Awful BYB Predictions from 2013

Before the season began, the staff and commenters of Bless You Boys made plenty of predictions about the upcoming season. Here are the horrible ones.

By Rob Rogacki@BYBRob Oct 26, 2013, 5:44pm EDT

Here at BYB, we make plenty of predictions. The staff does their best to predict the division champions, award winners, and playoffs before a game is even played. There is at least one prediction before every game. And then I had this brilliant idea. Here are some of the worst predictions, ideas, and other prognostications made on BYB in 2013.

From the "Five bold predictions" thread:

"Brayan Villarreal will be the closer by the end of the season."

Oops.

"Austin Jackson steals 40 bases."

He was only 32 away!

"[Anibal] Sanchez is not one of the four starters the Tigers use in the postseason."

Though he was arguably their worst starter in the playoffs, Sanchez won the AL ERA title.

And then there were a couple of people high on Porcello's solid spring:

"[Rick] Porcello throws a no-hitter."

"Other than JV, Porcello will have the best advanced stats and metrics and will be our 2nd best pitcher."

Next, we had a couple of predictions about players that didn't sniff the majors with Detroit in 2013.

"Quintin Berry leads the team in stolen bases despite not being on the opening day roster."

"Casey Crosby makes more starts than Drew Smyly."

To be fair, he didn't make fewer starts than Smyly either.

Next, we had the simply bizarre.

"Al Al saves over 30 games."

"Andy Dirks will mostly negate the need for a platoon, prove himself an everyday player, and hit 18 home runs while playing solid as a rock defense."

Ok, that last one wasn't bizarre, but it wasn't close either.

"My bold prediction is that Nick [Castellanos] becomes more versatile. He’s going to play some 3B/SS/ and the outfield. He might even learn to play 2B."

From the staff predictions thread:

"The Rays look like a last place team in the East. They’ll be .500 at best. I bet the Royals win more games this year."

"I'm changing my AL MVP pick to Jeff Francoeur."

"Josh Reddick and Chris Carter both take steps forward and earn MVP consideration as they catapult the A’s into the division lead."

This was before Carter was traded to Houston for Jed Lowrie, but still... woof.

"Tigers run across the Yanks in the ALDS and for the first time ever, they take us down in a playoff series."

A negative prediction? You get one guess who that was...

From the opponent previews:

"For all of the money that [the Los Angeles Dodgers] spent since Frank McCourt was sent packing, this really isn't that great of a roster."

"It's hard to improve upon a 98 win season, but the Nationals made a couple of upgrades in Span and Soriano that should keep them on top of the NL East in 2013...there is simply too much talent on this roster to label them a one-year wonder. Expect to see them in the postseason again in 2013."

"[The Los Angeles Angels] payroll may become a mess in a few years -- hey, that sounds familiar -- but they will be a juggernaut until that time comes."

"The offseason free agent signings of Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, and Stephen Drew may keep the team competitive for a few years, but that's largely a cover up for the real truth: the Red Sox are in full-on rebuilding mode."

"There is simply too much talent on this roster to pick them apart and give reasons why they won't win the AL East in 2013."

That was about the Toronto Blue Jays.

"I expect them to play well enough to compete with the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians for second place in the AL Central, and if anything, give the White Sox a slight edge simply because they aren't the Kansas City Royals or Cleveland Indians."

As you can see, predicting things is hard. I'd say that we will try harder in 2014, but odds are we will probably be doing the same thing again in another 12 months.