Every year I reach out to some friends who I used to blog with on Pepper to get their predictions on the Major League season, as we have Chris Voss who is your local pitching expert, and Carl Matter who is your local Tigers expert and Darrell Evans number one fan.  Last year we included another friend and Twitter sensation @DrunkMiggy (give DM a follow if you haven’t already).  We cover everything from your traditional division winners, to some non-traditional like break out players.  At the end of the year, we keep a score card and check back at who has bragging rights for the year.

Division Winners

AL East
Voss: Boston Red Sox
Matter: Boston Red Sox
Kay: Boston Red Sox
Drunk Miggy: Don’t you mean the AL Least?

AL Central
Voss: Cleveland Indians
Matter: Cleveland Indians
Kay: Cleveland Indians
Drunk Miggy: Leyland comes back by All-Star break and we win by 50 games

AL West
Voss: Houston Astros
Matter: Houston Astros
Kay: Texas Rangers
Drunk Miggy: Who cares I’m drunk and asleep by the time they play

AL Wildcards (2)
Voss: Toronto Blue Jays & Texas Rangers
Matter: New York Yankees & Detroit Tigers
Kay: Houston Astros & Baltimore Orioles
Drunk Miggy: the only wildcard is whether or not I hit 100 homeruns
 

AL Divisional Series Winners
Voss: Houston Astros vs. Cleveland Indians
Matter: Boston Red Sox vs. Cleveland Indians
Kay: Boston Red Sox vs. Cleveland Indians
Drunk Miggy: Can we play against ourselves?

AL Pennant Winner
Voss: Houston Astros (based on acquiring Jose Quintana and another starter)
Matter: Boston Red Sox
Kay: Boston Red Sox
Drunk Miggy: Let’s Go Tigers clap clap clapclapclap

NL East
Voss: Washington Nationals
Matter: New York Mets
Kay: Washington Nationals
Drunk Miggy: Cubs

NL Central
Voss: Chicago Cubs
Matter: Chicago Cubs
Kay: Chicago Cubs
Drunk Miggy: Cubs

NL West
Voss: Los Angeles Dodgers
Matter: San Francisco Giants
Kay: Los Angeles Dodgers
Drunk Miggy: Cubs

NL Wildcards (2)
Voss: New York Mets & San Francisco Giants
Matter: Washington Nationals & Los Angeles Dodgers
Kay: New York Mets & St. Louis Cardinals
Drunk Miggy: Cubs and Cubs

NL Divisional Series Winners
Voss: Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets
Matter: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Mets
Kay: Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets
Drunk Miggy: Cubs

NL Pennant Winner
Voss: Washington Nationals
Matter: Los Angeles Dodgers
Kay: Chicago Cubs
Drunk Miggy: Cubs

World Series Winner
Voss: Washington Nationals
Matter: Boston Red Sox
Kay: Chicago Cubs
Drunk Miggy: Detroit was cool until we burn it down after we win

AL MVP
Voss: Carlos Correa edges perennial favorite Mike Trout due to the better record
Matter: Mike Trout
Kay: Manny Machado
Drunk Miggy: Duh

NL MVP
Voss: Kris Bryant wins. Over someone else perhaps more deserving due to record, Nolan Arenado. Bryce Harper bounces back and will be in the mix as well
Matter: Nolan Arenado
Kay: Corey Seager
Drunk Miggy: Can I win in both leagues?

AL Cy Young
Voss: Yu Darvish finally stays healthy all season and leads the Rangers to the playoffs. Tight race with Corey Kluber and Aaron Sanchez
Matter: Chris Sale
Kay: Corey Kluber
Drunk Miggy: JV will win 40 games but Rick Porcello will still win

NL Cy Young
Voss: Noah Syndergaard edges Clayton Kershaw and Carlos Martinez
Matter: Carlos Martinez
Kay: Clayton Kershaw
Drunk Miggy: Fatolo Colon

AL Rookie of the Year
Voss: Yoan Moncada will be called up May 16^th, eeks out the award over heavy favorite, Andrew Benintendi
Matter: Andrew Benintendi
Kay: Andrew Benintendi
Drunk Miggy: is this thing over yet, I’m thirsty

NL Rookie of the Year
Voss: I’ll stick with the favorite and go Dansby Swanson. Tyler Glasnow is a close second. I’m also going with Swanson due to his overall game, but he’s being way overrated in fantasy circles. Like a few other players, he’s a better ballplayer, than fantasy guy
Matter: Dansby Swanson
Kay: Austin Meadows
Drunk Miggy: Who cares, they all suck

Random Prediction
Voss: The Tigers sign Melvin (formerly, BJ) Upton on Wednesday
Matter: Royals Trade the heart of their WS team at the deadline (Hosmer and Moustakas)
Kay: Trade talk of Mike Trout intensifies as the Angels stink once again
Drunk Miggy: Leyland tackles Maddon after I get plunked in the WS

On the brink of playoffs AL & NL
Voss: Seattle Mariners & St. Louis Cardinals
Matter: Texas Rangers & Seattle Mariners
Kay: Colorado Rockies & New York Yankees
Drunk Miggy: your mom

Unlikely MVP/Cy Young
Voss: Aaron Sanchez and Carlos Martinez
Matter: Yoenis Cespedes & Felix Hernandez
Kay: Felix Hernandez & Trevor Story
Drunk Miggy: your mom

Most Disappointing Team AL& NL
Voss: Chicago Cubs in the fact that everyone seems to picking them to repeat and it’s just so difficult. The Baltimore Orioles, even though Manny Machado is an absolute blast to watch
Matter: Toronto Blue Jays & Pittsburgh Pirates
Kay: Pittsburgh Pirates & Toronto Blue Jays
Drunk Miggy: your grandma

Most Disappointing Player AL & NL
Voss: Kyle Schwarber is getting so much love. Yeah, he can hit it a mile and yeah, he’s fun. He’s not getting over 500 at bats, he cannot play in the field at all and shouldn’t be a Cub for long as he needs to be a DH. I’m going to go Chris Sale in the AL. He’ll pitch alright but he’s not winning the Cy Young in Fenway as everyone seems to be predicting
Matter: Edwin Encarnacion & Ian Desmond
Kay: Brian Dozier & Andrew McCutchen
Drunk Miggy: your grandpa

Best Waiver Wire Pickup in your fantasy league
Voss: Josh Bell and gulp.. Kung Fu Panda (Pablo Sandoval)
Matter: Bradley Zimmer
Kay: Robert Gesellman
Drunk Miggy: Jose Valverde

Who won’t finish the season (health/otherwise)
Voss: Easy in the AL, David Price. Actually, easy in the NL as well as people seem to be believing… again. Giancarlo Stanton
Matter: David Price
Kay: Giancarlo Stanton
Drunk Miggy: Brad Assmunch

Surprise rookie AL & NL
Voss: Josh Bell & Cam Bedrosian
Matter: Bradley Zimmer & Hunter Renfroe
Kay: Manuel Margot & Gleyber Torres
Drunk Miggy: Is Omar Infante still a rookie?

Breakout player AL & NL
Voss: Kevin Gausman, probably should be my Unlikely Cy Young candidate, especially if some consider Sanchez doesn’t qualify. In the NL, Robbie Ray… where did that gas come from!?
Matter: Nomar Mazara & Jon Gray
Kay: Alex Bregman & Michael Conforto
Drunk Miggy: Ugeth Urbina will break out of jail, I think
 

Now for the odd balls….
Over hyped
Voss: Similar to Disappointing, no? Kyle Schwarber
Matter: Jonathan Villar
Kay: Trea Turner

Minor Leaguer I’m excited to see & it may not be until September
Voss: Clay Bellinger
Matter: Yoan Moncada
Kay: Victor Robles
Drunk Miggy: Some sh*t a** pitcher that I will dominate

If I was a GM and could pick one roster the next 5 years?
Voss: Yep, still the Cubbies
Matter: Boston Red Sox
Kay: Too easy picking the Cubs or Red Sox, so Chicago White Sox
Drunk Miggy: I’d be one pathetic person with no time on their hands

Hometown Predictions
Voss: – A few weeks ago, I would have put the Tigers in the Wild Card. I’m not sure why, I was overly optimistic. Perhaps a karma thing, playing for Mr. I combined with the fact that these guys know this might be their last chance to win in Detroit for awhile. I always qualified it as IF we stay healthy and then JD went down.

–          On that note, I don’t think this a few week injury for JD, unfortunately. Lisfranc always lingers and we really need his bat in the lineup.

–          I’m buying on the Nicholas Castellanos breakout.

–          I’m really concerned with Miggy’s back so his final numbers look a bit more like two years ago vs last year.

–          Matthew Boyd will have better numbers than Michael Fullmer and Daniel Norris.

–          Ian Kinsler will not be a Tiger come August.

–          Unless he drops weight and gets that fastball mph to climb, the Tigers will finally give up on Bruce Rondon, deservedly so. All made easier due to the emergence of Joe Jiminez.

Kay: – Jacoby Jones will be in the minors by June

• Everybody will forget the horrible start to Justin Upton’s Tiger career
• I’m with Voss on both Castellanos and Boyd breaking out
• Mikie Mahtook is released by July
• The bullpen will once again be the reason Detroit fails to make the playoffs