It’s the year of the Chicago Cubs. It has to be.
The Cubbies haven’t made a World Series appearance in 71 years and haven’t won it all since 1908. They’re starting the season No. 1 on most of the influential power rankings, adding the likes of OF Jason Heyward, and starting pitcher John Lackey to a team that made it to the National League Championship Series a year ago after introducing future stars Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant to the mix in 2015.
Oh yeah, and then there’s Jake Arrieta, their Cy Young Award-winning ace who was all but unhittable (just ask the Los Angeles Dodgers, who he no-hit in August).
The Cubs are hardly the only team with a chance to win it all.
There’s the question of the Toronto Blue Jays and whether or not they did enough to offset the loss of lefty David Price, who bolted for an improved Boston Red Sox squad. Can the New York Mets outpace the Washington Nationals and reigning MVP Bryce Harper in the NL East? And of course it’s an odd-numbered year, meaning the San Francisco Giants should have the inside track on a fourth World Series win in seven seasons.
As has become an annual tradition, here are some of Dougall Media’s major league baseball prognostications for the 2016 campaign:
Leith Dunick
Thunder Bay Source
NL East: New York Mets
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: San Francisco Giants
NL wild-cards: Arizona Diamond-
backs, St. Louis Cardinals
AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Kansas City Royals
AL West: Houston Astros
AL wild-cards: Toronto Blue Jays,
Chicago White Sox
World Series: Chicago Cubs over
Houston Astros
NL MVP: Buster Posey, San
Francisco Giants
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw,
Los Angeles Dodgers
AL MVP: Mike Trout, Los Angeles
Angels
AL Cy Young: Chris Sale, Chicago
White Sox
Bryan Wyatt
CKPR News
NL East: New York Mets
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks
NL wild-cards: Pittsburgh Pirates,
San Diego Padres
AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Kansas City Royals
AL West: Houston Astros
AL wild-cards: Detroit Tigers,
Texas Rangers
World Series: Detroit Tigers over
New York Mets
NL MVP: Kris Bryant,?Chicago
Cubs
NL Cy Young: Matt Harvey, New
York Mets
AL MVP: Eric Hosmer, Kansas
City Royals
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander,
Detroit Tigers
Jeff Andreas
CKPR News
NL East: New York Mets
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: San Francisco Giants
NL wild-cards: Pittsburgh Pirates,
St.?Louis Cardinals
AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Kansas City Royals
AL West: Houston Astros
AL wild-cards: Toronto Blue Jays,
New York Yankees
World Series: Chicago Cubs over
Toronto Blue Jays
NL MVP: Andrew McCutchen,
Pittsburgh?Pirates
NL Cy Young: Jake Arrieta,
Chicago?Cubs
AL MVP: Mike Trout, Los Angeles
Angels
AL Cy Young: Dallas Keuchel,
Houston Astros
Matt Vis
Thunder Bay Source
NL East: New York Mets
NL Central: St.?Louis Cardinals
NL West: San Francisco Giants
NL wild-cards: Chicago Cubs,
Washington Nationals
AL East: Toronto Blue Jays
AL Central: Kansas City Royals
AL West: Los Angeles Angels
AL wild-cards: Houston Astros,
Cleveland Indians
World Series: New York Mets over
Houston Astros
NL MVP: Anthony Rizzo, Chicago
Cubs
NL Cy Young: Madison Bum-
garner, San?Francisco Giants
AL MVP: Mike Trout, Los Angeles
Angels
AL Cy Young: Corey Kluber,
Cleveland Indians
Jamie Smith
tbnewswatch.com
NL East: New York Mets
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: San Francisco Giants
NL wild-cards: St. Louis
Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers
AL East: Toronto Blue Jays
AL Central: Kansas City Royals
AL West: Houston Astros
AL wild-cards: New York
Yankees, Texas Rangers
World Series: New York Mets
over Houston Astros
NL MVP: Paul Goldschmidt,
Arizona Diamondbacks
NL Cy Young: Jose Fernandez
Miami Marlins
AL MVP: Carlos Correa, Houston
Astros
AL Cy Young: Chris?Archer,
