Opening Day 2019 is here! I am celebrating by taking off a couple hours early and watching the Twins-Indians game with my neighbor Chris, a devoted Cleveland sports fan. Overall I like the direction the Twins are headed. I trust the front office with Falvey and Levine know what they are doing with their coaching hires, some rather outside-the-box. The offense looks like it will be competent with new additions like Nelson Cruz, CJ Cron, Jonathan Schoop, and Marwin Gonzalez. Pitching doesn’t look terrible, but I’m surprised they didn’t add another bullpen arm. Maybe new pitching coach Wes Johnson will be able to tap into some new potential in some of these youngsters.

As a quick review, last year I correctly predicted 6 of the 10 playoff teams, but struck out on my Astros-Nationals World Series prediction.

Here are my official predictions for the 2019 campaign.

AL East W L GB NL East W L GB
NY Yankees 99 63 – Washington 93 69 –
Boston* 97 65 2 Philadelphia 89 73 4
Tampa Bay 86 76 13 Atlanta 83 79 10
Toronto 73 89 26 NY Mets 80 82 13
Baltimore 49 113 50 Miami 56 106 37
AL Central W L GB NL Central W L GB
Cleveland 94 68 – Milwaukee 93 69 –
Minnesota 87 75 7 St Louis* 91 71 2
Chicago 70 92 24 Chicago 85 77 8
Detroit 67 95 27 Cincinnati 79 83 14
Kansas City 59 103 35 Pittsburgh 74 88 19
AL West W L GB NL West W L GB
Houston 105 57 – LA Dodgers 97 65 –
LA Angels* 90 72 15 Colorado* 91 71 6
Oakland 87 75 18 San Diego 83 79 14
Seattle 77 85 28 Arizona 79 83 18
Texas 64 98 41 San Francisco 66 96 31

AL Wild Card: Boston def. LA Angels
NL Wild Card: Colorado def. St Louis

ALDS: Houston def. Boston, NY Yankees def. Cleveland
NLDS: LA Dodgers def. Colorado, Milwaukee def. Washington

ALCS: NY Yankees def. Houston
NLCS: Milwaukee def. LA Dodgers

World Series: Milwaukee def. NY Yankees

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AL MVP: Mike Trout, LAA
NL MVP: Manny Machado, SD

AL CY: Chris Sale, BOS
NL CY: Max Scherzer, WAS

AL MGR: Rocco Baldelli, MIN
NL MGR: Craig Counsell, MIL

AL ROY: Vladimir Guerrero, Jr, TOR
NL ROY: Victor Robles, WAS

AL HR Leader: Khris David, OAK, 49
NL HR Leader: Nolan Arenado, COL, 49

AL Batting Champion: Eddie Rosario, MIN, .341
NL Batting Champion: Charlie Blackmon, COL, .350