The 2026 Royals and MLB predictions thread

Baseball begins today! The season kicks off with Opening Night between the Yankees and Giants. The Royals open the season tomorrow in Atlanta against the Braves.

With the season beginning, it is time to put out the predictions. Earlier this week we asked readers to give their predictions on the season, and over 200 of you responded with your selections. Here are the results, plus the selections of our current and former writers.

You can also review all of our predictions from last year. How did we do?

Royals position player WAR leader: Bobby Witt Jr. 90.7%, Maikel Garcia 5.3%, Vinnie Pasquantino 1.3%

Royals pitcher WAR leader: Cole Ragans 55.9%, Kris Bubic 21.1%, Michael Wacha 6.6%, Seth Lugo 5.7%, Noah Cameron 5.3%, Matt Strahm 2.2%, Lucas Erceg 1.8%

Less than five percent of voters think the Royals will less than 80 wins, that may be a record here! Bobby is the runaway winner for most valuable Royals hitter, no surprise there. Someone did vote for Jonathan India. REVEAL YOURSELF!

American League predictions

AL East: Blue Jays 41.1%, Yankees 32.7%, Red Sox 22.0%, Orioles 3.3%, Rays 0.9%

AL Central: Royals 56.5%, Tigers 38.8%, Guardians 3.9%, White Sox 0.9%

AL West: Mariners 84.6%, Astros 7.5%, Rangers 6.5%, Athletics 0.9%, Angels 0.5%

AL Wildcards: Yankees 54.6%, Red Sox 44.8%, Tigers 41.3%, Royals 33.9%, Blue Jays 33.5%, Orioles 26.5, Astros 20.4%, Guardians 10.0%, Rangers 9.6%, Mariners 7.4%, Athletics 7.0%, Rays 6.1%, Angels 3.0%, Twins 1.3%, White Sox 0.9%

Every writer but Matthews has the Royals in the playoffs, and over 90 percent of readers have the Royals playing in October.

National League predictions

NL East: Phillies 48.9%, Mets 32.9%, Braves 16.4%, Marlins 0.9%, Nationals 0.9%

NL Central: Cubs 48.6%, Brewers 40.5%, Reds 6.8%, Pirates 3.2%, Cardinals 0.9%

NL West: Dodgers 94.5%, Padres 3.2%, Giants, 0.9%, Diamondbacks 0.9%, Rockies 0.5%

NL Wildcards: Padres 51.7%, Braves 39.6%, Brewers 35.7%, Mets 35.2%, Phillies 34.8%, Cubs 24.3%, Giants 22.2%, Diamondbacks 18.3%, Reds 14.8%, Pirates 12.2%, Dodgers 6.1%, Cardinals 2.2%, Nationals 1.3%, Rockies 0.9%, Marlins 0.9%

Not many believers in the team across the state – the Cardinals. Can anyone unseat the Dodgers?

AL MVP: Bobby Witt Jr., KCR 71.1%, Aaron Judge, NYY, 13.4%; Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., TOR 4.1%; Julio Rodriguez, SEA 2.6%; Roman Anthony, BOS 2.6%, Cal Raleigh, SEA 2.0%

AL Cy Young: Tarik Skubal, DET 44.5%; Cole Ragans, KCR 23.3%; Garrett Crotchet, BOS 15.0%; Framber Valdez, DET 3.5%; Hunter Brown, HOU 2.6%; Max Fried, NYY 2.2%; Jacob deGrom, TEX 2.0%

AL Rookie: Carter Jensen, KCR 71.3%; Munetaka Murakami, CHW 8.1%; Trey Yesavage, TOR 6.3%; Kevin McGonigle, DET 5.4%; Kazuma Okamoto, TOR 4.0%; Samuel Basallo, BAL 2.7%

The Royals could be in the running for some hardware at the end of the season. Carter Jensen does have pretty good odds to win Rookie of the Year at most sportsbooks.

NL MVP: Shohei Ohtani, LAD 65.1%; Ronald Acuña Jr., ATL 10.3%; Juan Soto, NYM 8.2%; Fernando Tatis, Jr., SDP 4.6%; Kyle Tucker, LAD 3.1%; Alex Bregman, CHC 2.2%; Elly de la Cruz, CIN 2.2%

NL Cy Young: Paul Skenes, PIT 68.4%; Yoshinobu Yamamoto, LAD 11.6%; Logan Webb, SFG 5.3%; Chris Sale, ATL 2.7%; Zach Wheeler, PHI, 2.7%; Blake Snell, LAD 2.2%

NL Rookie: Konnor Griffin PIT, 32.7%; Nolan McLean, NYM 21.8%; JJ Wetherholt, STL 13.6%; Bubba Chandler, PIT 12.7%; Carson Benge, NYM 5.9%; Bryce Eldridge, SFG 4.1%

No one believes MJ Melendez can win MVP with the Mets, huh?