Our SSS MLB predictions 2024: NL domination

Sixteen staffers take a stab at how the coming baseball season will play out, with L.A. or Atlanta likely to take it all

It will undoubtedly be the final time in my life to type these words, so let’s make it plain that the lead author of this story is the Returning Champion, as we begin another year of South Side Sox predictions.

At publication time roughly 24 hours before the White Sox season got underway, 16 of us at South Side Sox risked mockery and embarrassment to enter our thoughts on the horrors that await us in 2024. (We also recorded a podcast about all of our MLB picks.)

The horrors of the White Sox season are coming soon in a companion story.

Here, we start with division winners, and the White Sox ain’t there:

In the American League, parity rules, as all three divisions have clear but legitimate contenders for the crowns.

In the AL Central, the Twins are the consensus, although there is support for both Cleveland and Detroit as well. We expect a close race, and possibly another year where the division title is earned with around 90 wins.

Out East, the Orioles are the popular favorite, but the Soto Yankees and even the How Do They Do It Rays seeing support. In the AL West, Houston again gets the nod, but with defending champion Texas and spunky Seattle still seeing support.

Thanks to Hamster, the NL Central is the most disputed of all divisions, with four of the five teams being picked for the title, and the Reds getting the plurality. However — and here’s where we can project forward into the playoffs — the least-controversial division-picking came from there, with Atlanta almost unanimous in the NL East, L.A. in the West.

A surprising six teams were named as AL best, with Baltimore still winning out as likely to have the highest winning percentage. On the worst side, it’s looking like a two-team race to the bottom, for Oakland and the White Sox.

As you might imagine, over in the NL, the battle for supremacy is between Atlanta and L.A., with the Dodgers named slightly more often.

Parity in the AL sees five different teams named as pennant-winners, and in the NL with the exception of Ashley’s Arizona pick, the NL comes down to the Dodgers and Atlanta. And in a fairly shocking show of confidence, 13 of 16 predictions have the NL (Dodgers or Atlanta) winning it all in 2024.

This is likely the first year where ZERO White Sox have been named among our award winners (and for good reason, of course).

There is almost always a lot of diversity in these picks, given a field of hundreds of players. It’s worth noting that the consensus picks for awards in the AL, Juan Soto for MVP and Corbin Burnes as Cy Young, were traded and are with new teams (and new leagues!) in 2024.

Two other consensus picks are a little bold, as well. Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday was most-chosen as AL Rookie of the Year in spite of the fact that he’s beginning 2024 in the minors. And Ronald Acuña Jr. was picked as repeat MVP despite coming off of a knee injury that put his Opening Day start in some doubt.