It wasn't that long ago that the staff here ran the numbers, made some calls and reviewed countless hours of game-tape to give their best estimates of what would happen during the 2016 season. Which of these 11 "experts" fared the best? First, let us start with the Division/Wild Card winners. But before we go any further, I've developed an elaborate points system for each section that in no way rigs the voting heavily in my favor. And here we go...
Division/Wild Card Analysis:
1 point - picked a division winner or wildcard participant correctly (green)
0.5 point - picked a playoff participant (yellow)
no points - red (feel shame)
If you all aren't paying attention to John already, please do so. His opinions mean a lot and are almost always good (except on the DH of course). David Cohen and dajafi struggled this round, both only selecting one correct winner. Prospect gurus Cormican and Victor stood out by whiffing in the fewest categories (3). This season also taught us a very important lesson in that you should never trust the Houston Astros.
Jay Polinsky | Eric Chesterton | John Stolnis | TGK | David S. Cohen | Victor Filoromo | Phrozen | Justin Klugh | Cormican | dajafi | Wet Luzinski | |
NL East | Mets | Marlins | Nationals | Mets | Mets | Mets | Mets | Mets | Nationals | Mets | Mets |
NL Central | Cubs | Cubs | Cubs | Cubs | Pirates | Cubs | Cubs | Cubs | Cubs | Cubs | Cubs |
NL West | Diamondbacks | Dodgers | Diamondbacks | Giants | Diamondbacks | Diamondbacks | Giants | Diamondbacks | Giants (it's an even year) | Giants | Giants |
NL Wild Card | Cardinals | Pirates | Mets | Pirates | Cubs | Nationals | Dodgers | Pirates | Pirates | Pirates | Pirates |
NL Wild Card | Pirates | Nationals | Cardinals | Diamondbacks | Dodgers | Dodgers | Pirates | Giants | Mets | Nationals | Cardinals |
AL East | Blue Jays | Red Sox | Red Sox | Blue Jays | Blue Jays | Red Sox | Blue Jays | Blue Jays | Blue Jays | Blue Jays | Blue Jays |
AL Central | Indians | Indians | Tigers | Royals | Royals | Indians | Royals | Royals | Indians | Tigers | Royals |
AL West | Astros | Rangers | Rangers | Astros | Rangers | Astros | Rangers | Astros | Astros | Astros | Rangers |
AL Wild Card | Rangers | Astros | Astros | Red Sox | Astros | Royals | Astros | Orioles | Rangers | Yankees | White Sox |
AL Wild Card | Red Sox | Rays | Blue Jays | Rangers | Tigers | Blue Jays | Mariners | Indians | White Sox | Royals | Astros |
Points | 4 | 5.5 | 6 | 3.5 | 3 | 5.5 | 4 | 4 | 5.5 | 3 | 3.5 |
Playoff Outcome Analysis:
3 points - picked participants and winner (blue)
2 points - picked winner of series (green)
1 point - picked both participants, but not the winner (orange)
.5 points - picked a participant, but not a winner (yellow)
no points - red (feel shame)
As you can see, the clear winner of this round was the handsome fella Jason who slaves away making those daily prospect recaps those kids keep talking about. Make sure to drop him a line and tell him he is very smart, I heard he likes that. It was interesting to see that despite almost everyone picking the Cubs to win the division or make the playoffs, most had them losing in the NLCS or WS. Kudos to the incredibly underappreciated Justin Klugh for being the only one smart enough to not doubt the Chicago Cubs.
Jay Polinsky | Eric Chesterton | John Stolnis | TGK | David S. Cohen | Victor Filoromo | Phrozen | Justin Klugh | Cormican | dajafi | Wet Luzinski | |
NLCS | Cubs over Mets | Pirates over Cubs | Nationals over Cubs | Cubs over Pirates | Pirates over Mets | Cubs over Mets | Dodgers over Cubs | Cubs over Diamondbacks | Cubs over Giants | Cubs over Giants | Pirates over Cubs |
ALCS | Indians over Astros | Indians over Rangers | Rangers over Red Sox | Astros over Blue Jays | Rangers over Astros | Blue Jays over Astros | Blue Jays over Royals | Blue Jays over Orioles | Rangers over Indians | Blue Jays over Astros | White Sox over Royals |
World Series | Indians over Cubs | Indians over Pirates | Rangers over Nationals | Astros over Cubs | Pirates over Rangers | Blue Jays over Cubs | Blue Jays over Dodgers | Cubs over Blue Jays | Rangers over Cubs | Blue Jays over Cubs | White Sox over Cubs |
Points | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Bonus Round - End of Season Awards Analysis:
2 points - picked the award winner (blue)
1 point - picked an award finalist (green)
.5 - picked a guy good enough to have been a finalist (yellow)
no points - red (feel shame)
Holy cow I don't think we could have done any worse on NL MVP predictions. Harper's down year was a bit unexpected after his monster 2015 MVP campaign. Most of us had some decent NL Cy Young winners picked out, though I'm not sure most of us saw them being too hurt to be considered (Kershaw) or one of them dying (RIP Fernandez). While Corey Seager was a heavy, heavy favorite for the NL ROY, the group could not see even a finalist among the AL group. Cormican take the bonus round with very safe and smart picks.
Jay Polinsky | Eric Chesterton | John Stolnis | TGK | David S. Cohen | Victor Filoromo | Phrozen | Justin Klugh | Cormican | dajafi | Wet Luzinski | |
NL MVP | Bryce Harper | Bryce Harper | Anthony Rizzo | Anthony Rizzo | Andrew McCutchen | Bryce Harper | Bryce Harper | Giancarlo Stanton | Bryce Harper | Starling Marte | Andrew McCutcheon |
NL Cy Young | Jose Fernandez | Clayton Kershaw | Stephen Strasburg | Clayton Kershaw | Clayton Kershaw | Jake Arrieta | Clayton Kershaw | Clayton Kershaw | Jake Arrieta | Matt Harvey | Noah Snydergaard |
NL ROY | Corey Seager | Corey Seager | Corey Seager | Corey Seager | Trea Turner | Corey Seager | Corey Seager | Tyler Goeddel | Corey Seager | Corey Seager | Tyler Goeddel |
AL MVP | Mike Trout | Mike Trout | Mookie Betts | Mike Trout | Mike Trout | Carlos Correa | Mike Trout | Manny Machado | Mike Trout | Miguel Cabrera | Lorenzo Cain |
AL Cy Young | Carlos Carrasco | David Price | Chris Sale | Dallas Keuchel | Dallas Keuchel | Chris Sale | Felix Hernandez | Corey Kluber | Chris Sale | Chris Archer | Chris Sale |
AL ROY | Byung-ho Park | Byron Buxton | Byung-ho Park | Byron Buxton | Byron Buxton | Byron Buxton | Joey Gallo | Jose Berrios | Nomar Mazara | Byron Buxton | Byron Buxton |
Points | 5 | 5 | 4.5 | 5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 2 | 5.5 | 3 | 1 |
Prediction Point Total Results:
Hooray for me!!!! I mean, congratulations to Cormican as well. TGP thanks you for following and humoring us through this probably uneventful Phillies offseason from here on out.
Cormican | 14 |
Jay Polinsky | 14 |
Eric Chesterton | 13.5 |
Victor Filoromo | 12 |
TGK | 11.5 |
John Stolnis | 11 |
Justin Klugh | 10.5 |
Phrozen | 10 |
dajafi | 9 |
David S. Cohen | 6.5 |
Wet Luzinski | 5.5 |