SSS Staff Predictions 2023, revisited: Give it up for the names at the top!
Some great picks, some terrible ones ... let’s review what we got right and wrong about this past summer
We had one more prognosticator step with predictions than we did last year, which made a battle among 22 of us to see who was most prescient in picking the winners and losers of 2023.
This was our third year of doing this, and no one was more surprised than I was to see who came out on top. Let’s take it phase-by-phase to see how things wrangled out. (And if you’d rather get your prognostications in audio book form, we podcasted about the results as well.)
Unlike 2022, when among other errors the entire staff was unified in picking the White Sox as best in the AL Central, there was no unanimous pick among division winners this year; coming closest were the Wests, with Houston and L.A. predicted, correctly, to win by most.
In possibly an unprecedented achievement, Year of the Hamster nailed five of six division winners — and that after getting just one right in 2022. Melissa Sage-Bollenbach takes the place, with four winning picks.
Those two led the race in the early going, with Dante Jones running third.
On the flip side, Kristina Airdo and Trooper Galactus hit on just one division winner. Trailing the race overall through the first round were Kristina, Tommy Barbee and Darren Black.
The second round covers the best and worst in baseball, plus pennant winners and World Series champs. None of us came very close on the pennant or World Series, so it’s the best and worst that would separate folks here.
The A’s as worst in baseball was the easy win here, although of course the Royals gave Oakland a surprising and sustained fight for the bottom. The only other worst pick went (from Ryiin, Darren and Nello Rubio) to the Detroit Tigers, and I hate to break it to ya, but they finished better than the White Sox.
Jacki Krestel, Chrystal O’Keefe, Adrian Serrano and Hannah LaMotta all made up ground here, while Tyrone Palmer, Lily Hass and Nello all whiffed pretty badly.
Jacki made the biggest jump in the standings, while Trooper took the top tumble.
Halfway home, and it was Chrystal, Jacki and Hamster leading the way, while trailers included Tommy and Lily.
Vaguely speaking, the awards season in 2023 was easier to pick than 2022, meaning that in spite of constant change in the game, there were fewer outliers coming out of this season. No one exemplified this more than Shoheil Ohtani, who won a repeat MVP, something most pickers were smart enough to predict. Shout-out to Trevor Lines for being the only one of us to nail Blake Snell as NL Cy Young, and Dante and Luke Smailes as the pair that saw Ronald Acuña Jr. as the NL MVP.
Winners this round included Hannah and Luke, with Lily and Tyrone among the trailers.
The biggest standings jump this round came from Darren, Hannah and Luke, while the biggest drop fell on Melissa.
Heading into our final round, it was Chrystal in front, Hannah and Brett Ballantini right behind. Trailing at this point, with almost all hope being lost in terms of a win, were Lily, Tyrone and Tommy.
So, the most fun round comes last, as we make our White Sox-specific picks. Of course, we all overshot the win total, but Tommy and Chrystal (75), Brett (77) and Ryiin (78) all were somewhat suitably dour. The airheaded hopefulness of Brian (91 wins) and Lilly and Allie (90) is duly noted, however.
Big props to Allie, though, for being the only one to score points in the worst White Sox hitter category, and being the only picker to score on both player and pitcher worsts. Cap-tip also to Adrian and Luke for bucking the momentum and accurately choosing Gregory Santos as top Sox rookie over Oscar Colás.
Best this final round were Tommy (making a late and desperate run), Brett and Luke, while trailers included Lily, Nello and Jacki. The biggest standings move in the late going came from Tommy, while Jacki took the biggest tumble.
So, ta-da, it’s Brett taking this year’s crown, sneaking past Chrystal for the win. Somehow, it’s fitting that the two who toiled most on SSS over this past year somehow stumbled into the top spots.
Third place goes to Luke, fourth to Hannah and fifth to Ryiin.
Those who had off-years picking included Lily (22nd place), Tyrone (21st) and Nello (20th).
Year of the Hamster, Luke and Jacki had eight categories correct, matching Ashley Sanders’ total from last year for most correct picks.
As a running total over three seasons, I don’t have all the numbers wrangled out but the guess here is Luke has been our top forecaster, with Chrystal in second.
But don’t let us have all the fun. They might not have been committed to paper or on site, but if you had some good or bad hunches on the season, feel free to share in the comments below!