Table of Content
Chicago Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber will be receiving pitches from his personal batting-practice pitcher in Tampa, Florida, . That chemistry should help his cause. Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman should hold his own, but give the edge to Schwarber in bonus time after he hits a few long bombs. The first half of the Major League Baseball regular season has come to a close, which means that the first All-Star break to take place in Washington, D.C., since 1969 is rapidly approaching. Both of them could still hit 40 home runs, but expecting them to duplicate their 2017 totals might be wishful thinking.

Christian Yelich has been one of the most underrated players in baseball the past several seasons. Last week, Birds All Day podcast cohost Drew Fairservice re-tweeted some over-under betting lines on individual home run totals for the coming baseball season. The model loves Chicago's chances again in the NL Central; the Cubs win it in 69 percent of simulations. The next closest team wins just 19.1 percent of the time. Virtually every major offensive contributor returns in 2018, giving Chicago a loaded lineup that includes six players who hit 20 or more home runs last season. The heart of the order -- 3B Kris Bryant, 1B Anthony Rizzo, C Wilson Contreras and LF Kyle Schwarber -- is as good as any in the league.
World Series Predictions
The projections are bullish on him being able to top 50 home runs again after he shattered that barrier for the first time last season. PowerPayPerHead – Get 8 Weeks Free when you join during the 2022 football season. The Cubs lost stating pitcher Jake Arrieta this offseason, but spared no expense in adding a front-line starter when they gave Yu Darvish a six-year, $126 million deal. He'll be the No. 1 starter for a deep rotation that will also include Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana and Tyler Chatwood. The PECOTA Projections have the Yankees hitting a lot of home runs. We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community.
He's the pick to win it all. Ward has worked closely with Muncy since his call up to the big leagues and Dodgers debut on April 17." If there is a tie, batters will engage in a 60-second "swing-off." No timeouts are granted during tiebreakers.
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The fact that an NL Central crown, a 92-win season and an appearance in the NLCS could be viewed as disappointing for the Chicago Cubs goes to show how far the franchise has come. They fell short of back-to-back titles last year, but have the roster to make another run in 2018. • We should note that all of this can change, since plenty of free agents are still out there.
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Expect this one to stay close, but Harper uses the momentum of the home crowd for the win. Aguilar has a hard-hit contact rate of 45.4 percent, while Hoskins' is far lower at 32 percent. The Philadelphia Phillies outfielder is a key reason why the Phils are in playoff contention, but he has a tough uphill climb here. Playing in a hitter-friendly park and in a division loaded with homer-friendly ballparks, a 30-homer season might be inevitable if he can stay healthy. After hitting just 20 home runs in his first three MLB seasons combined, Yelich slugged 21 long balls in 2016 and followed that up with 18 more last season. The projections would appear to show there won’t be much action for the division titles again this season.

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We can tell you it is projecting 96 wins in the regular season for the Cubs, a four-win improvement over the 2017 season. That clears Vegas' expectations with 2.5 games to spare. PECOTA takes its name from Bill Pecota, who actually has nothing to do with the projections, but played nine seasons with the Royals, Mets and Braves. They were developed by famed statistician/analyst Nate Silver and continue on today under the eye of Baseball Prospectus. It appears to remain a problem.

He followed that up with 30 more long balls last season, including 14 in 326 plate appearances with the big league club following a midseason promotion. Those same four teams — Cleveland, Houston, Washington and the Dodgers — are projected with wide leads over the other teams in their divisions. The Cubs, who underperformed last season and were late to clinch the NL Central, also have a wide projection margin.
His defense remains a work in progress, but he has legitimate 30-homer power right now. Calhoun was optioned to the minors to start the 2018 season. The 23-year-old looks poised to take over as the primary first baseman in Colorado after Mark Reynolds departed in free agency, and if his 2017 season in the minors is any indication, big things are coming.

It has five of six division winners repeating — that’s the Dodgers, Cubs, Nationals, Astros and the Indians with the Red Sox being the exception. AL wild-card teams, according to the projections, would be the Red Sox and Mariners. NL wild-card teams would be the D-backs and either the Cardinals or Giants, who are both projected at 84 wins. So that’s five of six playoff teams in each league that are the same. • As for Shohei Ohtani, the biggest prize of the offseason, PECOTA projected both of his roles. As a pitcher, it has him with a 3.45 ERA in 24 starts, good for a 9-7 record.
Baseball Prospectus’ edge in the average difference is undercut by the high mode of -7. FanGraphs’ median was the closest to 0 and also had the lowest mode and the lowest median absoluate deviation. So Muncy has a solid connection as well, and that's in addition to the fact that his .991 OPS against right-handers leads all derby participants.