Here are the published predictions for the 2022 Major League Baseball season. The real set of predictions are sealed in an old jelly jar in the back of the pantry and will not be disclosed until the season is over and I’m sure I’m right on all counts.
National League West
This is the easiest of all divisions to predict.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers: The best team in baseball with four former MVPs (Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger and Freddie Freeman), the defending National League batting champion (Trea Turner) and an impressive top of the rotation 1-2-3 punch (Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Julio Urias). Can they win 106 games again? Don’t be surprised.
2. San Francisco Giants: The loss of future Hall of Famer Buster Posey will not be easy to overcome.
3. San Diego Padres: The loss of Fernando Tatis Jr. for the first two months of the season will set them back quite a bit.
4. Colorado Rockies: No one understands why they got rid of Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story only to sign Kris Bryant to a mega contract ($182 million over seven years).
5. Arizona Diamondbacks: The NBA’s Phoenix Suns are much better and more fun to watch.
National League Central
Tough to pick, but a lot of baseball folks will be rooting for the St, Louis Cardinals with Albert Pujols in his final year and Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright possibly ready to join him on the sidelines.
1. St. Louis Cardinals: Between them, Pujols, Molina and Wainwright have played 55 years of major league baseball and made the All-Star team 23 times.
2. Milwaukee Brewers: Three starting pitchers and the closer were All-Stars in 2021.
3. Cincinnati Reds: A strange franchise. You can never tell if they’re rebuilding or contending so I’ll put them in the middle of the pack.
4. Chicago Cubs: Remember just a few short years ago when they won it all and were contenders annually. Not today.
5. Pittsburgh Pirates: Remember way back when .. Clemente, Stargell, Parker.
National League East
Should be a fun and very competitive division with three teams legit contenders.
1. Philadelphia Phillies: Reigning MVP Bryce Harper leads a newly bolstered offense with Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber.
2. Atlanta Braves: Will still compete even without Freddie Freeman.
3. New York Mets: Something always seems to go wrong. Ace Jacob deGrom is hurt and his return is to be determined.
4. Washington Nationals: Rebuilding – all over town.
5. Miami Marlins: There’s always the beach.
American League West
The Angels are better, I hope, but so is Seattle and the Astros seem to always roll through the division.
1. Seattle Mariners: They’ve built a solid roster with enough pitching and enough offense to win the division.
2. Los Angeles Angels: According to many polls and surveys, they have the two best players in the game in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. Why can’t they win? Because Trout can’t pitch.
3. Houston Astros: Slipping a bit with age (Justin Verlander) and defections (Carlos Correa).
4. Texas Rangers: Better than the horrible 60-win season of 2021.
5. Oakland A’s: A cruel fate has been dealt rookie manager Mark Kotsay, the former Cal State Fullerton star.
American League Central
1. Chicago White Sox: Built to win now, but injury to Lance Lynn is a setback.
2. Minnesota Twins: A great year for the franchise – Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat are going into the Hall of Fame.
3. Kansas City Royals: They have the best catcher in baseball – Sal Perez – and the No. 1 prospect – shortstop Bobby Witt.
4. Cleveland Indians, er, Guardians: When will they trade Jose Ramirez?
5. Detroit Tigers: A little more flash with Javier Baez, but not enough substance.
American League East
The most compelling of all divisions with a couple of behemoths in the Yankees and Red Sox.
1. Toronto Blue Jays: Just too much talent. Young talent, especially on offense.
2. New York Yankees: More than capable of making a great run at another world championship.
3. Tampa Bay Rays: Somehow they always find a way to win and they have one of baseball’s most intriguing young talents in Wander Franco.
4. Boston Red Sox: I will be booed by all my New England friends for this pick.
5. Baltimore Orioles: It’s just sad that this once great franchise is now so far out of range that a long Boog Powell home run wouldn’t make a dent.
Pete Donovan is a Palm Desert resident and former Los Angeles Times sports reporter. He can be reached at pwdonovan22@yahoo.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: MLB predictions 2022: Bold forecast on where all 30 baseball teams will finish