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We are two weeks into the 2024 MLB season, and teams have played about a dozen of their 162 games. While that isn’t enough for bold declarations, we’re not about to let that stop us.

As we do every year at this time, we asked our MLB experts to go all-in on one thing they’ve noticed this season by making a prediction based on the small sample size. They were allowed to pick anything they wanted with two ground rules: It had to be bold, and it had to be something they actually believe could happen.

Some of our predictors brought the heat, while others have taken a mild approach, so we have taken the liberty of ranking the predictions — and identifying their hot sauce equivalent.


Take a walk on the mild side

Kiley McDaniel: Four pitchers will shake up the Cy Young leaderboard

I’ll pick some pitcher breakouts. Royals LHP Cole Ragans will post a 4+ WAR season and finish in the Top 8 in the American League Cy Young voting. Garrett Crochet, Jared Jones and Chris Sale will all post 3+ WAR seasons with Jones grabbing a top 5 National League Rookie of the Year finish. Ragans broke out last year and I think he’ll build on that with more innings. Crochet has made three big league starts and Jones has made just two, but I’m pushing my chips to the middle that what they’ve done is for real. I’m hoping Crochet will post enough innings to hold up his end of my prediction. That is also the question for Sale, but his velocity so far this season is his best since 2018.

Hot sauce equivalent: The house sampler. Individually, any of these could have seemed bold. But you’ve left yourself the easy out of simply picking the one that comes true to point out you were right.


Eric Karabell: The Dodgers will make RBI history

No MLB team has had more than five players with 100 RBI in one season. The 1936 Yankees were the last with five, thanks to a lineup featuring Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio. Last season’s Dodgers became the fourth team this century with four such players — and this year, I predict they’ll match those Yankees with five. This is an historic lineup off to a great start, led by Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, and there will be ample run producing scenarios for Will Smith, Teoscar Hernandez and Max Muncy.

Hot sauce equivalent: Frank’s Red Hot. Look, we appreciate the classics too, and you caught our attention with a mention of names like Gehrig and DiMaggio. But at the end of the day, you are predicting one more player to reach a milestone that four players in the same lineup did a year ago — and that’s more mild than spicy.


We’re heating up

Buster Olney: The Mets won’t contend again this year — or any time soon.

What we’re seeing early this year are red flags that, despite carrying the highest payroll in baseball, the Mets may not be competitive this year — but more importantly, also not for years to come. Their rotation is currently built on older veterans signed to short-term deals, and their farm system is largely void of high-end pitching prospects. By the time the Mets can rebuild their organizational pitching, their core position-player group could be on its collective downslope. They are off to a slow start, and what we see on the horizon looks bleak, too.

Hot sauce equivalent: Homemade. This hot take doesn’t follow a recipe you’d see for sale in any store, but you took it and made it your own.


AJ Mass: The New York Mets will make the playoffs in 2024 … And the New York Yankees will not.

Are the Yankees a better team than the Mets? Absolutely, but they also play in a division where (as of April 10) all five teams were at .500 or better and it’s likely to be a tight race all season long. Plus, they’ve already lost Jonathan Loáisiga for the season from a not-so-scary bullpen. Despite starting off 10-2, five of those wins were one-run affairs, and this stacked lineup has already been shut out twice.

Meanwhile, Flushing’s Finest spotted the rest of the NL five games to start the season (two of those losses coming in extras) and the Mets are still sitting just two games back of the last wild-card spot. Edwin Díaz is all the way back and there’s no “sword of Damocles” hanging over this patchwork rotation where the status of one injured ace could dash all postseason hopes.

Yankees win 90 and start golfing early. Mets win 83 and still see October action.

Hot sauce equivalent: Chili lime. You took two flavors we weren’t quite sure went together and yet you made them work. The only reason this isn’t spicier is, as you admit, this is more about circumstance than the performance of either team.


Paul Hembekides: Anthony Volpe will produce more value in his age-23 season than Derek Jeter did.

In 1997, a 23-year-old Jeter — playing his second full season — slashed .291/.370/.405 (103 OPS+) with 116 runs (4th in AL) and 190 hits (3rd in AL). As (about) a neutral defender at shortstop, Jeter generated 5.0 WAR for a Yankees team that finished 96-66. Volpe is poised to outperform him this season. The glove at shortstop already plays up (+18 career DRS) and his approach at the plate looks dramatically improved. Volpe is making better swing decisions and producing more hard opposite-field contact. He produced 3.3 WAR in an up-and-down rookie season, a figure he could double as a sophomore.

Hot sauce equivalent: Sriracha. Comparing a potential future star favorably to a legend from his team’s past has a certain sweetness to it — and a little kick.


It’s getting hot in here

Bradford Doolittle: The Detroit Tigers will win AL Central

The peak temperature for this take is a little tepid since the division is so bad, but there is a lot of good stuff happening in Detroit. It is off to a good start on the strength of good pitching and great defense. And there are many reasons why the Tigers should get better as the season goes along. Their four under-25 regulars — Spencer Torkelson, Colt Keith, Riley Greene, Parker Meadows — haven’t hit yet but should. If you follow the prospect reports, the news gets really exciting with Jace Jung and other high-upside types pushing their way upward. Beware the Bengal.

Hot sauce equivalent: Hell Fire Detroit Poblano. Picking any team to win the AL Central — outside of the White Sox, of course — is on the mild side, but we like to see the rising Tigers raising the heat in Motown.


Alden Gonzalez: The Pirates will win the NL Central

Granted, the NL Central isn’t the greatest of divisions. But FanGraphs’ projections had the Pirates — 32 years removed from their last division title and perpetually cheap under owner Bob Nutting — finishing last on Opening Day. What about them finishing first? A lot will have to go right, of course. Oneil Cruz and Ke’Bryan Hayes need to emerge as legitimate stars. Henry Davis needs to take major steps in his development. Paul Skenes needs to come up and thrive in the rotation alongside Jared Jones. The supporting group of Bryan Reynolds, David Bednar, Mitch Keller and Jack Suwinski, among others, needs to remain healthy and productive. And, most improbably, ownership needs to greenlight midseason additions to push the Bucs over the hump. It’s a lot. But they don’t call them mild takes.

Hot sauce equivalent: Hammajack OG. Another Central Division pick, another hometown hot sauce.


Jesse Rogers: The White Sox match the 1962 Mets with 120 losses

As hard as it is to win 120 games, it’s just as hard to lose that many. But hear me out: The White Sox turned over their entire pitching staff yet that’s the best part of their team right now. Or should we say, the least worst part of their team. They can’t hit a lick and with Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert down with injuries, and there is no end to their offensive futility in sight.

Finally, new general manager Chris Getz is going to keep ripping the team apart at the seams come July. If the White Sox ever get off that 120 loss pace, they’ll be right back on it over the final two months.

Hot sauce equivalent: Garlic Pepper. Predicting tough times on the South Side this season is as mild as it gets … But 120 losses? That’s got some spice — along with some extra salt.


Feel the fire

Tim Keown: Mike Trout will have a 10-WAR season

The first two weeks of the season feel like a re-introduction: Remember Mike Trout has morphed into remember this Mike Trout? Short sample size and all, he’s back to being the best player in baseball. He’s had three 10-WAR seasons in his career, the last in 2018, and he’s going to have another one this season, in his 14th year in the big leagues, in the year he turns 33. He hasn’t played a full season since 2019, but he’s going to stay healthy, and the Ron Washington-led Angels will finish over .500.

Hot sauce equivalent: Habanero. In a sea of flavors, this is a traditional pick you might have forgotten about that still carries plenty of heat.


Jorge Castillo: Trout won’t finish the season with the Angels

Here are Trout’s career postseason numbers: 1-for-12 with three walks in a three-game sweep at the hands of the Royals in 2014. That’s it. And that’s a travesty. Trout has been loyal to a fault to a franchise that figured out how to not reach the playoffs with two of the five best players in the world. Now Shohei Ohtani is gone, and Trout’s loyalty might be running on E. Trout’s comments in spring training about the Angels’ offseason were illuminating. He didn’t stick to his usual pacific script. No “the team is going in the right direction” like in past years. This time he admitted that he was “pushing, pushing, pushing” owner Arte Moreno and team president John Carpino to make a splash in free agency. That didn’t happen. It isn’t a stretch to think that Trout publicly acknowledging his advocacy is a tell that he isn’t pleased. Ultimately, he’ll have to not only waive his no-trade clause but push, push, push Moreno, who is allergic to rebuilds, to trade him. If the Angels play as expected — and Trout stays healthy — the door will open for Trout to advocate for himself to have a chance to play in October again.

Hot sauce equivalent: Ghost pepper. We just had Angels fans hyped for a return to MVP level for Trout — and then here you are predicting he’ll ghost the Halos midseason.


Tristan Cockcroft: Bobby Witt Jr. wins an MVP, while almost single-handedly leading his Royals to a division title

The AL Central is going to be much more fun this year — well, if your style of “fun” is an 85-win division champion — and Witt and the Royals will play a huge part in why. Witt is already taking the league by storm, en route to his joining Barry Bonds as the only ever 40/40 Gold Glove Award winners.

I was all-in on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as my preseason MVP; I’m pivoting now as I picked the wrong Junior!

And Witt’s Royals — behind the underrated Maikel Garcia, Seth Lugo, MJ Melendez, Vinnie Pasquantino, Cole Ragans and Brady Singer — will play their first October baseball in nine years. What’ll help: Realizing their extreme need to upgrade their bullpen, and midseason deals for Tanner Scott and Carlos Estevez that will provide a boost.

Hot sauce equivalent: K.C. hot BBQ — with a scorpion pepper sprinkled on top. With a deal keeping him in town through 2034, Witt could become as associated with Kansas City as award-winning barbecue so picking him to win MVP this year isn’t that bold. But then you added flames to the fire by picking a team to go from 106 losses to division champs. The only thing keeping this from being even spicier is that division is the AL Central.


Please sign the waiver before reading

David Schoenfield: The Red Sox will represent the American League in the World Series

The Red Sox are off to a nice start thanks to … Pitching and defense? Yep, you read that right. I look at rookie center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela flanked by Jarren Duran and Tyler O’Neill — three guys who can really run — and I’m reminded of the 2013 World Series champs, who had Jacoby Ellsbury in center and Shane Victorino in right, or the 2018 World Series champs, who had outstanding outfield defense with Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Andrew Benintendi. New pitching coach Andrew Bailey has the staff throwing fewer fastballs, and it’s working wonders as four of the five starters had ERAs under 1.00 through their first two starts (although Nick Pivetta just landed on the IL). Rafael Devers and Triston Casas haven’t even hit yet — but O’Neill has, with six home runs.

And if you’re worried about the pitching depth, well, nobody else has it either, and the Red Sox have a ton of payroll room to make some in-season moves.

That 2013 team came off a losing season and won it all. This team can do the same.

Hot sauce equivalent: Carolina Reaper. Peppers this hot can affect your vision — and maybe that’s what happened here. Are you sure the Red Sox are the AL East team you meant to mention for a World Series pick?


Passan: Elly De La Cruz is going to steal the most bases this century — and become the first 30/80 player in history

In MLB’s modern era, the 80-stolen base mark has been reached just 23 times. The last time it happened was in 1988, when both Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman exceeded it. De La Cruz, the Cincinnati Reds‘ dynamic 22-year-old shortstop, will break that 35-year drought — and on top of that, hit at least 30 home runs.

There are serious impediments to De La Cruz achieving this, beyond his age and the fact that this is his first full season in the major leagues. He strikes out a lot. Like, a lot lot. And getting on base, an imperative to making this prediction come true, is not something at which he excelled in his rookie season, doing so only 30% of the time.

Still, this is a bet on his immense talent — the sprint speed that is the fourth fastest in MLB, the home runs that go 450 feet to dead center. Coleman stole 110 bases with .320 on-base percentage in 1985. Henderson fell two homers short of 30/80 in 1986. It wouldn’t be bold if it wasn’t unlikely, but De La Cruz’s start — six stolen bases and three homers in 12 games — puts him on track.

Hot sauce equivalent: Pepper X. For years, the Carolina Reaper held the title of the world’s hottest pepper because it took until last year for the Guinness Book of Records to acknowledge that Pepper X even existed — which sums up De La Cruz and this hot take perfectly. Until he burst on the scene last summer, would you believe that a 6-foot-5, 200-pound shortstop who throws harder than anyone, runs faster than anyone and has light-tower power exists? Of course not. But De La Cruz is real — and as flamin’ hot as it sounds, he could turn 30/80 into a reality, too.

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Sources: Dodgers’ Betts out due to fractured toe

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Sources: Dodgers' Betts out due to fractured toe

LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts stubbed a toe in his left foot during an off-the-field incident and missed the opener of the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ highly anticipated series against the New York Yankees on Friday.

Betts is not expected to go on the injured list, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, but he will not start against the Yankees on Saturday or Sunday. Roberts said the hope is that Betts will return to the lineup shortly thereafter.

“For me, right now, it’s just day-to-day,” Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 8-5, come-from-behind win.

The incident, which affected the tip of Betts’ second toe, was believed to have occurred late Wednesday night, after the Dodgers returned from a six-game road trip, when Betts banged his toe against a piece of furniture at his house. Betts called Roberts to inform him about his toe on Friday morning, then underwent X-rays at Dodger Stadium later that afternoon.

Those X-rays revealed a fracture, a source told ESPN, confirming what Betts told the Los Angeles Times after Friday’s game. The Dodgers’ training staff will spend the weekend attempting to get the swelling down on his toe. At this point, the Dodgers don’t believe he can make the injury any worse by playing on it.

Said Roberts: “It’s going to be one of those situations per his [pain] tolerance.”

Betts’ injury isn’t the Dodgers’ most serious at the moment. Late-inning reliever Evan Phillips, who was rehabbing a forearm injury, didn’t feel right playing catch earlier this week and will undergo Tommy John surgery next week, knocking him out for all of 2025 and most of 2026.

Phillips, 30, was released by the Baltimore Orioles in August 2021 and designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays less than two weeks later. The Dodgers picked him up and turned him into a valuable late-game option. From 2022 to 2024, Phillips posted a 2.21 ERA and 0.92 WHIP, saved 44 games and struck out 206 batters in 179 regular-season innings.

But Phillips dealt with arm issues during last year’s postseason run and was left off the team’s World Series roster. He then went on the IL because of a rotator cuff strain in the middle of March, returned a month later, notched seven scoreless appearances, then went back on the IL on May 7 because of what the team called forearm discomfort. Platelet-rich-plasma injections did not take. Phillips never got better.

“As we started getting into it, it wasn’t really responding,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said. “We felt like this could be a possibility, so as he got deeper into the process and it wasn’t really getting better, the decision to do it was pretty much evident with our information.” The loss of Phillips is coupled with the Dodgers having four other high-leverage relievers on the IL — Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen, Kirby Yates and Michael Kopech, all of whom are right-handed.

The Dodgers tried to backfill some of that depth by trading for former All-Star closer Alexis Diaz on Thursday. But Diaz, who struggled so badly this season that the Cincinnati Reds optioned him to Triple-A, will initially work out of the Dodgers’ spring training complex in Glendale, Arizona.

The Dodgers also have three starting pitchers — Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki — recovering from shoulder injuries, with Shohei Ohtani not expected to join the rotation until sometime after the All-Star break.

The lineup, at least, had been healthy. Until now.

Betts, 32, got off to a slow start but was still slashing .254/.338/.405 with eight home runs and five stolen bases while slotting between the hot-hitting Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in the No. 2 spot. More notably, Betts had proved to be a capable major league shortstop after working during the offseason at the position.

The hope is that the toe injury doesn’t set him back much longer than the rest of this weekend.

In the meantime, Miguel Rojas will continue to get starts at shortstop.

“It’s a good part about having depth,” Gomes said. “Keep the train moving.”

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Trout returns in new spot, has hit in Angels’ win

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Trout returns in new spot, has hit in Angels' win

CLEVELAND — Mike Trout originally expected to return to the Los Angeles Angels‘ lineup Monday in Boston.

But the timeline was moved up one series and three days.

Trout was activated off the injured list and went 1-for-5 as the designated hitter in Friday night’s 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians. The Angels slugger missed 26 games because of soreness in his left knee that was eventually diagnosed as a bone bruise. The three-time American League MVP had two operations last year on the knee after tearing his meniscus.

“Felt good. Struck out on two at-bats, but other than that, felt all right,” said Trout, who batted fifth for the first time in 1,532 starts.

Trout lined a base hit to left-center in the fourth inning. He thought he had a hit in his first at-bat in the second inning, but Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez made a nice grab on a low line drive.

“I thought he had some good at-bats, considering that he hadn’t seen live pitching in a while,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He hit the ball hard three times today. They made some good pitches when he struck out. But welcome back, Mike.”

Trout’s return also helped the Angels snap a five-game losing streak and improve to 28-30.

It was the first time since Sept. 26, 2011, Trout’s rookie season, that he started a game hitting lower than third.

Washington is happy to have Trout back, especially because he noted Trout wasn’t aggressive in rushing in his return. Washington also knows that Trout isn’t ready to return to his normal spot batting second or third.

“He hasn’t seen anything. So when you look at what we have, that’s where he sits,” Washington said before the game. “It doesn’t make sense for him to protect [Logan] O’Hoppe. So, I’ll put Mike behind him to protect O’Hoppe. He’s not ready to be at the top of the lineup, especially with those guys up there. As we go along the next couple of days, he’s not going to remain fifth.”

The 33-year-old Trout is hitting .180 with 9 home runs, 18 RBIs and a .712 OPS in 30 games. He will be the designated hitter for the weekend series against the Guardians before possibly returning to right field when the Halos head to Boston on Monday for a three-game series.

Even though Trout has shied away from wanting to be the designated hitter, he has done well in that spot. In eight games this season, he is 9-for-33 (.273) with 6 home runs and 9 RBIs.

Trout said whether he plays more games than originally planned at DH the remainder of the season is something that remains to be seen.

“Bone bruises are tricky. I know I am going to be sore, but I can deal with it,” he said. “I definitely have to be cautious, especially the first couple games.”

Trout has missed 404 of the Angels’ 665 games — almost 60% — since May 17, 2021, when he tore his calf muscle against Cleveland and was sidelined for the rest of that season. This is the fifth straight year he has had a stint of at least 25 games on the IL.

He missed five weeks of the 2022 season because of a back injury, and all but one game after July 3, 2023, after he broke a bone in his hand on a foul ball. Trout played in 29 games last season before the meniscus injury.

“There’s so many games that any sense of newness or something to make you excited is something that you’d latch on to. So, today is definitely a moment like that,” O’Hoppe said about Trout’s return. “He’s the heart of this organization. So, we’re happy to have our heart beating again for sure.”

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L.A.’s Betts day-to-day after stubbing toe in mishap

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Sources: Dodgers' Betts out due to fractured toe

LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts stubbed a toe on his left foot during an off-the-field incident and was out of the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ lineup Friday night for the opener of a highly anticipated weekend series against the New York Yankees.

Betts was scheduled to undergo X-rays at Dodger Stadium before first pitch. Until then, the team will hope for the best.

“It’s day-to-day right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So, that’s where we’re at.”

The incident — affecting Betts’ second toe — was believed to occur late Wednesday night, after the Dodgers returned from a six-game road trip through New York and Cleveland. Roberts didn’t find out until Betts called him Friday morning. He was vague on the details.

“I really don’t know,” Roberts said when asked how the injury occurred. “I think it was at home. It’s probably a dresser, nightstand, something like that. It’s just kind of an accident. I think that Mookie will be able to give more context, but that’s kind of from the training staff what I heard. So hopefully, it’s benign, it’s negative. Not sure, but I feel confident saying it’s day-to-day … but putting on a shoe today was difficult for him.”

Betts’ injury isn’t the Dodgers’ most serious at the moment. Late-inning reliever Evan Phillips, who was rehabbing a forearm injury, didn’t feel right playing catch earlier this week and will undergo Tommy John surgery next week, knocking him out for all of 2025 and most of 2026.

Phillips, 30, was released by the Baltimore Orioles in August 2021 and designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays less than two weeks later. The Dodgers picked him up and turned him into a valuable late-game option. From 2022 to 2024, Phillips posted a 2.21 ERA and 0.92 WHIP, saved 44 games and struck out 206 batters in 179 regular-season innings.

But Phillips dealt with arm issues during last year’s postseason run and was left off the team’s World Series roster. He then went on the IL because of a rotator cuff strain in the middle of March, returned a month later, notched seven scoreless appearances, then went back on the IL on May 7 because of what the team called forearm discomfort. Platelet-rich-plasma injections did not take. Phillips never got better.

“As we started getting into it, it wasn’t really responding,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said. “We felt like this could be a possibility, so as he got deeper into the process and it wasn’t really getting better, the decision to do it was pretty much evident with our information.”

The loss of Phillips is coupled with the Dodgers having four other high-leverage relievers on the IL — Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen, Kirby Yates and Michael Kopech, all of whom are right-handed.

The Dodgers tried to backfill some of that depth by trading for former All-Star closer Alexis Diaz on Thursday. But Diaz, who struggled so badly this season that the Cincinnati Reds optioned him to Triple-A, will initially work out of the Dodgers’ spring training complex in Glendale, Ariz.

The Dodgers also have three starting pitchers — Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki — recovering from shoulder injuries, with Shohei Ohtani not expected to join the rotation until sometime after the All-Star break.

The lineup, at least, had been healthy. Until now.

Betts, 32, got off to a slow start but was still slashing .254/.338/.405 with 8 home runs and 5 stolen bases while slotting between the hot-hitting Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in the No. 2 spot. More notably, Betts had proven to be a capable major league shortstop after working during the offseason at the position.

But the toe injury could set him back, in much the same way a broken left hand robbed him of nearly two months in 2024.

At this point, Roberts said, “I don’t see it being long term.” But the Dodgers can’t say that definitively yet.

“We need to see the doctors and kind of get a better sense of it,” Gomes said. “It happened pretty recently, so it’ll take some time before we have a better understanding.”

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