My Top 8 Professional Baseball Predictions for 2024

If you watch sports on TV, your phone, your computer these days, you will most likely have seen the following. Former professional athletes joined at a desk or round table by one or two sports journalists, plus a few on TVs to the left and right of the screen at any given time. Their purpose – to predict the future and analyze the past and scrutinize the present and above all, entertain the sports fan on their sport of expertise. Could be football, could be basketball, could be a specific conference like the ACC or SEC, could be baseball. Whatever the sport, you can rest assured that there are throngs of “experts” just chomping at the bit to tell you how smart they are and how well they can predict the future- weeks, even months from the show’s airing.

Take for example, the professional baseball league prognosticators who sit around and tell you and I (the sports fan) that the Dodgers will win the World Series, Bryce Harper will be the MVP of the National League, Mike Trout will hit a home run on the first pitch he sees from Shohei Ohtani in the highly anticipated “rematch” of the WBC final at bat. Stuff like this can drive you bonkers if you really believe that these things will actually happen. Probability has punched a hole the size of Alaska into the fabric of sports like baseball, and quite frankly, people are obsessed with sports experts predicting the future of the game. Many, many smart people including sports journalists have said “that’s why they don’t play the game on paper, they play it on a REAL field.”

I say, if you want to predict the future and be entertaining about it, don’t just lay up and say “Dodgers win the World Series” or “Ohtani” this or “Trout” that. Make bold, even ridiculous predictions that are from the baseball depths of your heart and soul. Make a statement with your predictions that you really want this to happen or worse, you fear this will happen based on the more recent past. Make predictions that make your friends change their numbers and email addresses and block you on social media because they are so haunting and dastardly and if they become reality, your friend’s team or favorite player would not be in the best of moods. And you will be calling, texting, and messaging them hourly saying “I told you so,” and that can be really, really annoying. You want to be entertained, here goes. Here are my 8 bold and dastardly and most likely not going to happen predictions for professional baseball for 2024:

A significant figure in the steroid era will gain a sizeable endorsement from a well known Cooperstown Hall of Fame member. That endorsement will be enough to propel this former professional baseball player into Cooperstown as the first steroid era blacklisted player to be elected into the Hall of Fame. Most likely, via the Veterans Committee at this point. And this will pave the way for others to follow. My prediction – Roger Clemens.
Professional baseball will parlay its commercial success with special events like the Little League World Series matchup and the Field of Dreams game and begin to map out a yearly off-site game to be played at a renovated Negro Leagues Field site. The team members and marketing team of professional sports will work with the Negro Leagues Museum group to identify a number of significant fields, renovate one of them to the look and wonder of its former self, and draw attention to the massive place in baseball history of the Negro Leagues.
Pitchers, completely fed up with the home run trot antics of the modern game, will begin to retaliate and “nail” the next batter up in record numbers. Fights will break out, players will be suspended, fans will cheer, bullpen pitchers and catchers will sprint out from the respective corners of the outfield. Pitchers rarely show up a hitter after they strike them out. They are tired of the 10 minute trot around the bases, the runner kissing the air, kissing his gold chain, etc. They will “nail” the next hitter and then the fun will ensue.
A .400 average for the season has not been achieved since Teddy Ballgame (Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox) did it in 1941. Sure, players have come close. Even last season, Luis Arraez of the Miami Marlins flirted with it for a number of months. Tony Gwynn, George Brett, Rod Carew, even Williams himself came close years after his 1941 campaign. So, my prediction is that someone will in fact hit .400 for the season in 2024. It won’t be someone who just barely got enough at bats to squeak into the category late in the year. Nope, this professional hitter will be an everyday player, maybe even lead the league in runs or at-bats while he is at it. My prediction – Mookie Betts. In fact, I would absolutely love to be right on this one.
Sports betting is now as much a part of baseball as pine tar, the squeeze bunt, and spring training. Betting on baseball from your phone or computer at the game or at your place of work – not uncommon. This prediction hurts to write but I feel it must be predicted. A major professional baseball player, distraught over money problems, will bet on a game he is playing in and ultimately get caught. This player will name others who do the same in a desperate attempt to reduce his criminal sentence and a major investigation will peel back the onion even further. I honestly hope this one does not come true, but in the spirit of this blog, it is one of my predictions for 2024.
With the rising costs of attending professional baseball at the highest levels, minor league baseball and independent league baseball attendance will reach new heights of success. Driving less than one hour, parking for free or like $10 at a local fire station, ticket prices for a family under $30 for a family of 4, reasonable food prices, general admission seating so you can move around the park, goofy and energetic mascots that you can get your picture taken with, accessible professional baseball players who want to sign your baseball, should I keep going? Minor league, summer collegiate league, amateur league, independent league games – sign me up. Professional baseball at the highest levels – eh, I’ll watch you on TV since I already pay for cable. Professional teams at the highest levels will start to see a trend of fewer fans attending games in 2024, and hopefully do something about it. My prediction – they won’t care and will likely do nothing.
There will be another Rhode Island Pitcher vs Hitter matchup in professional baseball. Last year, NYY Michael King (Bishop Hendricken HS, Warwick) faced Jeremy Peña (Classical HS, Providence) of the Houston Astros in an all Rhode Island baseball duel. I watched it on the train home from NY and was loving every pitch of it. King has been traded to the San Diego Padres and will be either a starter or reliever in 2024. The St. Louis Cardinals have a catcher from Rhode Island in their farm system – Nick Raposo. Raposo (Johnston HS, Johnston) is at the International League level and could get called up this year. If that is the case, and King is pitching for the Padres and Raposo gets the start behind the dish for the Cards, we will have a 2nd RI vs RI professional baseball matchup. I will make a prediction that, yes, this will happen in 2024.
The Boston Red Sox will win the World Series. I am a Red Sox fan, have been all my life. If you are a fan of your team, your heart tells you that they will win a championship every single year. Last year is over. So, will all my heart, my prediction for 2024 is the Boston Red Sox will defeat the New York Mets in a thrilling 7 games series that will have Red Sox fans cheering from Bangor to Baja.

Wow, that was fun. Predicting the future of baseball in 2024, hoping some come true, praying others do not. I’ll root for my Red Sox and hope for the best. I’ll root for Mookie Betts and Michael King and Nick Raposo and minor league baseball. No comment on Clemens and the steroid era gang. And sports betting, sure it has brought new fans to the game of baseball. But, at what cost? That is yet to be determined. If you close your eyes and wish really hard, maybe your predictions will come true!!!