Now is the time to go on record predicting these outcomes. Todd Zola, Derek Carty, Eric Karabell and Tristan H. Cockcroft did just that, identifying one bet to make involving each of the 30 MLB teams.
Crochet will be a popular choice to win the Cy Young Award — and why not? He boosted his workload by 59 1/3 innings while shaving nearly a full run off his ERA and doubling his quality start total (22) in a breakthrough 2025, with underlying metrics that fully support a repeat, if not a slight step forward. Tarik Skubal is the chalk for this award, but Crochet is an effective 1A as far as Cy Young favorites for 2026. And he’s a nicely priced one at that. — Cockcroft
Keaschall checks most of the boxes; he exhibits solid on-base skills, steals bases with a high success rate and should play nearly every day. The only catch is he’s only played 49 games at the major league level, albeit with a .382 OBP and 14-for-17 stealing bases. Prorating that to a full season, Keaschall would eclipse 40 stolen bases. I’ll take the chance he gets halfway there. — Zola
In his last two seasons with the Saitama Seibu Lions, Imai logged 337 innings and fanned 365 batters. There is no reason why he can’t register 165 frames this season, giving him a big cushion to absorb a drop in strikeout rate and still punch out at least 150 hitters. He’s only 5-foot-8 and he throws from a low arm slot, creating deception. He has five pitches in his repertoire, including a four-seamer with unusual riding action. Imai should also benefit from hitter unfamiliarity. — Zola
Neto stole 30 bases over 155 games in his rookie season, but dropped to just 26 in 128 contests last year. He started the season late as he was recovering from shoulder surgery, then lost the last 16 games of the season due to a hand issue. Matching last season’s pace over a conservative estimate of 150 games gives him 31 bags. Based on his first two seasons, while taking the over on 30 steals isn’t a great bet, it’s slightly more than a 50/50 venture, and it pays a little juice. — Zola
Strider led all of baseball with 281 strikeouts during the 2023 season and nobody has come close to that number since. Strider missed most of 2024 due to Tommy John surgery and he struggled at times last season, when he made a total of only 23 starts. Expect a fully healthy Strider to resume missing bats at a high rate in 2026. — Karabell
One of the top pitching prospects in the sport, Snelling should get a full season of opportunity for Miami. He sure looks ready after posting a 1.27 ERA, an 0.98 WHIP and a 32.9% K rate for Triple-A Jacksonville. Snelling will surely get noticed if his run prevention is anything like that once he joins the Marlins rotation. — Karabell
Well, didn’t Soto just do this in 2026? OK, so Soto tied Oneil Cruz for the NL lead with 38 steals and perhaps few think he will repeat the feat. Soto certainly isn’t the fastest runner — not like Cruz or Elly De La Cruz or Corbin Carroll — but he can certainly steal myriad bases if he so desires. These odds are so long (Soto sits behind more than 20 players), that it feels worth the risk to find out. — Karabell
Turang’s power outburst was one of the most unexpected developments of 2025, but the adjustments he made to his batting stance and swing fully supported the change. Over the season’s final two months he had top-15 hard hit and top-45 Barrel rates. This prop has Turang regressing by 11 RBI, which seems unlikely when considering his adjustments and the likelihood that he’ll be regularly slotted in more run-producing lineup spots (second through fourth) this year. — Cockcroft
Merrill’s 2025 was plagued by injuries, but he’s young and with some of the best all-around hitting skills when healthy. Add to that his strong September numbers (.270/.320/.626 and 7 HR), which only strengthens his “rebound case” for this season. He totaled 162 hits as a rookie in 2024, despite falling short of 600 plate appearances, but as the Padres’ likely No. 2 hitter, he should breeze past that PA threshold and pile up the hits. — Cockcroft
Webb isn’t the flashiest pitcher in baseball, but his durability and consistency make him a sneaky-good candidate to be a Cy Young winner at these odds. He projects for more innings pitched than any other NL pitcher and he also projects for the third-highest WAR at 5.0. That’s less than one win below the Cy Young favorite, Paul Skenes, who is priced at a mere +225. — Carty
Of all Yankees props, why Bednar? Simple: He enjoyed a full return of his elite swing-and-miss stuff (four-seamer/curve/splitter) following his deadline deal to the Yankees and he faces considerably less competition for the team’s closer role this year than last. Plus, he’s pitching for a team that has a solid, albeit fluid rotation — several of the Yankees’ best starters are on the mend from major injuries — that might need to scrape out more wins this year than in the past two. The AL East is going to be a six-month tug-of-war. Tighter competition means more probable save chances and, with Bednar’s raw talent, more converted saves. — Cockcroft
He’s one of the fastest men in baseball — if not the fastest — and, if you pro-rate his 2025 steals total to 162 games played on the MLB roster, he’d have finished with 59.4. The question with Simpson is his defense, as his minus-9 Defensive Runs Saved ranked him among the majors’ worst outfielders, but the Rays are also hardly loaded with better alternatives. They’d be best off letting him play regularly and drive opposing pitchers crazy on the basepaths. In such a role, he’d be a virtual shoo-in to reach this threshold. — Cockcroft
The Blue Jays were two outs away from a 2025 World Series championship, then invested a collective $337 million on four free agents (Dylan Cease, Kazuma Okamoto, Tyler Rogers and Cody Ponce). This wouldn’t be the first time that a team got its first taste of the Fall Classic, then won it the following season. See the 2014-15 Kansas City Royals and 2021-22 Houston Astros (not to mention five other teams this century to make it to back-to-back World Series). These are 6.7% implied championship odds and the PECOTA projections have the Blue Jays with an 8.5% chance of winning. — Cockcroft
Let’s have some fun! Making the playoffs is not a prerequisite to winning this award. Sometimes, it can actually hurt one’s chances if the team was “supposed to win.” The White Sox just need to significantly improve on last season’s 60 wins, which is entirely plausible. Their over/under is 66.5, so they’re already expected to improve. Maybe the young pitching comes together sooner than expected. Perhaps Kyle Teel and Colson Montgomery take the next steps forward, while Munetaka Murakami learns how to handle high heat. There is a pathway to 75 wins in the AL Central, which should catch voter’s attention. — Zola
Guardians relievers have logged more saves than any other bullpen over the past three seasons. The percentage of Guardians wins that were saved is second to only the Rockies over that period, but Colorado won 93 fewer games over that stretch. Saves typically dovetail along with team wins and ERA and, while the Guardians are mid-pack in wins since 2023, their team ERA is the best in the league. In his 150 MLB appearances, Smith’s ERA is 2.42 with 45 holds and 17 saves. The team should provide him with enough opportunities for him to seal the deal. — Zola
While Skubal is far and away the favorite for the AL Cy Young (as he ought to be), the odds on Woo look enticing. THE BAT X has him projected for the third-highest WAR among AL starting pitchers at 4.4 andl while that’s two full wins below Skubal, it’s more than pitchers with shorter odds like Jacob deGrom (13-1), Hunter Brown (13-1), Cole Ragans (13-1) and Max Fried (17-1). Outperforming Skubal will be difficult, but there is always way more uncertainty in an upcoming season than we want to believe. Plus, there is always the chance of injury to Skubal to give us another significant out. — Carty
Langford has played 134 games in both of his first two seasons, averaging a modest 19 HR and 20.5 SB per year. While it’s a stretch to project him to play over 150 games in 2026, if he does, then a 25/25 campaign is realistic. And if that’s realistic, then a 30/30 season is within reach. This isn’t a prediction that Langford will shake the core injuries plaguing him last season, but he did spend the offseason in a training regimen to address the issue. This is acknowledgment that there is a best-case scenario pathway to Langford being the AL MVP. — Zola
You might have thought we’d take Konnor Griffin for NL Rookie of the Year, but Griffin’s scorching start to spring training has narrowed his odds to +280 there, giving this prop more value. Kelly steered the Pirates to a 59-65 record after taking the helm last May and the team appears to be on the rise with the offseason additions of Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna, a full season of rookie Bubba Chandler in the rotation and, yes, the potential debut of Griffin. Plus, we all know how this award’s balloting typically goes when a team overperforms expectations (79.5 wins per the PECOTA projection). These are sub-10% implied odds, but Kelly’s odds should probably be better than that, given he’ll be leading one of the stronger teams with a chance to surprise in 2026. — Cockcroft
Last season, Scott swiped 34 bases in 38 tries. He appeared only 138 times as he missed 15 games in August thanks to a sprained ankle. Scott spent the offseason using motion-capture study to revamp his swing, with the goal of decreasing strikeouts and hitting more ground balls. He has also been working on bunting this spring. Scott and the club are leaning into his 100th percentile sprint speed and, since they are in rebuilding mode, there’s no reason to give the red light to the 25-year-old speedster. — Zola
Note: All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and accurate as of publication time.
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