Reviewing 2025 Bold Predictions: What Did You Get Right? What Did You Get Wrong? -

Everyone loves bold predictions. Before the start of last season, we asked a few pals to come up with five of their own. Our snarky preseason comments from last year are italicised.

Want to enter for 2026? Use the submission form at the bottom of the article.

Here are a few of the 2025 offerings.

ASH DAY

Twins win the AL Central
Nolan Arenado will be a Yankee
Giants will have their first 30 HR hitter since Barry Bonds
Francisco Lindor wins NL MVP
Mike Trout hits 30+ home runs

Matt Chapman and Willy Adames are projected for 25 homers each. Bryce Eldridge has the power but not the playing time. Does Heliot Ramos have 30 homers in him?

RESULT: 2 POINTS

Correctly predicting the Giants would have their first 30-homer hitter since Barry Bonds feels like it deserves double points. Willy Adames hit 30, Chapman and Ramos hit 21, and the rookie Eldridge went 3-for-28 with no homers in his major league cup of coffee.

Francisco Lindor was 10th in NL MVP voting, yet his WAR suggests he should have been in the Top 5.

IAN BLEASE

Deja vu all over again as the Dodgers face the Yankees in the World Series
Clayton Kershaw breaks the 3000-strikeout barrier
Juan Soto will get booed by Mets fans at least once this season
Shohei Ohtani hit 3+ HRs and strikes out 15+ hitters in the postseason
Blake Snell wins NL Cy Young

As if Mets fans would turn on one of their own.

RESULT: 3½ POINTS

Clayton Kershaw smashed through the 3000-strikeout barrier, which, considering he only recorded 24 strikeouts in 2024, was certainly not a foregone conclusion. The future Hall-of-Famer has a staggering 3052 Ks to his name.

Mets fans didn’t even get until the end of May before they started to boo Juan Soto. The 2025 Silver Slugger was third in MVP voting, thanks in part to 160 OPS+. You have to go back to 1989 to find the last Mets hitter with a 160 OPS+ – 1989!!!

When the predictions were made, Shohei Ohtani wasn’t pitching. In fact, he had only started to throw off a mount. Ian’s bold prediction was eclipsed by Ohtani’s actual postseason exploits of eight home runs and 28 strikeouts.

Injury ensured it was a season for Blake Snell to forget, but for the 60 innings he was on the mound, he was very effective with a 2.35 ERA. Paul Skenes (Cy Young winner) was the only NL starter with a better ERA

RICHARD WILSON

The White Sox will be worse
Athletics will make the playoffs
A Met will be the home run leader (Pete Alonso redemption season)
There will be at least one issue where a game is called early (probably a Blue Jays one) because of protests over the world
Paul Goldschmidt will be an All-Star

Athletics making the playoffs is bold. That’s what we like. If Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker are vying for MVP votes, and we see breakout seasons from Jacob Wilson and JJ Bleday, then maybe it’s possible.

RESULT: 0 Points

Surprisingly, imo, the White Sox were not worse – they only lost 102 games (it was 122 in 2024)

The A’s didn’t make the playoffs. Pete Alonso was fourth in the NL home run leaderboard, although 18 behind Kyle Schwarber.

I don’t know about a game being called early. Seven-time All-Star Paul Goldschmidt didn’t make it eight.

CHARLIE DEEKS

Riley Greene finishes top 5 in MVP voting
A pitcher gets an at-bat this year
Bryce Harper misses time with an ‘illness’ as a result of drinking raw milk
Jesse Chavez pitches for the Atlanta Braves and another team this year
MLB announces plans for a midseason tournament

I love number 1. Riley Greene seems like a woefully underrated player. It should also be noted that Charlie submitted these bold predictions before Jesse Chavez signed a Minor League deal with the Braves, so he is halfway to correctly predicting number 4.

RESULT: 1½ points

Riley Greene finished 17th in MVP voting and fifth in AL home runs.

I don’t know how many pitchers got at-bats, but surely none were more memorable than Diamondbacks’ starter Ryne Nelson. Picture the scene, bottom of the eighth, D’Backs trailing the Cubs 6-2. Arizona rallies to tie the score. Nelson is brought on as a pinch hitter and promptly doubles to drive in Josh Naylor to take the lead. He then scores to extend the lead on an Alek Thomas single.

Don’t know about Harper or midseason tournament

Although Jesse Chavez was on the Rangers’ books when the bold predictions were made, he was released and signed a Minor League deal with the Braves. He only pitched eight innings in the majors and did not appear for any other team.

TOM PRINGLE

Wade Miley will pitch over 100 innings in MLB
Wade Miley will have over 50 strikeouts
Wade Miley will extend his streak to seven years of no intentional walks
Wade Miley will give up less than 50 walks
Wade Miley will win 5-games or more.

RESULT: 2 Points

The 38-year-old lefty threw just seven innings last season and has signed a Minor League deal with the Reds. The six years without an intentional walk is an interesting stat from Mr Pringle.

The lefty threw 12 innings (without a walk – intentional or not) so I suppose 3 and 4 are correct

ADAM NICHOLSON

Someone other than the Chicago White Sox loses most games in 2025
Both Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks make the playoffs
New York Mets miss the playoffs
Baltimore Orioles miss the playoffs
Blake Snell wins NL Cy Young

If any team loses more games than the White Sox, then MLB has hit a new low

RESULT: 3 POINTS

The Colorado Rockies lost 119 games (to the White Sox’s 102). Neither the Rangers nor the Diamondbacks made the playoffs. Adam correctly predicted that both the Mets and Orioles would miss the postseason.

TOMI KORKEAMAKI

Sandy Alcantara will make a start in the ALDS
Kris Bryant plays +100 games during the regular season
Roki Sasaki pitches a no-hitter
Justin Verlander (3416 SO) and Max Scherzer (3407 SO) both reach 3500 career strikeouts
Tim Anderson (140 errors) reaches 150 career errors before the All Star break

Love these from Tomi! A healthy Sandy could be Baltimore or New York bound. And I would love to see Sasaki pitch a no-hitter

RESULT: 0.5 POINTS

Verlander did it but Scherzer was 11 K’s shy. Tim Anderson had 4 errors in 31 games then got cut from the Angels after batting .205

BEN RUSSELL

Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth ground into 25+ double plays combined
Dodgers repeat their World Series win (I hope they don’t)
Guardians win 85 games or less
White Sox improve, only lose 110 games
Aaron Judge has less than 50 home runs

Bogaerts and Cronenworth combined for 32 GIDP last season, so number 1 isn’t bold enough, unlike the dreadful White Sox only losing 110 games. Cleveland has won more than 90 games in six of the last eight seasons, so predicting 85 wins or fewer is a bold shout.

RESULT: 2.5 (.5 for Guardians underperforming)

Sorry about the Dodgers. Xander and Jake combined for 16, and the White Sox were even better, only losing 102. Guardians weren’t as good as they have been, but still won the division

CRAIG RICHMOND

Garrett Crochet will win the AL Cy Young award
Alex Bregman will be the Red Sox’ everyday third baseman by June
Triston Casas will hit more than 30 HR
None of Boston’s Big 3 prospects will be regular starters in 2025
Yankees finish third in the AL East

To be fair to Craig, he submitted these two weeks before it was confirmed that Kristian Campbell would break camp. Whether the 22-year-old establishes himself as a regular starter remains to be seen.

RESULT: 1.5

Casas was injured after 29 games – Bregman was the everyday 3B but got injured too – Crochet came second in the Cy Young. Campbell was technically the regular 2B, but it was more of a carousel, and even though he only came up in June. Roman Anthony was a must-start from them, amassing 3.1 bWAR in 71 games.

MARK BLAKEMORE

Washington Nationals lead the league in stolen bases
The Pirates lead the NL in team ERA
Aaron Boone leads the league in managerial game ejections
One team will pitch two or more combined no hitters
Politics interferes in the baseball season as it is affected by the growing US and Canadian trade war

Do you know which team led the league in stolen bases in 2024? That’s right, the Washington Nationals. Not the boldest prediction we’ve ever received from Mark. Pirates leading the NL in ERA is much bolder; they weren’t even in the NL’s Top 10 last season.

RESULT: 1 POINT

Nationals were 10th, Pirates 7th – Boone did lead with 7 over Marmol with 6, and the other two weren’t close – first season without a no-no since 2005

ROB NOVERRAZ

The league leader will have fewer than 35 saves
Two Mariners will get Cy Young votes
The Rockies will remain relevant into July
Eugene Levy will feature in a Major League broadcast
The deadbeat Rays will continue to be deadbeats

As 15 relievers have notched at least 35 saves over the last three years, no one getting to 35 saves is an interesting prediction from Rob. Oh, and the Rockies remaining relevant would be fun.

RESULT: 2 POINTS

Three got to 35 – Estevez, Suarez and Munoz. Woo got votes but no others – Rockies were nowhere. Levy was in a broadcast in the WS and the Rays were relatively deadbeat (77-85).

JASON TOMS

The best-performing Japanese player in MLB (by fWAR) will be a quietly masterful Tomoyuki Sugano
Kent Mariners, Plymouth Mariners and newly Sasaki-less Chiba Lotte Mariners all make the playoffs, but the Seattle Mariners don’t
Chicago Cubs win the NL Central by a wider margin than any other division winner
All four Cy Young winners and MVPs are born in the continental United States
No team in MLB will win OR lose 100 games

Genius predictions. Fantastic out-of-the-box thinking by Jason, although as an Ipswich Town fan I’m disappointed he failed to mention the Poole Mariners. If I have to explain it’s a play of the name of legendary striker Paul Mariner, then the joke wasn’t worth it.

POINTS: 0

Sugano racked up 0.1 fWAR over 157 innings, good for 828th in MLB, 826 places behind Shohei. Mariners made it, Cubs didn’t win, Shohei spoiled the MVP/Cy guess too, and the White Sox (102) and Rockies (119) spoiled the last. Good effort.

BRETT WALKER

Sutter Health Park will set a new record for home runs in a ‘major league’ ballpark.
Because of the above, Brent Rooker will hit 50+ home runs.
Because everyone has a podcast now, THOSE Yankees fans will start their own podcast.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mookie Betts won’t agree to be their first guest.
N.B. Tongue firmly in cheek – I will finally agree to a BCS Podcast x Bat Flips and Nerd Podcast crossover episode. (Admittedly, they haven’t even asked me yet! )

I think there is more chance of a Capobianco and Hansen/BCS Podcast crossover than number 5. Just sayin’.

RESULT: 0

Sutter Health saw 112 HRs, tied for 6th in 2025 with Steinbrenner (minor league fields am i right??) and a full 25 behind Dodger stadium. Did have the #2 park factor behind Coors though. Rooker had 30 – and i’ll leave the Podcast stuff to you.

RUSSELL EASSOM

Vladdy will win the World Series but not with Toronto
The Yankees will finish bottom of the AL East
Brayan Rocchio will be an All-Star
No one will pitch 200 innings
Joey Bart will outperform Patrick Bailey in fWAR

Really interesting predictions. No starter pitching 200 innings is a fascinating pick. Only four pitchers threw over 200 innings last season, so it’s definitely a possibility.

RESULT: 0

Almost on both for #1, Yanks tied for 1st, Rochio racked up 0.3 bWAR, Bart got 1.3 fWAR to the Frame God’s 3.2, and only three pitchers – Webb, Crochet and Sanchez – got to 200. maybe by 2028 there will be none left if we lose one per year?

BEN CARTER

Juan Soto sets the Mets single-season home run record, but the Mets miss the playoffs
San Francisco Giants are the surprise team of the season, winning 97 games
For the first time since 2001, the Seattle Mariners win the AL West
Aaron Nola is the only pitcher in the Majors to go over the 200 innings mark
A number of poor ball/strike calls lead to MLB implementing the ABS challenge system by the All Star Game

These ARE bold. I can’t imagine Soto hitting 54 homers and the Mets missing the playoffs… but they are the Mets. And as for the Mariners winning the AL West, wow!

RESULT: 1.5

Soto came 3rd behind Pete Alonso twice but the Mets did miss the ‘yoffs – the Giants were a bang average 81-81 – Mariners crushed it and Nola had an ERA over 6 in 94 innings. ABS stayed at bay until 2026.

CARL TAYLOR

Diamondbacks will win the NL West
Houston Astros will finish last in the AL West
Bobby Witt Jr. will win the AL MVP award
Ronald Acuna Jr will steal less than 20 bases
Boston Red Sox will win the World Series!

Some tremendous bold predictions by Carl. Astros finishing behind the Athletics and Angels is BOLD with a capital B.

RESULT: 1

D’Backs were 4th with 80 wins – Stros were 2nd with 87, Witt posted an 8 fWAR season and only came 4th, Acuna did only steal 9 bases due to injury and trepidation – and sorry about the Sox.

GAV

Trevor Bauer will pitch in MLB
White Sox will lose more than 121 games
D-Backs beat the Dodgers in the playoffs
Vlad Guerrero Jr. plays in the World Series
Nolan Arenado gets MVP votes

RESULT: 1

Bauer managed to be the worst SP in Japan, the Sox made a massive improvement to 102 losses, the D-Backs were poorer than anticipated and Arenado was similarly bad – a match made in heaven?

At least Vladdy made it to the WS!

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