If there is something that poker players are wont to do, it is wager on sports. Baseball is one of those activities that will spark the betting interests of some poker players, and the season is slightly more than a week away for Major League Baseball. In the National League, there is but one question that needs to be asked: can anyone stop the Los Angeles Dodgers?
In Part I of our three-part MLB preview, we will look at how the National League will break down in 2025, including predicting each division champion and the Wild Cards (in bold print). Part II will do the same with the American League, while Part III will wrap it all up by going through the playoffs – a long, long way away in October!
National League East
The story of the NL East is this: does money mean wins? The New York Mets were the big winners of the offseason, signing OF/DH Juan Soto to a fifteen-year, $765 million contract and taking him away from the crosstown rival Yankees. The problem with the Mets is, after spending hugely on Soto, there was not much left to build the team around him. Signing Frankie Montas as your big pitching acquisition and resigning 1B Pete Alonso are nice, but is it going to be enough?
In the East, the Philadelphia Phillies are still the team to beat, with one of baseball’s top pitchers in Zach Wheeler, a great #2 in Aaron Nola, and a starting lineup that features 1B Bryce Harper and DH Kyle Schwarber. The Atlanta Braves have some HUGE question marks in their lineup, from the pitching staff (Spencer Strider returning from Tommy John surgery) to Ronald Acuna’s return from shredding his knee. Right now, they are no better than third in the lineup – and the Miami Marlins are threatening with their usual batch of young talent.
PREDICTIONS:
Philadelphia Phillies
New York Mets
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
Washington Nationals
National League Central
This is arguably the most wide-open of the divisions in baseball. If any team were to catch the right breaks, any of them could conceivably take down the division title. That type of parity has a downside, however; only one of the teams from the Central is going to be going to the playoffs in our MLB preview because the others will be too close to .500 to be able to mount a charge to the Fall Classic.
Leading the pack this year will be the Milwaukee Brewers, who have won the last two NL Central titles, but they are facing threats from their rival Chicago Cubs (who signed OF Kyle Tucker away from the Houston Astros) and a rising force in the Pittsburgh Pirates (with ace pitcher Paul Skenes). It will be a long season for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds, both in rebuild mode (although the Reds have one of the most exciting players in the game in SS Elly de la Cruz).
PREDICTIONS:
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
St. Louis Cardinals
National League West
In the NL West, it is the story of the rich and the wannabes in our MLB preview. The defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers only got richer in the offseason, adding Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki to go along with a wealth of starting pitching that includes names like Cy Young winners Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, a returning from injury Clayton Kershaw…oh, and only the reigning Most Valuable Player in Shohei Ohtani, who will return to the mound in 2025 (supposedly). It is an embarrassment of riches, and it leaves the other teams in the West wondering how they can combat the Boys in Blue.
Look for the Arizona Diamondbacks to make a run at the Dodgers, with Corbin Burnes joining the starting lineup, while the San Francisco Giants will also make a run at them. The NL West will provide the other two Wild Cards, but I would not expect them to last long in the playoffs.
PREDICTIONS:
Los Angeles Dodgers
Arizona Diamondbacks
San Francisco Giants
San Diego Padres
Colorado Rockies
NEXT: The American League
