The Major League Baseball season for 2018 is at the front door ringing the bell, so it is time to let it in! Once again it is time to put my money where my mouth is and make those annual fearless predictions. Last year was good in the fact that I correctly picked five of the six division winners and eight of 10 postseason teams. The bad, one of my division losers, the Detroit Tigers, was also my World Series winner. So like a bad NCAA March Madness bracket, it started well, yet went down in flames in the end.

Division winners and Wild Cards

If you think the Detroit Tigers can win the AL Central, you better head to Las Vegas because you could make an awful lot of cash if they do!

According to the Detroit Free Press, Manager Ron Gardenhire knows what many baseball experts think of his teams' chances of winning the AL Central this season. However, he doesn’t care. The games are won and lost on the field, not by the stroke of a pen. “Anything can happen in baseball," Gardenhire said. “You guys all said we stunk every year in Minnesota and we played pretty good. And that’s the way it’s going to be here. We can play with anybody. We’ve got a good baseball team here.”

Gardy has confidence in his team no matter what the experts believe. At +3300, the Tigers have the highest odds to win their division outside of the Miami Marlins, who sit at +4000. Detroit will play better than most experts believe, but winning the division will be a tall task.

In fact, if the Indians don’t win the AL Central, that may be a bigger shock than the Tigers winning it. Cleveland is many experts' pick not only to win the AL Central but possibly be the American League's representative in the World Series.

Enough chit chat, here are my predicted division winners!

American League

  • AL East - New York Yankees
  • AL West - Houston Astros
  • AL Central - Cleveland Indians
  • AL Wild Cards - Boston Red Sox, L.A. Angels

National League

  • NL East - Washington Nationals
  • NL West - LA Dodgers
  • NL Central - Chicago Cubs
  • NL Wild Cards - New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals

The year of the Yankees

No need to beat around the bush, I love the New York Yankees to win it all in 2018.

New York’s lineup is stacked and if this team remains healthy, opposing pitchers are going to have nightmares. The top four hitters in the Yankees lineup are insane. Brett Gardner, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez. If that isn’t enough, Didi Gregorius is coming off a great year and is ready to bust out as one of the best shortstops in the game, and the Bombers picked up veteran star Neil Walker in the offseason. This team seems as poised as ever to capture their 28th championship in team history.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED