Predicting the Next Decade of Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is running a contest to see who can best predict the next decade in 9 different categories. Naturally, I filled out a ballot knowing I will be completely wrong. How wrong could I be? We’ll see in 10 years…

Most Home Runs: Cody Bellinger

This is the pretty obvious pick. Through three seasons, Bellinger has 111 career home runs. He had 39 in 2017, 25 in 2018, and 47 in 2019. The slugging OF/1B has a beautiful swing that constantly sends baseballs into orbit. Bellinger is only 24 years old and still has room to improve his approach at the plate. I do not think we have seen the best of Cody Bellinger so far in terms of home runs.

Most Hits: Ronald Acuna Jr

.

The 22 year old phenom has 302 career hits in not even 2 full seasons in the bigs. He is the best player on a rising Braves team that will depend on him to carry the offense. So far, his 162 game average is 182 hits and that should continue to rise as he hones his plate discipline and becomes more selective of the pitches he swings at.

Most Wins by a Pitcher: MacKenzie Gore

This is the category I went off the book. If you want to win $1,000,000, you need to make a pick that not many other people would make and this is mine. Gore is the #5 ranked prospect in baseball and has yet to make his Major League debut. The reasoning for this pick is his age (21) and that he is the top ranked prospect on the Padres. The Padres have one of the top farm systems in baseball that already have graduations of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Chris Paddack. The win totals are only going to go up for the team and Gore has the potential to be the ace of an up and coming Padres squad.

Strikeouts by a Pitcher: Walker Buehler

This is another fairly obvious pick. Buehler has been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the course of his short career. Averaging 1.15 k/inning Buehler has the stuff and command to make hitters swing and miss. His age and team also played a major factor in this decision. The 25 year old of course pitches for the Dodgers which bodes well for his own individual stats.

Team Wins: New York Yankees

This one was a toss up between the Yankees and the Dodgers. Honestly, there is really no reason I picked the Yankees other than a coin toss. It could very easily be the Dodgers, or the Twins, or the Rays, or even the Mets. I don’t know. No one does.

World Series Wins: Los Angeles Dodgers

Again, this was a toss up between the Dodgers and the Yankees. Neither team has been able to capture the trophy so far even though they have been two of the winningest teams over the past few years. The Dodgers, despite being a super team now, also have one of the best prospect pools, so the talent isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

MVP Awards: Cody Bellinger

Bellinger is coming off an MVP season at age 24 and I predict it was the first of many many more to come. He is the best player on one of the best teams in baseball. His toughest competition in the NL is going to be Acuna. Maybe the obvious choice is Mike Trout, but Trout only has 2 MVPs so far (even though he should have won every year of his career). The voters won’t give the award to the same guy every year, but Bellinger has what it takes to win over the voters in the NL.

Cy Youngs: Walker Buehler

Basically, for every reason stated in my previous paragraph about him. Also, Degrom, Scherzer, and Kershaw will all retire at some point this decade (most likely) and Buehler will step in as the NL’s premier starting pitcher.

All-Star Games: Ronald Acuna Jr.

The easy picks are Trout and Bellinger so I went off the path a little here. Acuna is an elite player already and will be for a very long time. He will be a perennial all-star for the entire length of his career.

Again, all of these picks could very easily be wrong. And that is okay. Part of the beauty of baseball is seeing the underdog stories and players play to more than their potential and less than their potential. Nobody can really predict what is going to happen, and that is part of the fun.

Use Promo code “couchguy” or “LLP” at Manscaped.com and grab some of the best tools in men’s below the belt grooming. Using the code will get you 20% off of your order AND free shipping. Help out the site and help out yourself by buying some products from Manscaped TODAY.

Follow this link and signup for Seated. The restaurant reservations app that will get you discounts and other gifts just for using the app to reserve your table at your favorite restaurants in Boston: seated.s2l3a2.net/c/2016892/705985/10715

-Pete Chatterton (@Pchat12)