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We recently concluded a series on team-by-team fantasy baseball previews ahead of the 2020 MLB season. You can find coverage of each and every MLB team here. Now that we’ve wrapped up the series, we’re providing readers a look at different topics that we covered for each team all in one place.
Today, we’re going to take a look at predictions (both bold and bland) for each of the 30 MLB teams.
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Arizona Diamondbacks
Bold Prediction: Zac Gallen finishes the season as a top-10 fantasy pitcher.
Bland Prediction: Madison Bumgarner is perfectly solid for the Diamondbacks, finishing in the top-25 of starting pitchers for the season and nicely filling in the hole left behind in the team’s trade of Greinke.
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Atlanta Braves
Bold Prediction: Dansby Swanson finishes the season as a top-five fantasy shortstop, also pushing for a bid as a top-30 overall fantasy hitter.
Bland Prediction: Freddie Freeman has a perfectly balanced .300/.400/35/100/100 season and finishes as a top-ten overall fantasy player.
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Baltimore Orioles
Bold Prediction: Hanser Alberto wins the AL batting title. He won’t draw walks, hit for power, or steal any bases, but the lowest strikeout rate of all qualified hitters (9.1%) last year at least gives him a solid chance of hitting .300 again.
Bland Prediction: Hunter Harvey takes the closer’s job … and still doesn’t record 10 saves.
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Boston Red Sox
Bold Prediction: Andrew Benintendi breaks out as a complete, well-rounded hitter, batting near .300 with at least 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases.
Bland Prediction: J.D. Martinez finishes the season as a top-five fantasy hitter in the league.
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Chicago White Sox
Bold Prediction: Eloy Jimenez leads the majors in home runs.
Bland Prediction: The White Sox have a top-10 fantasy hitter at every position.
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Chicago Cubs
Bold Prediction: Javier Baez earns first-round value in 15-team leagues, earning stats prorated out to a full season as follows: 34 bombs, 92 runs, 99 RBI, 15 stolen bases, and a .283 average. This stat line will propel him into a top-four shortstop. Yes, above Trevor Story or Alex Bregman.
Bland Prediction: Yu Darvish and Kyle Hendricks will be the only starters with season-long value in a standard 12-team league.
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Cincinnati Reds
Bold Prediction: Curt Casali proves that last year wasn’t a fluke, and winds up with more fantasy value than incumbent Tucker Barnhart. In 50 fewer at-bats, Casali will provide similar stats as Barnhart, but hit a couple more long balls and prove to be relevant in two-catcher leagues.
Bland Prediction: Eugenio Suarez recovers just fine from shoulder surgery, swatting what would be 37 homers with a combined 190 runs and RBI over a full season.
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Cleveland Indians
Bold Prediction: Jose Ramirez bounces back from his awkward 2019 season to finish as a top-seven hitter in 2020. He will get there by going 33/25 with 200 combined runs and RBI (in a normal season), and will also help in batting average by hitting at least .280.
Bland Prediction: Cesar Hernandez finishes easily inside the top-20 second basemen, chipping in with double-digit homers and steals while combining for 125 runs and RBI (in a normal season), while also hitting .275.
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Colorado Rockies
Bold Prediction: David Dahl finally stays healthy and finishes the season as a top-10 fantasy hitter.
Bland Prediction: Nolan Arenado finishes the season as the top fantasy third baseman and a top-three overall fantasy hitter, outperforming his slightly decreased ADP.
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Detroit Tigers
Bold Prediction: Joe Jimenez puts it all together as a top-10 closer.
Bland Prediction: C.J. Cron slugs over .500 for the first time in his career and is a viable first baseman in shallow mixed leagues.
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Houston Astros
Bold Prediction: The shortened season greatly benefits Josh James as he emerges as the team’s second-best starting pitcher behind Justin Verlander.
Bland Prediction: Jose Altuve finishes the year as the league’s top fantasy second baseman.
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Kansas City Royals
Bold Prediction: Adalberto Mondesi hits 30 homers and steals 60 bases.
Bland Prediction: Whit Merrifield steals less than 10 bases.
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Los Angeles Angels
Bold Prediction: Shohei Ohtani scores the most total fantasy points in the league.
Bland Prediction: Anthony Rendon is not a top 30 fantasy hitter this year.
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Los Angeles Dodgers
Bold Prediction: Walker Buehler is the best pitcher in fantasy in 2020.
Bland Prediction: Cody Bellinger’s batting average and steals output disappoint.
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Miami Marlins
Bold Prediction: Jon Berti finds enough playing time to steal 40+ bases.
Bland Prediction: No Marlins hitter finishes in the top 200 this season.
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Milwaukee Brewers
Bold Prediction: Corbin Burnes turns into a very useful fantasy starting pitchers.
Bland Prediction: Christian Yelich steals less than 10 bases.
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Minnesota Twins
Bold Prediction: Miguel Sano leads the Major Leagues in home runs.
Bland Prediction: Nelson Cruz finally shows signs of his age, still hits a ton of homers, but hits closer to .260 than .280.
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New York Yankees
Bold Prediction: Giancarlo Stanton plays a full season and is once again a top-25 pick in 2021.
Bland Prediction: Gerrit Cole fails to post a top-10 season at SP.
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New York Mets
Bold Prediction: Brandon Nimmo and J.D. Davis are two of the best draft values in the league this year.
Bland Prediction: Pete Alonso gets drafted 40+ spots later on average in 2021 than he did in 2020.
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Oakland Athletics
Bold Prediction: Matt Olson and Matt Chapman hit 80 combined home runs.
Bland Prediction: Marcus Semien returns to being a useful – but not must-start – fantasy option.
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Philadelphia Phillies
Bold Prediction: Bryce Harper posts similar numbers to his 2015 MVP season.
Bland Prediction: Scott Kingery loses his starting job to Alec Bohm by mid-May.
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Pittsburgh Pirates
Bold Prediction: Gregory Polanco finally stays healthy and hits 30 homers with a .270+ batting average.
Bland Prediction: The real Josh Bell proves to be more of the guy we saw in the second half (not that good).
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San Diego Padres
Bold Prediction: Trent Grisham posts a 27/18 homer/steals line.
Bland Prediction: Manny Machado finishes outside of the top-12 at 3B and SS.
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San Francisco Giants
Bold Prediction: Joey Bart replaces Buster Posey as the everyday catcher in August.
Bland Prediction: No Giants players finishes inside the top 300 on any fantasy player rater.
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Seattle Mariners
Bold Prediction: Shed Long posts a 12/25 season as the everyday second baseman.
Bland Prediction: Mallex Smith loses his starting job and is never heard from again.
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St. Louis Cardinals
Bold Prediction: Tyler O’Neill will hit 40 home runs for St. Louis. He has the power and talent if he can get the playing time and cut down on strikeouts.
Bland Prediction: Matt Carpenter will hit a boring .240, but he won’t bottom out like last season. Why is that noteworthy? The Cardinals will refuse to bench the subpar Carpenter and block Tommy Edman, Tyler O’Neill, and Dylan Carlson from all three playing at the same time together.
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Tampa Bay Rays
Bold Prediction: If Yandy Diaz can stay healthy and play 85% of the season, he will finish the season as a top-100 hitter. His progressively higher lift in his swing should result in a HR/FB% rate of 17%-ish, and he will have plenty of run and RBI opportunities hitting in the top third of the lineup regularly.
Bland Prediction: Three Rays (Anderson, Castillo, Alvarado) notch 90% of the team’s saves, but none of them accumulate more than 40% of the team’s saves individually. Anderson ends up being the highest-ranked reliever on the virtue of his elite ratios and dominant K-rate.
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Texas Rangers
Bold Prediction: Nick Solak posts a .275/25/10 line.
Bland Prediction: No Rangers’ reliever has more than 10 saves on the season.
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Toronto Blue Jays
Bold Prediction: Nate Pearson comes up within a month of the season starting and is the best AL rookie pitcher. He will finish with a sub-3.75 ERA, sub-1.25 WHIP, and strike out nearly a batter per inning.
Bland Prediction: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. breaks out one year later than expected, posting 30+ HR and a .300 average with a combined 190 runs and RBI, making him a top-20 hitter.
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Washington Nationals
Bold Prediction: Trea Turner is a top-five overall hitter this year.
Bland Prediction: Only Turner and Juan Soto prove to be worth starting every day in fantasy.
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