With Opening Day already behind us, it is now time to look forward to see how the rest of the 2017 season will progress.  Yes, this is the typically ill-fated projections post.  As with anything else, this will likely be wrong by season’s end, and with any luck, I will be reminded of it come October.

AL East – Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox won the division last year with an MVP caliber season from Mookie Betts, Rick Porcello with a more ways than one surprising Cy Young season, and lots of young talent.  The team will be hurt by the loss of David Ortiz, but they will be helped by the addition of Chris Sale, who should help boost a rotation that has David Price as a question mark.  Considering the rest of the AL East downgraded as well, it it fair to surmise the downgraded Red Sox roster will stay on top.

AL Central – Cleveland Indians

So, the American League Pennant winners add Edwin Encarnacion, get Michael Brantley back, and return Carlos Correa from injury?  That’s the rich getting richer.  This team is poised to not only win the division again, but they should be poised to return to the World Series.

AL West – Texas Rangers

This team is truly going to benefit from a full season of Jonathan Lucroy behind the plate, and they are also going to benefit from a full season from Yu Darvish. Combine that with a good bullpen, an excellent manager in Jeff Banister, and veteran leaders in Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli, you have a team that will get the most of its roster and be able to win those close and tight games like they did last year.

AL Wild Card 1 – Houston Astros

The Astros will probably lose the division due to the lack of depth in their starting pitching.  However, with a deep lineup that has George Springer–Alex Bregman–Jose Altuve–Carlos Correa–Carlos Beltran as their top five hitters.  Combine that with Beltran’s leadership and mentoring of young players, and this is a team that will give the Rangers all they can give them.

AL Wild Card 2 – Seattle Mariners

The Mariners fell heartbreakingly short last season, and they have improved the roster with Jerry DiPoto suddenly becoming Trader Jack McKeon.  To name a few, the Mariners added Jean Segura, Yovani Gallardo, and Drew Smyly to what was already a pretty good team with Felix Hernandez, Robinson Cano, and Kyle Seager.

NL East – New York Mets

The Nationals are certainly more formidable than they were last year with them having a full year of Trea Turner and with the Adam Eaton acquisition.  However, on the pitching side, they do not have the depth they typically have, and that is an issue with Stephen Strasburg‘s medical history and Max Scherzer having questionable health entering the season.  Ultimately, it is the Mets depth that should carry the team over the Nationals in what promises to be a tight race.

NL Central – Chicago Cubs

They won the World Series last year, and they get Kyle Schwarber back into the lineup everyday and add Wade Davis to the bullpen.  The real question is not whether they win the division, but whether they get to 100 wins again.

NL West – Los Angeles Dodgers

Like with the National League East, the top two teams are very close, and it’s picking hairs to separate them.  If you look at it Clayton Kershaw is better than Madison Bumgarner.  Kenley Jansen is better than Mark Melancon.  Johnny Cueto is better than another other pitcher the Dodgers have, but the Dodgers have a deeper rotation than the Giants.  The Dodgers also arguably have the deeper lineup.  If it goes in the reverse, no one should be surprised, but ultimately, the Dodgers appear better on paper.

NL Wild Card 1 – San Francisco Giants

When you have Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford, and two aces atop your rotation, it is hard to believe you are going to miss the postseason in its entirety.

NL Wild Card 2 – Washington Nationals

While the team is not deep and has some issues, there are real strengths.  Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy are as good and as clutch a 3-4 combination as there is.  The bullpen with Koda Glover, Joe Blanton, Shawn Kelley, and Blake Treinen could be dominant.  Again, their only real question is health.

Postseason Series

AL Wild Card Game – Postseason Beltran and the Astros offense overcomes King Felix in his first ever postseason start.

ALDS – In what proves to be a slugfest, the better Astros lineup carries them past the Red Sox.  In the other ALDS matchup, the Indians pitching, including the unleashing of Andrew Miller proves to be too much for the Rangers.

ALCS – The Indians pitching proves to be too much for a hot hitting Astros team leading them to consecutive World Series appearances.

NL Wild Card Game – Pick your reason: (1) Bumgarner; or (2) it’s technically a postseason series.

NLDS – This year, the Giants with an improved bullpen won’t be denied as Cueto and Bumgarner led the Giants past the Cubs.  The Mets and the Dodgers 2015 NLDS matchup is not as intense as the Dodgers only have Kershaw to match the Mets aces leaving the Mets to be able to get past them a little easier this go-round.

NLCS – Bumgarner and Cueto are offset by Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom.  After that, the Mets can pick from Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, Robert Gsellman, Zack Wheeler, or maybe even Seth Lugo.  You’d probably take any of them over the Giants next best starter Jeff Samardzija.  As such, the Mets pitching outlasts the Giants pitching.

World Series – As painful as this is to say, Terry Francona just manages his way around Terry Collins and brings the Indians their first World Series title since 1948.