Category Archives: mlb

2016 MLB Season Preview: Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds started unloading players at last year’s trade deadline and continued to clean house this offseason. They are now building toward the future and still have some pieces to move.

The Reds had rookies start nearly every game from the trade deadline until the end of last season. They gained experience and they overall pitched well above expectations. They won’t have a solid bullpen backing them up this year.

Will Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips both find new homes this season?

Here is the 2016 MLB season preview for the Cincinnati Reds.

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2016 MLB Season Preview: Chicago White Sox

This White Sox are currently playing second fiddle to the Cubs in the city of Chicago. The Cubs have a ton of youth and new faces that can bring any fanbase up from the basement. The White Sox are a weird bunch of veterans, kind-of-young hitters still waiting to mature and Chris Sale.

Jose Abreu had another solid year for the White Sox. He should have another good year if Adam Eaton keeps getting on base in front of him. The addition of Todd Frazier helps protect Abreu a little in the lineup, but another power hitter is needed if they want to compete in the AL Central.

Can the back-end of the starting rotation hold up against the rest of the AL?

Here is the 2016 MLB season preview for the Chicago White Sox.

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2016 MLB Season Preview: Chicago Cubs

First off, let me tell you that I’m a huge Chicago Cubs fan. There arecertain things Cubs fans aren’t comfortable doing, one of them is boasting how this is finally the year they will win the World Series. We know better than that and are often more critical about the team. We don’t like to get our hopes up since they have always been shattered in laughable fashion.

The Cubs made some huge moves this offseason. The newly-signed veterans will allow some of their younger players to platoon.

Here is the 2016 MLB season preview for the Chicago Cubs.

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2016 MLB Season Preview: Boston Red Sox

The AL East can be a cut-throat division. The Yankees and Red Sox battled back and forth the last decade. The Orioles, Rays and Blue Jays have had competitive seasons during that span too, but Boston and New York always seem to bounce back quick if they have a bad season.

Boston has been known to make bold moves. The boldest move this offseason was when they made a Godfather offer to David Price. The rumor is their offer was much, much bigger than any other offer. I guess the Red Sox didn’t want to lose out on Price to the Yankees or another American League contender.

Will Boston trade for another starting pitcher before the trade deadline?

Here is the 2016 MLB season preview for the Boston Red Sox.

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2016 MLB Season Preview: Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore has managed to keep near the top of the AL East recently with players that came through their farm system. They made some smart moves over the years, but now with a bare farm system, they will need to learn to win in a different way.

The AL East is never down for long. After a fairly weak 2014 season, the division bounced back to life last year. It will be very competitive again in 2016.

How will Chris Davis perform after getting a huge pay day?

Here is the 2016 MLB season preview for the Baltimore Orioles.

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2016 MLB Season Preview: Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves are cleaning house. They pulled off possibly the most lopsided trade this offseason when they shipped Shelby Miller to Arizona for Ender Inciarte, former #1 overall pick Dansby Swanson and pitching prospect Aaron Blair. If they can pull off a few more trades like that, their rebuilding time will be shortened.

2016 will not be kind to the Braves. Their team is filled with underwhelming bats and many wild, young arms.

Fredi Gonzalez is still Atlanta’s skipper, but his seat is the hottest in the Majors. He won’t last until the All-Star Break.

Here is the 2016 MLB season preview for the Atlanta Braves.

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2016 MLB Season Preview: Arizona Diamondbacks

Chip Hale had a decent first year as Arizona’s manager. They overachieved last season and went on to make some bold moves this offseason.

The Diamondbacks started the offseason by out-bidding the entire league to sign pitcher Zack Greinke. They followed that mega-deal by trading former #1 overall draft pick Dansby Swanson and other prospects to Atlanta for pitcher Shelby Miller. They appear to be figuratively swinging for the fences.

Will Arizona’s big spending pay off this season?

How will Greinke and Miller fare at the top of the rotation?

Here is the 2016 MLB season preview for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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Get Ready for MLB Team Previews and Fantasy Rankings

Every March we write MLB team previews and fantasy baseball position rankings.

We are doing the same again this year.

The Chicago Cubs are the 4-to-1 favorite to win this year’s World Series. A lot can happen between now and October. Can they survive a very deep National League?

The Red Sox and Yankees made some moves this offseason. Will either team surpass the Blue Jays in the AL East?

Bryce Harper and Mike Trout are top fantasy players this year. Harper’s health has been an issue in the past. Is he worth a top pick?

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Best Bets: Early 2016 World Series Futures

Pitchers and catchers are due to report in baseball within the next two weeks. Online Sportsbooks haven’t put out over/under win totals yet, but they are due relatively soon.

Until win totals are released, World Series championship futures are fun to speculate.

If you can wait nine months for a payout, there’s plenty of value to be found.

The Cubs are by far the overall favorites to win the 2016 World Series with a +450 payout. The next in line are the Dodgers (+1200) and Mets (+1200).

We look at the overall value and pick some teams that could be worth the long wait for a payout.

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How Did We Do?: 2015 MLB Team Win Over/Under

It’s time to pop the champagne, guys!

Before the season began, we wrote a team preview for each MLB team. We broke down all the new players, former players, possible fantasy sleepers and (most importantly) picked an over/under win total.

We’ve always done really well with our MLB Over/Unders in the past and we kicked ass in 2015.

We went 18-11-1 on the year. We hit on all the sleepers, but missed horribly on the Houston Astros (we thought they were still a year away). Vegas definitely cleaned house on the Angels and Nationals. I don’t know many who picked their under win totals.

We list all the teams and what their over/under win totals were at the beginning of the 2015 MLB season. See which ones we hit and missed on this year.

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America’s White Boy’s 2015 MLB Un-All-Star Team

It has become a yearly tradition that we look at all the former MLB All-Stars (and a few guys we expected more out of this year) that aren’t having stellar years.

The season is a little more than half over and it’s not too late for some of these players to bounce back and turn their seasons around.

Since I’m an active fantasy baseball owner, it didn’t take me long to make this list. A few of these guys were on my teams early this season, but were quickly dropped after a few weeks of bad numbers. I spent most of my time just baffled that some of these guys were actually All-Stars at one point.

The old benchmark for an All-Star was thrown out with the bathwater when Bud Selig decided each team must have at least one representative in the All-Star Game.

Here is America’s White Boy‘s 2015 MLB Un-All-Star team.

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What Makes the St. Louis Cardinals So Good?

The San Francisco Giants have won three of the last five World Series Championships. If not for that, the St. Louis Cardinals would likely be considered a dynasty in this era. St. Louis won the Series in 2006 and in 2011. They appeared in the World Series in 2004 and again in 2013. It seems they are always in contention for the championship and have been for about as long as anyone can recall. So how do they stay on top?

The cynical among us can say they’ve been cheating based on information that their front office has been hacking into other team’s computers. But this has nothing to do with the players on the field. It seems like putting on that red uniform turns ordinary players into super heroes. The Cards lose one of the game’s great hitters after their World Championship run in 2011 in Albert Pujols, but the team keeps rolling while Pujols has a couple of down years in Los Angeles Angels red.

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