MLB 2026 Official Thread

[TraceOneInfinite]

Here it is.  2026 MLB Season DUBCC Official Thread.

I hope it is as successful as last season's thread.  Can count on Higheyecue for regular posts and then Sccit and Dogg and some others hopefully sprinkled in.  Let's get it on.  I'll just start my making some predictions for my team, for Dogg and Sccit's team, and for Higheyecues team--since they are the main posters.

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Kansas City Royals - 2026 Record -  75 Wins

I got us falling off the map in 2026.  I hate to do that because I do love the Royals.  But I just think the Royals were incredibly lucky last season to finish with a winning record.  I will break down why I think the Royals will have a losing record by a player for player analysis

Pitching:

Seth Lugo - He totally hit the wall and fell off right after he signed his big contract mid-season.  The Royals and Analysts are just acting like as if that didn't happen.  But essentially, they are taking their best pitcher and now he is your worst pitcher.  That's a serious blow.

Cole Ragans -  Will get injured

Noah Cameron - Last years success was a fluke

Michael Wacha - Age has to catch up to him eventually, no way he can continue to be a stud and pitch every 5th day and not start showing wear and tear getting into his late 30's. 

Ryan Burgurt - What a find this guy was.  We picked him up mid-year last year for basically nothing.  He's the only guy I can't say anything bad about (though I do think he will get injured and not make the whole season)

Kris Bubic - Will get injured again

HITTERS:

Jac Cag-  The guy was horrible last year.  He hit like .150 and yet the Royals and Analysts are just pretending like that didn't happen.  Like he will be fine this year and automatically better even though he has never performed in the Pros.  The guy sucks and will tank the team.

Salvador Perez-  Too old, this year he will finally crash out

Vinny Paz - he will get injured

Bobby Baseball -  He will do good but not great.  Not MVP level, but maybe another solid season.

Michael Garcia - Another solid season I suppose

......

Mets -  Mets will narrowly miss the playoffs again because they will not have enough starting pitching.  Especially after suffering an injury or two at starter at some point in the season.

Dodgers -  Win World Series again and Sccit and Dogg still won't give me props for calling it

[TraceOneInfinite]

Mets sign x-Royal MJ Melendez to 1.5 Mill deal.

This guy was under the Mendoza line couldn’t even hit .200 and the Royals gave him chance after chance year after year.  The only good thing about him was he was a catcher but they never gave him a chance at catcher saying his catching skills weren’t MLB level—which put more pressure on him to hit and he never did.

However, we have a terrible hitting coach in KC.  If the Mets have a good hitting coach and know how to develop talent—then MJ does have raw talent and raw power and raw speed.  He could end up making the Royals regret the decision to cut him same way other guys like Ryan O’Hearn have became stars for other teams but couldn’t hit .200 with the Royals

Royals are good on the pitching side development but terrible on the hitting side.

[HighEyeCue]

If Ragans ever stays healthy he's a Cy Young candidate...I saw him pitch against us about 3 years ago and he was that impressive

I don't understand the MJ Melendez deal from the Mets standpoint but he's probably just a depth piece

I'm gonna go against the grain and say the Mets will win the division and make the playoffs...We made some nice moves towards the end of the hot stove and I see the Phillies declining

The Royals can stay in the race if everything goes well that is the pitchers stay healthy and they start to hit better as a team

Its hard to 3peat in baseball I think the Yankees were the last team to do it from 98-00 but I cant see anyone beating the Dodgers they are too stacked

[TraceOneInfinite]

If Ragans ever stays healthy he's a Cy Young candidate...I saw him pitch against us about 3 years ago and he was that impressive

I don't understand the MJ Melendez deal from the Mets standpoint but he's probably just a depth piece

I'm gonna go against the grain and say the Mets will win the division and make the playoffs...We made some nice moves towards the end of the hot stove and I see the Phillies declining

The Royals can stay in the race if everything goes well that is the pitchers stay healthy and they start to hit better as a team

Its hard to 3peat in baseball I think the Yankees were the last team to do it from 98-00 but I cant see anyone beating the Dodgers they are too stacked

They got to "fix" Melendez first, before he can even be a depth piece.  Unless they are just thinking that he's a defensive specialist or a pinch-hitter than can possibly run into one.  But still, someone in the Mets organization is probably working with him right now and they will continue to try to develop him in spring training to get ready for the season.

It will be a litmus test for the Mets hitting coach and their player development side.  Big city markets can just buy players so I don't know how much they focus on developing young guys like the small markets do.  But here you have a talented young player, and if they can bring anything out of him to make him a starter or even a reliable back-up then that means the Mets have good hitting coaching/player development

Did the Mets pick up any more starting pitching?

[HighEyeCue]

They got to "fix" Melendez first, before he can even be a depth piece.  Unless they are just thinking that he's a defensive specialist or a pinch-hitter than can possibly run into one.  But still, someone in the Mets organization is probably working with him right now and they will continue to try to develop him in spring training to get ready for the season.

It will be a litmus test for the Mets hitting coach and their player development side.  Big city markets can just buy players so I don't know how much they focus on developing young guys like the small markets do.  But here you have a talented young player, and if they can bring anything out of him to make him a starter or even a reliable back-up then that means the Mets have good hitting coaching/player development

Did the Mets pick up any more starting pitching?

we have a new hitting coach this year Snitker who was with Houston...he has a pretty good resume so far so maybe he can work some magic with MJ

our starting staff

Freddy Peralta
Nolan Mclean
Clay Holmes
Sean Manea
David Peterson

we have depth pieces like Jonah Tong and Christan Scott coming back from TJ who will both start the year in AAA

a middle of the pack rotation but hopefully our lineup is more productive than it was last year which I am counting on

I don't think it will take even 90 wins to win the division so I think we got a shot

[Sccit]

Dodgers with the threepeat

[TraceOneInfinite]

we have a new hitting coach this year Snitker who was with Houston...he has a pretty good resume so far so maybe he can work some magic with MJ

our starting staff

Freddy Peralta
Nolan Mclean
Clay Holmes
Sean Manea
David Peterson

we have depth pieces like Jonah Tong and Christan Scott coming back from TJ who will both start the year in AAA

a middle of the pack rotation but hopefully our lineup is more productive than it was last year which I am counting on

I don't think it will take even 90 wins to win the division so I think we got a shot

But you said Mets picked up pieces — I still see them as only having 2-3 starters that are clearly above replacement.

In comparison—all 5 Royals starters are way above replacement level.

I know Mets are a hitting team and the Royals are a pitching team but as an outsider I still think you need 2 more starters to be a clear playoff team.

I’m a big time outsider so I would take your prediction before I would take my own

[HighEyeCue]

But you said Mets picked up pieces — I still see them as only having 2-3 starters that are clearly above replacement.

In comparison—all 5 Royals starters are way above replacement level.

I know Mets are a hitting team and the Royals are a pitching team but as an outsider I still think you need 2 more starters to be a clear playoff team.

I’m a big time outsider so I would take your prediction before I would take my own

the rotation might actually be better than I thought...I completely forgot Kodai Senga

he was great last year throughout most of the first half with an ERA about 1.50 until he got hurt towards the All Star Break and was never the same the rest of the season

Peralta
Mclean
Sengs
Manea
Holmes
Peterson
Tong
Scott

Senga usually pitches with an extra days rest like he did in Japan so one of the last 3 starters will be the 6th man and the other 2 will be ready in AAA incase someone gets hurt which they usually do

[TraceOneInfinite]

the rotation might actually be better than I thought...I completely forgot Kodai Senga

he was great last year throughout most of the first half with an ERA about 1.50 until he got hurt towards the All Star Break and was never the same the rest of the season

Peralta
Mclean
Sengs
Manea
Holmes
Peterson
Tong
Scott

Senga usually pitches with an extra days rest like he did in Japan so one of the last 3 starters will be the 6th man and the other 2 will be ready in AAA incase someone gets hurt which they usually do

To me that sounds a bit like they are just throwing a lot of arms at the problem and hope that it solves it.  That strategy can work.  It happens all the time that you have two extra spots and you throw 5 guys at those two spots and maybe two will flame out but two others will outperform expectations.

I'll have to look up more about those other guys you listed.

Break down the Mets hitting side.  Are they solid at every spot in the order?  Or do they have any holes in the lineup?  Are those holes defensive guys?

[HighEyeCue]

To me that sounds a bit like they are just throwing a lot of arms at the problem and hope that it solves it.  That strategy can work.  It happens all the time that you have two extra spots and you throw 5 guys at those two spots and maybe two will flame out but two others will outperform expectations.

I'll have to look up more about those other guys you listed.

Break down the Mets hitting side.  Are they solid at every spot in the order?  Or do they have any holes in the lineup?  Are those holes defensive guys?

our front office tightened up the defense particularly up the middle this offseason...with Lindor at short and Marcus Semien at 2nd base and we added an elite defensive CF in Luis Robert

now the lineup is probably going to look like this

Francisco Lindor SS
Juan Soto moves from right to left field this season
Bo Bichette 3B
Brett Baty moves from 3rd to DH
Francisco Alvarez C
Jorge Polanco replaces Pete Alonso at 1st base which is a downgrade

now this top 6 I don't have a problem with its solid
but after that you have some issues

Semien is an upgrade over Jeff Mcneil defensively at 2nd base but offensively he is on the downside of his career and is probably worst than Mcneil at this point
Luis Robert our new CF is also on the decline offensively... he had a great year with 38hr like 3 years ago but since then has pretty much forgot how to hit plus he's been injury prone
the last outfield spot is going to come down to a competition between good field no hit Tyrone Taylor and rookie prospect Carson Benge...so that is an unkonwn

I am cautiously optimistic regarding the division but I'm worried about the Braves who have improved their team...I know one thing there will probably be only 1 team making the playoffs from the NL East because I see the ceiling at 89-90 wins for the division winner






 

[TraceOneInfinite]

our front office tightened up the defense particularly up the middle this offseason...with Lindor at short and Marcus Semien at 2nd base and we added an elite defensive CF in Luis Robert

now the lineup is probably going to look like this

Francisco Lindor SS
Juan Soto moves from right to left field this season
Bo Bichette 3B
Brett Baty moves from 3rd to DH
Francisco Alvarez C
Jorge Polanco replaces Pete Alonso at 1st base which is a downgrade

now this top 6 I don't have a problem with its solid
but after that you have some issues

Semien is an upgrade over Jeff Mcneil defensively at 2nd base but offensively he is on the downside of his career and is probably worst than Mcneil at this point
Luis Robert our new CF is also on the decline offensively... he had a great year with 38hr like 3 years ago but since then has pretty much forgot how to hit plus he's been injury prone
the last outfield spot is going to come down to a competition between good field no hit Tyrone Taylor and rookie prospect Carson Benge...so that is an unkonwn

I am cautiously optimistic regarding the division but I'm worried about the Braves who have improved their team...I know one thing there will probably be only 1 team making the playoffs from the NL East because I see the ceiling at 89-90 wins for the division winner

Then it sounds like the only possible holes in your lineup offensively are actually plus defenders up the middle.  So that could actually balance out.  So the only weak spot would be the third outfielder and maybe the Mets will figure something out between now and the trade deadline midseason.