In the spirit of keeping in mind this is supposed to be fun, this week’s question is:
What’s your off-the-wall prediction for the rest of the season?
Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola): Brandon Phillips will come up in September for the Red Sox and hit a walk-off homer as well as being a late defensive replacement
Fred Zinkie (Rotoworld, Baseball HQ, @FredZinkieMLB): On September 26, Roberto Osuna will pick up a save — in Toronto — to clinch a division title for the Astros. Fans will debate whether it counts as one of the best or worst moments of the 2018 season.
Michael Rathburn (Rotowire, @FantasyRath): Felix Hernandez becomes the Mariners closer after Edwin Diaz suffers an injury
Michael Beller (Sports Illustrated, @MBeller): Matt Olson hits three homers in the Bronx, the first two off Luis Severino, to power the A’s past the 101-win Yankees in the AL Wild Card Game.
Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis):
Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Odubel Herrera will break out of his 30 day slump and become fantasy relevant for the rest of the season.
Bret Sayre (Baseball Prospectus, @BretSayreBP): Jon Gray and German Marquez both ride killer second halves and shockingly end the season as top-50 starting pitchers.
Larry Schechter (Winning Fantasy Baseball, @LarrySchechter): The Texas Rangers will get a triple play in which the batter was not retired. Oh wait, that already happened? Okay, I’ll go with a MLB team will get two triple plays in the same game, which has only happened once, on July 17, 1990, and I was there in Fenway Park when the Twins got two 5-4-3 triple plays. A season ticket holder was sitting behind me with his friend who had never been to a game. After the first triple play, he explained to his friend how rare they were, and he said “You could come to games the rest of your life and probably never see one again.”
Al Melchior (FNTSY Radio, @almelchiorbb): Nick Pivetta will no-hit the Marlins on Sept. 5.
Craig Mish (SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio, @CraigMish): One year after the Houston Astros trade with the Tigers and convince Justin Verlander to join the team on August 31st, they do the same thing with the Cincinnati Reds Joey Votto and add him for the postseason push.
Patrick Davitt (BaseballHQ, @patrickdavitt): Ha! A guy I used to work with saw one MLB game live in his life, and it was that Red Sox game with the two 5-4-3 TPs! At least 20 hitters have more 2H SBs than Dee Gordon.
Tim McLeod (PattonandCo, @TimothyLMc): The Marlins and Braves play a four-game set at the end of August and there won’t be a single HBP.
Phil Hertz (BaseballHQ, @prhz50): The A’s catch The Astros, setting up a win or go home play-in game between two of the so-called monster AL teams.
Andrea LaMont (LennyMelnickFantasySports, @RotoLady): byron buxton
Vlad Sedler (Fantasy Guru Elite, @Rotogut): Khris Davis mashes 12 homers in September — his best mark in any month of his career, topping the 11 he hit in May of 2016.
Ron Shandler (RonShandler.com, @RonShandler): The Colorado Rockies hit their way into the NL LCS behind the bat of Ryan McMahon. Please.
Glenn Colton (Fantasy Alarm, @glenncolton1): The Yankees make two big moves in the next 12 days to get a 1b for the playoffs and a veteran bat for the bench
Ray Flowers (Fantasy Guru Elite, @BaseballGuys): Brett Gardner has more homers than Aaron Judge.
Howard Bender (Fantasy Alarm, @RotobuzzGuy): The New York Yankees miss the playoffs
Seth Trachtman (Rotoworld, @sethroto): Alex Cobb will finish with a sub-2.00 ERA during the second half.
Jeff Zimmerman (Fangraphs and Fantrax, @jeffwzimmerman): Fantasy owners will no longer go crazy over small samples.
Adam Ronis (Scout Fantasy, @AdamRonis): The Nationals win the NL East.
Stephania Bell (ESPN Fantasy Sports, @Stephania_ESPN): Ryan Hoskins – inspired by meeting Big Al – leads all of baseball in slugging percentage for rest of season and leads Phillies to division title.
_________________
What about you? What’s your off-the-wall prediction? Feel free to share in the comments.