We miss you, Johnny Carson.
This is the time of year when all the baseball pundits are making their predictions on everything from World Series to award winners to who will be the first manager to be fired.
I don’t have the time (or interest) to study every one and since I have a short attention span, I thought to focus on this one that appeared in my in-box just now from The Athletic, “Tarik Skubal to the Mets? Mariners to the World Series? 26 predictions for the 2026 MLB season,” by Jim Bowden. Can’t tell if some of these are tongue in cheek or not (Yankees manager Aaron Boone will be ejected 10 times, despite the advent of ABS).
Just to note a few:
- Garrett Crochet, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman combine to throw the season’s first no-hitter, which falls on Crochet’s fourth start of the year for the Red Sox. (Amazingly specific and easy to check off, one way or the other.)
- With a year and a half remaining on his contract, starter Nathan Eovaldi is traded by the Rangers to the Mets at the deadline.
- Angels GM Perry Minasian is relieved of his duties by the Angels immediately following the Aug. 3 trade deadline, becoming the only in-season GM firing of the season.
- Tarik Skubal signs a record-breaking $429 million contract with the Mets in free agency.
- As expected, MLB owners lock out the players when the existing CBA expires, and they push for a salary floor and cap or some variation thereof that will be for the betterment of all 30 teams and the players.
We shall return at the end of the season to see how accurate The Athletic was.