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Let's see where my preseason predictions are at right now:
NL
East - Nationals
Central - Cardinals
West - Dodgers
Wild Card - Pirates, Mets
I have it nearly spot on so far. Top 4 seeds all in place atm and the Mets are just 1 game behind the Cubs for the 2nd WC. Given the Mets' offensive woes I could unfortunately see them having their usual second-half swoon, but hopefully I'm wrong. The other 4 teams feel safe though. Cards/Bucs should fight for the division until the final week but both should make the playoffs comfortably. Nats are bound to pull away once their injured players return. Dodgers just feel like they have too much talent to not make it.
AL
East - Blue Jays
Central - Tigers
West - Angels
Wild Card - Mariners, Red Sox
Welp...this one looks pretty bad right now. Angels are the only ones that would be right if the season ended today. Still think they're looking good in the West as I feel like the Astros' inexperience will catch up with them down the stretch. Jays are under .500 but only 4 games out in the awful AL East. I had the Royals and Twins finishing 4th and 5th in the Central and boy how wrong I was...Detroit should stay in the Wild Card hunt but making up a 9 game deficit in the division? That's tough. And the Wild Card teams, ouch. Knew I shouldn't have allowed myself to get caught up in the stupid Mariners hype.
MVP: Trout and Harper. Both seem extremely safe right now. Not sure I can really make a case for anybody except Trout in the AL atm. Harper's top competition is Goldschmidt but knowing the way voters think he'll need to get the Triple Crown or something to win the award if his team doesn't make the playoffs.
Cy Young: Price and Kershaw. Price is definitely one of the top contenders in the AL. NL is absolutely loaded with amazing SP right now so Kershaw's best bet is to hope many of the voters look beyond the traditional stats like ERA (and the old fogeys who still care about W-L for pitchers).
ROTY: Norris and Bryant. Norris? Lol...nope. Seems clear the NL will be either Bryant or Pederson. I wonder if Pederson getting the slight head start to his season may end up the difference maker.
Comeback: Machado and Harvey. It's hard to predict who voters will even consider for this award. Machado is beasting it up though and I still think Harvey has done enough to earn voter support.
MOTY: McClendon and Maddon. McClendon, again...lol nope. Maddon I'd think would need to be the frontrunner for the NL atm. Tough to vote MOTY for a team everyone knew would be good like the Cards, Dodgers, Nats, etc. Cubs were a joke for a few years and are now well over .500 and in the race.
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