Predicting potential head-to-head battles in the World Series has never been more difficult. From smart, forward-thinking front-office minds to revenue sharing to the addition of extra wild cards, more teams than ever before will open the season with an eye on October baseball.
As spring training marches on, narratives will unfold and predictions will begin to take shape across the media landscape.
While the Bleacher Report MLB team can’t wait for Opening Day, it’s never too early to look ahead to the best month on the calender: October.
Using a formula of over/under win odds, spring training results and gut feeling, a list of potential World Series matchups has emerged, ripe for critique and criticism. If any of these come to fruition—which really should happen—this piece will look prescient.
If an unlisted matchup headlines late-October, well, I’ll expect the comment section to remind me over and over again.
As you’ll see, the National League is a top-heavy, three-team race for supremacy. In the American League, as many as eight teams look talented enough to reach the World Series.
With Opening Day on the horizon, here’s a glimpse at how the 2014 MLB journey could end.
Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted. All contract figures courtesy of Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Over/under projections courtesy of Bovoda. Roster projections courtesy of MLB Depth Charts.