The 2019 MLB season kicked off last Thursday, March 28. New baseballs are being thrown, new gloves are being broken in, and new playoff contenders appear from the shadows. Everything starts over as a brand new season is upon us. As this new season begins, what are we to expect? Well how about we start with the un-expected. Here are five far-out predictions for the 2019 MLB season.

    1. 2019 will be one of the most exciting seasons of baseball ever.

So many divisions this season are completely up for grabs. The only one that is almost a shoe-in to win their division in the opinion of many is the AL Central being won by the Cleveland Indians, and even then, the Twins could creep up on them. In my opinion, the National League will be more competitive than the American League. The way I see it, eight teams in the NL are capable of making playoff pushes. Just looking at these teams this year, you can tell that division races will be tight. The AL East boasting a three headed monster with the reigning World Series Champion Boston Red Sox, as well as the Yankees and Rays making strong cases. In the AL West the A’s and Astros will be the main competitors, with Angels being an underdog with potential. In the NL West the Dodgers and Rockies will run the show while the Padres are still a year or two away from competing for a title. In the NL Central we see another three headed beast with the Cubs, Brewers, and Cardinals. And to round it out, a potential FOUR team race in the NL East with the Phillies, Braves, and Nationals, with the Mets being a dark horse. With this much fire-power this season, it’s bound to get crazy in the baseball world.   

    2. The Oakland A’s finish within one game of the AL West division behind the Astros

The Oakland A’s are one of the most interesting teams in all of sports. When you look at their roster, there really aren’t many big name players you see, except for last years home run leader Khris Davis. Yet even with that being true, they won an astounding 97 games. Well to put it simply, they work with what they have. They have a slugger in Khris Davis, a good young core with Matt Olson and Matt Chapman, and veteran leadership in Kendrys Morales. This team got to the wild card game last year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they come close to winning or actually do win their division.

    3. The Rays have another 90-Win season, but don’t make the playoffs.

In a way, I feel bad for the Rays. They won 90 games last year, but they play in the AL East which had also the 108-win Red Sox and 100-win Yankees. Tampa Bay has to play 19 games each year against both Boston and New York, arguably the two best teams in the American League. Last year, they had a combined record of 19-21 against those teams. But in that division you can’t afford to lose that much. Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell is back, the Rays have most of their players coming back for this season, but nothing is telling me anything will change in 2019 for the Rays.

     4. The Phillies will win the NL East and make the NLCS.

The Philadelphia Phillies treated themselves to as forray of offseason acquisitions this free agency. They signed two former MVP’s Andrew McCutchen and Bryce Harper, and traded for shortstop Jean segura and all star catcher J.T. Realmuto. They added those veteran stars to a young core consisting of Maikel Franco, Obdul Herrera, and Rhys Hoskins. They already had NL Cy Young runner-up Aaron Nola, and former winner of that award Jake Arrieta in the starting rotation, and added a very solid bullpen arm in David Robertson. What more could you ask for? They have stability at every position, and have stars all around the diamond. Even in the very tough NL East this season, the Phillies will be the team to beat.

     5. The NL Central will need another game-163 to determine the division.

The only question involving this one is who will be playing in that game. The NL Central is one of the most competitive divisions in all of baseball. Led by the Brewers Cubs and Cardinals, with the Reds on the up and coming who could be competitive in the next few years. The Cubs and Brewers were apart of a game-163 last season, with Milwaukee taking the win and the division with it. With the Cardinals making a big splash in free agency in trading for Paul Goldschmidt, they will be right in that mix this year. This is going to be a fun division to watch.