In March, I released my much talked-about, much disputed, critically acclaimed MLB BOLD PREDICTIONS. And now, 162 games later, I’m revisiting my hottest of baseball takes, and going to grade myself on them. I’m an honest grader… I like shitting on myself almost as much as giving myself credit. But, I will say, these were BOLD predictions…unlikely to occur. So if I got the spirit of the prediction correct (if not the exact numbers), I’m still entitled to credit.
Here we go:
2019 BOLD MLB Predictions
Orioles will break the all time record for losses.- Look, they were comically bad, but I meant this literally, and they didn’t even lead MLB this year. WRONG
Vladdy Jr (incidentally, not actually a “Jr”) will be second in Rookie of the Year voting to Eloy Jiminez. – Neither guy was “great”, and between injuries and underperformance, Jiminez wasn’t the better of the two. WRONG
Ronald Acuna will go 30/30 this year… By this time next year he’s a slam dunk for universally recognized top 5 player in baseball.- He was 41-37! I was so right about all of this…he’s still getting better. SUPER-DUPER-STAR. CORRECT!!!!
Rafael Devers– will hit 30+ dongs, and will be well on his way to being the 2nd best 3B in the AL- BAM. 32 HR’s and 55 Doubles. And some idiots wanted something called a Chavis to play over him. I was so…. CORRECT
Alex Bregman will better his .286-105-31-103 season. More to come on him tomorrow.- NAILED this one too. If Trout doesn’t exist, this guy is MVP. CORRECT!!!
Eduardo Rodriguez will finish with a bunch of wins (which don’t matter), but will finally get over 170 Innings, and I’m calling for 200 K’s and a 3.30 ERA or better.- I didn’t nail down the ERA, but 19 wins, 196 IP and 205 K’s. I was called crazy by Slavin…but I was CORRECT
Bryce Harper is going to hit 50 Bombs. And his Batting average literally doesn’t matter, because his OBP will always be over .400.- Reports of his terrible season are very exaggerated, BUT I was DEAD wrong on this. 35 HR and a .372…way off. WRONG!!!
Daniel Murphy is going to win the NL Batting title because, well….Colorado.- He didn’t even qualify…and hit .279. Idiot. WRONG
Judge- Stanton- Sanchez will combine for over 120HR’s (!) this year. Oh, and over 500 K’s.- Ouch. They finished with 63 HR’s…brutal. Hate to see it. WRONG
Kershaw will overcome injury to make 25 starts, with a sub-3.00 ERA, but he won’t be LA’s best pitcher. That’s Walker Buehler. He’s about to enter stardom- Kershaw did have a very good season, and Buhler continued his rise to stardom. Shockingly Ryu was their best pictcher, but I’m still taking credit for this one. MOSTLY CORRECT