when they play Houston, especially ina potential ALDS/CS. The more interesting question to me though is if Bird and Sanchez and the others can make this into the truly lethal lineup they still have the ability to be.
27.) The Rockies and D'Backs Trying to Retain Relevance
It's been great watching the Rockies and D'Backs these last two years try and compete with the Dodgers. No one was particularly close in 2017, but they got both wild cards. Last year, the D'Backs fell off late, but the Rockies forced the Dodgers into a 1-game playoff. Neither seems particularly likely to challenge the Dodgers this year either, but damn if you ain't trying. I so love the Rockies extending Arenado early. I love them building with pitching, and I so hope Jon Gray gets back to his 2017 form. That city should embrace baseball like it has its other sports. For teh D'Backs, just watching Zack Greinke is worth the price of admission.
26.) What do the Mets Do?
I'm so curious about everything going on with the Mets - starting from the second Brodie Van Wagenen was named GM. It was an oddball choice that would have been met, I truly believe, with a very different reaction of it was any other team but the LOLMETS. He made weird trades that probably on the whole made the team better. He has two giant trade chips in DeGrom and Syndergaard, and while they try to recapture 2015 for a fourth time, maybe it works. It probably won't in waht may be the toughest division
25.) The Reds Experiment
The Reds are not a good team. More accurately, they were not a good team, losing 95 games last year. But when you look at their rotation, and look at their lineup - aided in large part by a quizzical salary dump trade by the Dodgers - things don't look so bad. That rotation with Wood (always good stuff when healthy), a potentially reborn Sonny Gray and Tanner Roark isn't too bad. A lineup with Joey Votto, Eugenio Suarez, Jose Peraza and Yasiel Piug (getting to hit in a band-box let's not forget) is even better. The prospect of super-prospect Nick Senzel coming up is the cherry on top. Most likely outcome is a solid 79-win season for the Reds, but man will it be a fun 79 wins.
24.) Good Ol' MLB.tv
I'm really hoping MLB.tv fixed the issue of allowing people to watch four games at once again. They took this away last year and it was so terrible. But even without that added bonus feature, MLB.tv remained a gold standard for live sports streaming. The qualtiy so good. The ability to overlay radio amnnouncing is brilliant. The just great thrill of throwing up a random game in a random town on a random June night? That is honestly what makes baseball special. In reality, NHL gamecenter is about as good, but then again that was built off of MLBAM. We can think baseball is for the old fogies, but they got digital way before any other sport.
23.) Tucker and Whitley
There were so many trade ideas floated about around the Astros this offseason, particularly around JT Realmuto. The names Kyle Tucker (Keith Law's #15 prospect) and Forrest Whitley (#5, top pitching prospect), both 21-22, were often in those trade announcements. Thankfully, Jeff Luhnow said no, and the Astros still have two enviable prospects. Tucker may start the year in the majors. Sure, he had a really rough cup of coffee last year, but go back and look at what Alex Bregman did in 2016 and tell me how relevant two months is. For Whitley, he's a big boy that throws 95. The Astros are likely to lose major guys soon, be it this year (Verlander and/or Cole) or next (George Springer and others). It is the Tucker's and Whitley's that will keep this amazing window amazingly open.
22.) The Nationals in a post-Bryce World
There's a common refrain right now that that the Nationals may be better without Bryce Harper, and honestly, there's a lot of truth to that. Not that losing Harper will help them, not some stupid Ewing Theory shit, but that this is a loaded team that underachieved (Harper included) last year, and is closer to the 97-win monster in 2017. They have two prodigies in the outfield, and oh by the way signed the best free agent pitcher in Patrick Corbin. This is a better team that last year's unit.. Even if you assume some regression for a 34-year-old Max Scherzer, you should equally assume some upward regression from Strasburg to counter that. The Nationals to me still have the best all-around team in the division... maybe.
21.) Random Nights in Random Ballparks
This is tied somewaht to the MLB.tv point, but what I love about baseball is how the different ballpark styles naturally make watching games, whether in person or on tv, so different depending where they are. Forgot the places we all know (Wrigley, Fenway, New Yankee Stadium, AT&T Park - or whatever it is called now), but how about watching the light flow through the weird roof in Miller Park while the sausage race happens, or how the Philly faithful take to Harper, or that stunningly beautiful Petco Park, or the sight of the river in Pittsburgh, or even the sad mausoleum that is Oakland. Every ballpark is beautiful in some way. Every ballpark is amazing. Every ballpark deserves our respect. Some day, I hope to visit all of them - for now, just visiting them over MLB.tv is good enough.
