Thanks to the Toronto Blue Jays’ relentless offense and the Chicago Cubs’ incredible stable of talented young position players, those two teams are the kings of these 2016 MLB predictions.
The Jays and the Cubs land the title of “team to beat” in the American League East and the National League Central, respectively, which just so happen to be two of the most fearsome divisions in the game.
In the process of projecting final standings for the AL East, the NL Central and the other four divisions, we took two key factors into consideration:
- Last year’s results—with an extra emphasis on second-half numbers
- Whether given teams bolstered their rosters (or in some cases depleted them) during the offseason
As will be the case with the Cubs, the teams that did the best in these projections stand to improve significantly thanks to external improvements on the free-agent and trade fronts and via internal improvements as promising young stars enter their prime.