Predicting the 2021 MLB Playoffs

Reporting from the 2020 Baseball Winter Meetings, predictions for the upcoming 2021 baseball season have a lot of familiar teams back in the playoffs and shortstops continue to win MVP awards.  The World Series picks for 2021 looks a lot like 2020 in the NL but the re-emergence of a former dynasty in the AL should make for an interesting World Series.

December 20, 2020 – The Winter Meetings in Bismarck, North Dakota have just wrapped up and were the longest Winter Meetings in history as Bismarck Municipal Airport was closed due to nine feet of snow overnight and teams were forced to keep talking until they were allowed to fly home 48 hours after baseball’s executives had all originally planned.  No one was complaining though as these meetings are setting the stage for 2021 to be one of the most exciting seasons in recent memory.

All eyes are on the New York Yankees and their new manager Derek Jeter.  Jeter is expected to be a slam-dunk selection to join Cooperstown’s elite, as the Hall of Fame will announce in a couple of weeks whether or not Jeter will join recent entrants Ken Griffey Jr (2016) and Chipper Jones (2018) as stars getting into the Hall on the first attempt.  It will be expected that Jeter will just miss getting 100% of the ballots in his favor, as e-mail leaks from two suspicious voters from Boston have conspired to ensure he doesn’t enter the hall unanimously.

The MLB Expansion Committee will meet in Spring Training to recommend two new teams to begin play in 2022 and transform each league’s three divisions of five teams to four divisions of four. In a bid to stay relevant, the Tampa Bay Rays wanted divisions determined by payroll spent instead of geography but were out-voted 29-1 which often happens. Nobel Peace Prize 2019 Winner Donald J. Trump has been active with his latest campaign “Make America’s Neighbors Great At Baseball” and has been using Twitter 2.0 to push hard for expansion candidates Mexico City and an open-for-business Havana to be welcomed to the Majors, although the front runners still appear to be a re-born Montreal Expos and the Los Angeles Empire of Riverside with Charlotte, Nashville and Portland trailing slightly, although all would be fantastic markets for pro sports.

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In other news making the rounds ahead of the 2021 season, Giants’ first baseman and living legend Buster Posey has been asked to practice in left field to make room in the Giants’ infield for a top prospect and it is hard for many to remember a time he was ever a catcher. Mike Trout is still waiting for the Angels to surround him with adequate talent but continues to put up historic numbers and has finished first or second in AL MVP voting in the past nine seasons and Bobby Bonilla only has 15 years left of getting paid on his contract even though he retired in 2001.

So who is the front runner to get to the 2021 World Series? It looks like the teams that make the playoffs will be some familiar faces. The evaluation criteria for predicting the 2021 playoff teams are as follows:

• Current stars hitting their prime and forecasting statistics based on what they have accomplished in their careers so far.
• Elite prospects who are projected to be two to three years into their career and contributing like the young players of 2016 did.
• Ability of the Front Office to stay in front of the curve.
• Money and anticipating that RSN (Regional Sports Networks) will continue to pay current fees and bigger markets will continue to have a financial advantage.