The San Diego Padres were one of baseball’s great breakout stories of 2020, rising from a 70-92 season in 2019 to the full-season equivalent of 100 wins during the pandemic-shortened campaign. Led by the twin MVP candidacies of third baseman Manny Machado and wunderkind shortstop Fernando Tatís Jr., plus a strong pitching staff, the Padres […]
MLB’s top three World Series contenders in our forecast — the Los Angeles Dodgers (29 percent chance to win it all), Houston Astros (14 percent) and Tampa Bay Rays (12 percent) — have all been there before, and quite recently. The Dodgers won the championship last season over the Rays, while the Astros made the […]
To say the Houston Astros are disliked would be an understatement. “Loathed” seems closer to the mark. Nearly two years after Houston’s cheating scandal shook the sport, most baseball fans still aren’t over it — particularly since their ability to yell at the team in person was put on hold by COVID-19 last year. While […]
When the Minnesota Twins burst into the playoffs with 101 wins in 2019 — hitting an MLB-record 307 home runs — they were one of baseball’s most pleasant surprises. When they followed that up with the league’s fourth-best record during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, it seemed to announce that Minnesota was here to stay as […]