2026 MLB Preview:

 

Central: The Tigers and Guardians both made the playoffs last season but it will be the Tigers who win this division.  Any time a team has the reigning CY Young award winner in Tarik Skubal who has won it back-back, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize, and they brought back franchise legend Justin Verlander, have a good chance. 

But they also went out and signed Framber Valdez away from the Astros where he was their ace and will be their #2 here in Detroit, plus kept Kyle Finnegan in the bullpen with Will Vest and brought in another future Hall of Famer in Kenley Jansen as well. Their lineup is still stacked with 1B Spencer Torkelson, INF Colt Keith, UTL Javy Baez, 2B Gleyber Torres, DH Kerry Carpenter and LF Riley Greene. Depth wise they still have 3B Jace Jung, SS Trey Sweeney, OFers Parker Meadows, Wenceel Perez, Matt Vierling and UTL Zach McKinstry, not to mention 2 Gold Glove caliber catchers in Dillon Dingler and Jake Rodgers. 

Cleveland got lucky Detroit blew the lead but they got better so it will be tougher for them since they still have holes on their team. Outside of LF Steven Kwan at the top and 3B Jose Ramirez with Kyle Manzardo/David Fry at 1B/DH their lineup isn’t good. Their middle infield is good on defense but cannot hit, two-thirds of their outfield is questionable and their catching duo is Bo Naylor who is supposed to hit and Austin Hedges who is good on defense but this combo hasn’t produced.  

Their starting rotation is what their best at with Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams and Logan Allen at the top. Due to gambling/throwing games scandal they do not have a closer and lost one of their starting pitchers so their bullpen is lost. It doesn’t matter Stephen Vogt won Manager of the Year back-back years it is going to be even harder to make the playoffs. 

The Royals were supposed to be a playoff team competing for the championship due to their rotation and young players but injuries and underperforming led them to barely over 500. That should be the reason they compete since their rotation is still Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Kris Bubic and Noah Cameron. Their bullpen is still Carlos Estevez, Lucas Erceg, and they brought back Matt Strahm. 

Their lineup is still led by C Salvador Perez, SS Bobby Witt Jr and 1B Vinnie Pasquantino, but still have an infield jam log of Maikel Garcia, Jonathan India and Michael Massey for the other two-thirds of the infield/DH. At least they fixed their outfield by adding Lane Thomas, Starling Marte, and Isaac Collins to Jac Caglianone and John Rave. 

The Twins are lucky they are in the same division as the White Sox or they would have been in last place since they had a fire sale at the deadline essentially trading everyone but CF Byron Buxton, INF Royce Lewis and SPs Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan. 

It is looking like that since they fired their manager, got a new one and have already lost Lopez for the season(his second season of being hurt) so look for them to unload Ryan, outfielders Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach, C Ryan Jeffers, SP Bailey Ober and maybe some relievers. They did add 1B Josh Bell,  C Victor Caratini, INFers Gio Urshela, Orlando Arcia and relievers Taylor Rogers, Andrew Chafin and Liam Hendriks. 

The White Sox still lost over 100 games but decided to go back to what made them successful which is pitching and defense. Their rotation is led by Shane Smith (All-Star), Sean Burke with Davis Martin who will have another full healthy season, Anthony Kay who is back stateside, and brought back Erick Fedde who was good last time he was there. Also, they are hopefully getting Drew Thorpe and Ky Bush back from injuries. They also decided to get veteran relievers instead of letting inexperienced guys go out there and blow leads; signing Seranthony Dominguez to close, Sean Newcomb, and trading for Jordan Hicks lets Grant Taylor/Jordan Leasure be put in less pressure situations. 

Their lineup still has too many corner infield/outfield/DH types in Lenyn Sosa, Miguel Vargas, Curtis Mead, Andrew Benintendi and still want to DH one of their two young catchers Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero. Their biggest signing was Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami who will DH or play 1B adding to the log jam. They waited too long to trade CF Luis Robert so now they have a hole in CF as they plan to use infielders Brooks Baldwin or Luisangel Acuna. At least they signed Austin Hays to play RF and their middle infield is strong with Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth.

East: The Blue Jays went from last place to winning the American League Pennant and they only got better. Their rotation is still top tier as they have Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, and Jose Berrios, Max Scherzer, and signed Dylan Cease long term plus Cody Ponce who was overseas/a full season of Trey Yesavage.

Their bullpen surprised many last season but bullpens can be good one year or bad the next as Jeff Hoffman is shaky as closer but signing Tyler Rogers is good depth.  The lineup is stacked with 1B Vlad Guerrero Jr, C Alejandro Kirk, outfielders Dalton Varsho, George Springer, Addison Barger, Davis Schneider, Anthony Santander and traded for Jesus Sanchez. The rest of the infield will be a full season of Andres Gimenez at SS since Bo Bichette left, post-season hero Ernie Clement at 2B, and Japanese import Kazuma Okamoto at 3B.

The Yankees will try again to live up to their payroll with a stacked lineup of outfielders Aaron Judge, bringing back Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham, DH Giancarlo Stanton, infielders Jazz Chizholm Jr, Ryan McMahon, Ben Rice and re-signed Paul Goldschmidt, plus C Austin Wells. 

The rotation will be better this year with Gerrit Cole’s return to make an amazing top three of Max Fried and Carlos Rodon; Former Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, youngsters Will Warren, Clarke Schmidt, Cam Schlittler and Ryan Weathers who they traded for are the options for the last two spots. They did lose Devin Williams in free agency but it didn’t work for him in the Bronx so having David Bednar and Camilo Doval as their closers for a full season will be helpful. 

The Red Sox decided to double down on being a playoff team by upgrading their rotation instead of waiting for all the injured pitchers to come back; they signed Ranger Suarez, traded for Sonny Gray/Johan Oviedo to help out All-Star ace Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello. They extended closer Aroldis Chapman and still have Garrett Whitlock but could improve their bullpen. 

They lost Alex Bregman in free agency but hope youngsters INF Marcelo Mayer and OF Roman Anthony can make up for technically losing two big bats all in one season(Rafael Devers).  Anthony is a part of a stacked outfield of Jarren Duran, Gold Glovers Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu plus Masataka Yoshida. To avoid having a black hole at 1B with Triston Casas always getting hurt they traded for Willson Contreras to help SS Trevor Story in the lineup. They also added Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Caleb Durbin to their infield mix. 

Well the Orioles fell to last place leading to their manager being fired and them retooling this team. They signed 1B Pete Alonso, traded for OF Taylor Ward and gave a massive long-term extension to their prospect C Samuel Basallo; traded for Shane Baz, signed Chris Bassitt, Ryan Helsley and re-signed Zach Eflin. 

Their rotation which was an issue last season so this season it will be better by getting back Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells back from injury with their three offseason moves and still have Dean Kremer and Trevor Rogers. Helsley will replace Felix Bautista who is out for another season but they still have Andrew Kittredge and Yennier Cano. The remaining position players are outfielders Colton Cowser, Tyler O’Neill and Heston Kjerstad, and infielders Ryan Mountcastle, Coby Mayo, Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday and Gunnar Henderson plus C Adley Rutschman who might get traded. 

The Rays may finally bottom out as they also trade off valuable assets and don’t do much to fix their talent at the MLB level. They traded away Brandon Lowe, Josh Lowe, Shane Baz and let Peter Fairbanks, Adrian Houser, Christopher Morel leave in free agency. 

Their pitching will still be their strength with Drew Rasmussen, Shane McClanahan, Ryan Pepiot but signed question marks in Stephen Matz and Nick Martinez, plus the bullpen is a question mark. Outside of 1B Yandy Diaz, 2B Jonathan Aranda and 3B Junior Caminero their lineup still has holes at SS, C and two thirds of the outfield; maybe CF Cedric Mullins who they signed might be a tradable asset at the deadline. 

Broadcast Spring 2026 TV Review:

 

CBS:

Y: Marshalls: 

CIA:

NBC: 

The Rise & Fall of Reggie Dinkins:

ABC: 

RJ Decker:

FOX:

Best Medicine: Martin Best (played by Josh Charles of The Good Wife & Dead Poets Society) is a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child.  He struggles to integrate with the locals as well as well while reconnecting with his aunt, a local lobster woman. He has a pathological blood phobia which developed during an operation on a young girl, back in Boston. Martin can expertly address any medical ailment or mystery in this idiosyncratic town, he's really just desperate to be left alone. Instead, he keeps getting dragged right smack into the middle of their personal chaos, feuds and fantasies. But tenacity is the creed of everyone in their small village, and the people who live there may be exactly what the doctor ordered. 

Verdict: Renewed. Based on the current lineup at Fox right now this show is better than what they have on for one hour shows. A bad medical drama that has a hooky lifetime or hallmark movie plot is the only medical drama that it is going up against on the network. The biggest issue is that this show seems better suited for a half-hour time slot and not an hour because some of the plot can be resolved a lot quicker and not go on-on like they seem to do. It has its moment of humor but is too much of a drama to be a mixture of both. Charles does a great job of playing a straight laced oriented no-nonsense doctor. He also plays the straight man in a show full of kooky people who all do their weird things while he has to witness all of it. Having Abigail Spencer, Annie Potts and Josh Segura as supporting cast is a nice touch since Potts is playing his aunt who tells it like it is to him. We just have to worry about another show with Spencer, her last two shows have been given the ax quickly. Having a theme song is a nice touch since most shows do not; but his assistant is so annoying I am unsure what the point was? You could have had a person who doesn’t speak or even be on camera to save money and time. Lastly when Fox said goodbye to the Resident and 911 with their cancellations it was the hope they might actually put on good one hour dramas in the medical or first responder world. They chose this show based on a British show so it’s not even an original idea and like the other medical drama on this network. 

Memory of a Killer:  Angelo Doyle (played by Patrick Dempsey of Grey’s Anatomy & Maid of Honor) is a contract killer and an upstate Cooperstown photocopier salesman and father. Having built and maintained a brick wall between his two worlds, Angelo has seamlessly juggled and compartmentalized for years. But wow that's all about to change, because an attempt is made on his pregnant daughter's life but also his mind might be failing him as two lives start to crash together. Alzheimer's is a foe he can't outrun, and he knows too well how this ends, as his older brother is already lost to the condition. It is based on the 2003 Belgian film De Zaak Alzheimer and the 1985 novel of the same name. 

Verdict: Canceled. It looked like a cool idea to get Dempsey back to network television and so is the premise of the show but again Fox cannot come up with an original idea. Their other two one-dramas on the air “Doc” and “Best Medicine” no matter your opinion are not original ideas. This seems better as a TV-movie or just a movie, which guess what? It was a movie so it should probably stay that way. It has a good supporting cast like Michael Imperioli(of The Sopranos & Goodfellas) who is Angelo’s boss running this hit man business but is a restaurant owner. His experience in mobster type movies and shows fits him well in this role. Also seeing Gina Torres (of Suits & 911: Lone Star) poking around as FBI is nice since she has been in a few first responder shows is a nice casting choice. There is also too much going on with his pregnant daughter’s life with her husband being a deadbeat and the will they won’t they between the local detective who looked into her mom’s/Angelo’s wife’s death. What is cool is his base of operations, his place of living and cover story of his personal life to his boss and his cover story to his family on what he does. Then you got his boss’ nephew who works for him but is still new at it and then Angelo’s brother who is in medical care for his Alzheimer. You also add his past coming back to haunt him or not which isn’t clear. Maybe if they streamlined it better it would be good but you know ever know what Fox is going to do since they had two bad shows on for multiple seasons but cancelled a few good ones. The hope for Dempsey’s sake is maybe the writing gets better as the season goes so it is less confusing for us. Maybe even Fox gives it another season but how much can you tell if he is starting to rapidly lose it with his Alzheimer's getting worse by the day merging his two lives together? Only reason to tune in all season is to see where everything leads to in the end.

2026 MLB Standings, Playoffs & Awards Predictions:

Central: 

1. Tigers*

2. Guardians

3. Royals

4. Twins

5. White Sox

East:

1. Blue Jays*

2. Yankees*

3. Red Sox*

4. Orioles

5. Rays

West:

1. Mariners*

2. Astros*

3. Rangers

4. A's

5. Angels

Central:

1. Brewers*

2. Cubs*

3. Reds

4. Cardinals

5. Reds

East:

1. Phillies*

2. Mets*

3. Braves

4. Marlins

5. Nationals

West:

1. Dodgers*

2. Padres*

3. Giants

4. Diamondbacks

5. Rockies

Playoffs:

AL:

Wild Card: #6 Astros Vs #3 Tigers: Tigers win

Wild Card: #5 Red Sox Vs #4 Yankees: Red Sox win

ALDS: #5 Red Sox Vs #1 Mariners: Mariners win

ALDS: #3 Tigers Vs #2 Blue Jays: Blue Jays win

ALCS: #2 Blue Jays Vs #1 Mariners: Mariners win

NL:

Wild Card: #6 Mets VS #3 Brewers: Mets win

Wild Card: #5 Padres Vs #4 Cubs: Cubs win

NLDS: #6 Mets Vs #2 Phillies: Phillies win

NLDS: #4 Cubs Vs #1 Dodgers: Dodgers win

NLCS: #2 Phillies #1 Dodgers: Dodgers win

World Series: 

#1 Mariners Vs #1 Dodgers: Mariners in 7

Awards:

AL:

MVP: 1B Vlad Guerrero Jr Blue Jays; OF Aaron Judge Yankees & 3B Jose Ramirez Guardians 

CY Young Award: Tanner Bibee Guardians; Garrett Crochet Red Sox & Max Fried Yankees

Rookie of the Year: 3B Kazuma Okamato Blue Jays; 1B Munetaka Murakami White Sox & INF Travis Bazzana Guardians 

Comeback Player of the Year: DH Yordan Alvarez Astros; 2B Zack Gelof A's & C Adley Rutschman

Reliever of the Year: Aroldis Chapman Red Sox; Carlos Estevez Royals & Andres Munoz Mariners 

Manager of the Year: Craig Albernaz Orioles; AJ Hinch Tigers & Alex Cora Red Sox

Executive of the Year: Jeff Greenberg Tigers; Ross Atkins Blue Jays & Jerry DiPoto Mariners

NL:

MVP: DH Kyle Schwarber Phillies & OF Juan Soto Mets & OF Ronald Acuna Jr Braves

CY Young Award: Blake Snell Dodgers; Chris Sale Braves & Freddy Peralta Mets

Rookie of the Year: OF Justin Crawford Phillies; SP Noah McLean Mets & OF Owen Cassie Marlins

Comeback Player of the Year: SP Brandon Woodruff Brewers; RP Tanner Scott Dodgers & Sandy Alcantara Marlins 

Reliever of the Year: Johan Duran Phillies; Peter Fairbanks Marlins & Edwin Diaz Dodgers

Manager of the Year: Craig Stammen Padres; Torey Lovullo Diamondbacks & Terry Francona Reds

Executive of the Year: Carter Hawkins Cubs; AJ Preller Padres & Brandon Gomes Dodgers

Everyone's Talking-All Time Low Album Review:

All Time Low is back with their 10^th album “Everyone’s Talking” their first in two years. The album was preceded by five singles, "Suckerpunch", "The Weather", "Oh No!", "Butterflies", and "Sugar". It starts with nice acoustic vocals labeled as “Cold Open” where they said it is a one and kind and previews the album. There is another emotionally short acoustic song called “Goodnight, C’est La Vie” about the theme of that’s life.

            The track title “Everyone’s Talking” is about the false claims they are fighting in court over defamation. That people are talking about them but not to their faces and it was getting old. It is a nice way to really start the album with a nice rock song and typical catchy chorus. It is followed by another song that rocks out with a catchy chorus which was previously released in “Suckerpunch". The best thing is that it sounds like their typical sound so take your best shot they say.

            It then switches to more emotional tracks like “Oh No!” another previously released song. It tackles the struggles of self-worth to themselves or others as they are heartbroken or sad about the previous relationship they were in. They question, is everything worth what they have been through and it rocks out as well. It then goes into another song about post-breakup with their ex that they do not want to have small talk like “how is the weather” which is perfectly named “The Weather”. It has that catchy chorus and rocks out. It keeps the theme of his post-break up world in “Falling for Strangers” where strangers keep reminding him of his ex. It also really sounds like an older song of theirs as it nails their style.

The next tracks are all about him still being addicted to his love for his ex, and tries to fill the void with different vices like drugs, booze, flings and nightlife. That doing those things are better than having negative thoughts of heartbreak/suicidal thoughts, like him going to Las Vegas in the track “Viva Las Vagus Nerve”. Another previously released song featuring JoJo called “Sugar” repeats the narrative of drugs filling the void or his love for his ex is addicting like sugar that he cannot get enough of it. “Bubblegum” is very fast paced, with a dark angry tone to it where his love with his ex is like a very addicting drug that he doesn’t care how bad it is (getting chewed up and spit out). It is followed up by “Little Bit” another fast paced, drug related, loud, screaming the verses that aren’t that good but has a great punk rock sound to it with a good chorus. It keeps going with another fasted paced song “Cigarettes & Sabotage” which is also about addiction/drugs but mentions how he wants cigarettes but it is sabotaging his life, where is the help?

            One of the most emotional songs “Tread Water” definitely rocks out even if it has a little country to it with Ruston Kelly featured. It is about how he can stay afloat from all the sadness happening where he feels like he is drowning. It is followed up by “Different Languages” which really goes into the emotional turmoil of his past relationship. He didn’t think it would end this soon because they made them better in different ways as they were building it up. It ends with “Butterflies” another previously released song which he could be realizing “What is the point of holding onto the relationship if it is over?” That it might have been a transactional relationship and there is this hope for him to find closure and that he should move on, not hold on. 

            Alex Gaskarth and ATL keep churning out quality rock albums in the pop-punk world and have grown with the times. They have gone from high school-young adult years to maturing over time with themes of heartbreak and different perspectives as they age. Tackling life struggles like addiction, real heartbreak and mental health issues that affect many out there. Their music keeps being relatable as they and their fan age and the hope is everyone will be talking about them positively now and forever.  

Super Bowl LX Recap:

Seahawks 29-13 over the Patriots: It was a game where both defenses came to play and one of the special teams did the MVP work. Punter Michael Dickson was huge tonight keeping the Patriots in their own end zone and kicker Jason Myers who had 17 of their 29 points. He wasn’t even an option to be voted as the MVP. The Seahawks defense forced eight punts, two interceptions (one was returned for a TD) and a fumble. New England did wake up in the 4^th quarter to score 13 points but it was a little too late. RB Kenneth Walker III had 161 yards total between receiving and rushing to be named MVP. 

Super Bowl LX Predictions:

   Seahawks 32-28 over the Patriots:

2025-2026 NFL Awards Predictions:

MVP:QB Matthew Stafford Rams; QB Drake Maye Patriots & RB Christian McCaffrey 49ers

Offensive Player of the Year: WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba Seahawks; RB Christian McCaffrey & RB Bijan Robinson Falcons 

Offensive Rookie of the Year: QB Jaxson Dart Giants; QB Tyler Shough Saints & RB TreyVeyon Henderson Patriots 

Defensive Player of the Year: LB Nick Bonitto Broncos; DE Myles Garrett Browns & DE Aidan Hutchinson Lions

Defensive Rookie of the Year: LB Abdul Carter Giants; DB Nick Emmanwori Seahawks & DE James Pearce Jr Falcons

Comeback Player of the Year: WR Stefon Diggs Patriots; QB Trevor Lawrence Jaguars & QB Dak Prescott Cowboys 

Coach of the Year: Ben Johnson Bears; Mike Vrabel Patriots & Liam Coen Jaguars 

Assistant Coach of the Year: Brian Flores Vikings; Klint Kubiak Seahawks & Josh McDaniels Patriots 

Executive of the Year: John Schneider Seahawks; Ryan Poles Bears & Eliot Wolf Patriots

Protector of the Year: T Garett Bolles Broncos; G Joe Thuney Bears & T Penei Sewell Lions