Previewing 2024 season - Who will make the playoffs and World Series | Baseball Bar-B-Cast
Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman give their division, wild card and World Series picks for this season. Hear the full conversation on “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: Let's do it. Let's do our division picks. Take me through these.
JAKE MINTZ: We hate doing this.
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: Yeah, despise it.
JAKE MINTZ: We do this for you the, listener, and for the lovely beautiful content algorithms out there. But-- and we do it reluctantly, but we will do it to the best of our ability, and we will do it with a smile kind of upon our face. In the American League East, I'm going to take the Baltimore Orioles. In the American League Central, I'm going to take the Twins. And in the American League West, I'm going to take the Houston Astros. Jordan, thoughts? Where are you at with these?
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: I am in agreement on the Orioles and the Twins. And I'm going to officially predict that the Seattle Mariners will win the division.
JAKE MINTZ: Bias.
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: It is bias. It's the opposite of bias. I've been picking the Astros for 10 years in a row. And I'm going to go with the Mariners of Seattle to win the division. And I'm going to go-- and I will go into the wild card, and I'm going to say that the Houston Astros will be the first wild card team. I'm going to say that the Tampa Bay Rays will be the second wild card team.
JAKE MINTZ: Heard it here first.
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: And then I'm going to say that the New York Yankees will be the third Wild Card team.
JAKE MINTZ: So I will go for my wild card teams. I'll pick the Yankees. I will pick the Mariners. And I will pick the Rays. Those are going to be my three. Yeah, I just--
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: So we have the same teams, just a different order.
JAKE MINTZ: We have the same teams in a different order, Jordan. That's just life. If you don't pick the Astros to make the playoffs, like, that's what they do. Until they don't make the playoffs, I will continue to pick them to make the playoffs.
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: To that point, I'm picking the Astros to still win the American League, and they will be back in the CS. They will be back in the World Series against National League team to be determined in 25 seconds. Who you have coming out of the AL?
JAKE MINTZ: So I put down the Twins, OK? I wrote the twins down. And I don't know if I believe that, but I'm just trying to make a point that people are sleeping on the Twins.
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: Fair.
JAKE MINTZ: And I'm going to make that point here again. I don't think it will happen, but I'm picking the Twins.
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: All right, love that confidence. National League, I'll go first. Braves, for me, Cardinals--
JAKE MINTZ: What?
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: I'm going with the Cardinals. I think I am alone on that one in the National League Central. And then I do think the Dodgers will persevere through this Ohtani scandal. And they will win the National League West.
JAKE MINTZ: NL East, I will take the Braves. Phillies will be a little closer, but not close enough. And NL Central, I'm going to take the Cubs. I think the rotation really has a chance to be really good. I trust Craig Counsell. I like the Cubs. NL West, Dodgers.
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: OK.
JAKE MINTZ: Yeah.
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: Nice, nice. All right, cool.
JAKE MINTZ: Yeah.
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: All right, who are your wild card teams? This is way hard than AL in my opinion.
JAKE MINTZ: Yeah, the Phillies are the first one. I think pretty comfortably are a half tick above the other teams. The Padres, I think CC is a huge add for them. And I think they were just so unlucky last year that some of that will swing back to equilibrium.
And then for my last NL Wild Card pick, I'm going to take the Reds. I'm going to take the Reds. How about you?
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: If they can survive during all these injuries, I think they'll have a good chance. But tough start to the year for them in terms of the IL. I'm going Phillies, Giants, and Cubs. I do like the Cubs. I just don't think I like them quite that much.
And I think the Giants, they just added too many good baseball players. I think they're going to be in the mix there. I do think the Giants are going to be right there. Who you got coming out of the NL? I assume the Braves.
JAKE MINTZ: The Atlanta Braves. I think this Braves core is going to get another one or get one. And I will take them in the World Series over the Minnesota Twins in six games.
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: Love it. I think I might have officially given Braves Astros over Astros as my pick. But I'm just going to go back to Astros, Phillies. Astros over Phillies, Phillies will vanquish the Braves once again, somehow, some way, the Johan Rojas walk off grand slam will be exquisite. And yeah, Astros will win another World Series somehow, because that's kind of what they do.