Are you a glass half full type of person? If you are, then edition one ended with Len Nunes and Joshua Berube finishing as co-winners. If you are a glass half empty person, then edition one of the survivor pool ended with a double elimination and therefore no winner.
What is the MLB Survivor Pool?
RULES:
Pick one (1) team from EACH group to win their respective weekend series. You must get 2 of 3 correct to move on. One you have picked a team, you cannot pick them again until you have picked every other team.
GROUP A:
Boston, Yankees, Angels, Houston, Arizona, Colorado, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh
GROUP B:
Toronto, Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dodgers, Cubs, Mets, Washington, Minnesota
GROUP C:
Tampa, Baltimore, Detroit, Kansas, White Sox, Oakland, Texas, Miami, Cincinnati, San Diego
Think it’s easy? Play along with us and see if you can survive!
Len Nunes
- Rockies over Brewers; I am a Rockies fan. I own a Chad Bettis jersey and he starts the series off on the mound for the Rox. That’s good enough for me.
- Braves over Marlins; This is not the classic “pick against the Marlins” pick. This is the Braves right now are one of the most exciting teams in the league. Ronald Acuna. Ozzie Albies, Freddie Freeman, Mike Soroka, Jose Bautista are all reasons to tune in and watch the Braves squish the fish.
- Orioles over Rays; if you go through “group c” every team is playing someone with a record over .500 except the two duds who are playing against each other.
Joshua Berube
- Yankees over Athletics; While I think it should be a slam dunk, I know it will not, but I cannot help taking the surging Yankees.
- Mariners over Tigers; Fresh off the James Paxton no-hitter, comparing the M’s pitching staff to the Tigers staff makes this an easy pick.
- Rays over Orioles; Maybe it’s too early to write off the Orioles, but after surrendering 15 runs to the Royals, 10 of them in the first inning, where the starting pitcher Dylan Bundy gave up 7 without recording a single out, I can’t in good faith pick them and thus am picking the 4-man rotation Tampa Bay Rays.
Newcomer & fellow Win Column writer Ben Ferguson
- Red Sox over Blue Jays: The Red Sox are flat out the better ball club across basically every statistical category, also, with the Roberto Osuna situation looming over the Blue Jays, there’s no way the Red Sox drop this series to the Jays.
- Cubs over White Sox: If Matt Davidson doesn’t hit constant home-runs the White Sox aren’t going to win. The Cubs are playing good ball and Addison Russell is starting to wake up which only adds to the Cub’s scoring potential which won’t bode well for the White Sox.
- Rays over Orioles: The Rays pitching has been strong as of late, but their offense has been falling short. This shouldn’t be the case against the struggling Orioles. The Orioles just broke their 7-game skid but that shouldn’t matter. Jacob Faria will help the Rays put their best-foot forward for game 1.
Ian Wilson (AlbertaDugoutStories.com)
- Astros over Rangers; The defending World Series champions hope to reclaim their status as World Champs. But they’ll start by claiming Texas first.
- Mariners over Tigers; Tigers miss Justin Verlander. And J.D. Martinez. And a lot of players. Mariners don’t miss those guys as much.
- Rays over Orioles; The Rays aren’t necessarily good but they seem to find ways of being competitive (moderately) no matter who is in the lineup. Also, I just really don’t like the Orioles.
Alexandro Zatarain (TheAOSN.com)
- Cardinals over Padres: Although the Padres were able to bounce after getting no-hit by the Dodgers, there are rumors (none of them confirmed) of manager Andy Green losing the locker room. The Cards have played some solid baseball, staying within the top of the NL Central. Having the dysfunctional Padres coming into town can be a recipe for success.
- Cubs over White Sox: Only way I see the White Sox competing in this one is because of the extra effort to defeat their cross-town rivals. Other than that, the Cubs should get through this series without many issues.
- Rays over Orioles: Not many people would have anticipated the Orioles being this bad. But they are. In fact, many would have thought these two teams would have reversed roles. The Rays have the edge in starting pitching, which isn’t too difficult as the Orioles are ranked last in team ERA.
Austin Chalker
- Cards over Padres; The Cards are fairly quietly leading the NL Central and that shouldn’t change against the Padres this weekend.
- Dodgers over Reds; I can’t believe I’m even nervous about this but I’m going to take the Dodgers over the Reds. As bad as the Dodgers have been, they haven’t been as bad as the Reds.
- Rays over Orioles; I like the Rays pitching and the Orioles are just all out of sorts so far this season.
Tony Ducey
- Angels over Twins; I expected this to be a wild card battle this year. The Angels are living up to the hype. The Twins not so much.
- Braves over the Marlins; The Braves are for real, the Marlins are real as well. Real bad.
- Rays over Orioles; A coin flip here but I went with the slightly better Rays.
pirates.nationn
- Red Sox over Blue Jays; The Sox have had a good start, led by Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts. This team can beat the Blue Jays, as they show no signs of slowing down.
- Dodgers over Reds; The Reds have struggled early this year, and the Dodgers are hitting the ball well. The Reds pitching will not be able to slow down this offense led by Cody Bellinger.
- Rays over Orioles: The Orioles have struggled badly to start the season. A rotation led by Chris Archer and a lineup led by Kevin Kiermaier should cruise though Baltimore.
Pedro Dorantes
- Yankees over A’s: The Athletics might get the opener of the series given a cold night on offense by the Yankees big power hitters. Other than that, New York should win the series.
- Cubs over White Sox: The White Sox should not be much of a problem for the Cubs.
- Rays over Orioles: I just don’t see how the Orioles could win the series with the way things have been going for them so far.
MLB Survivor Pool Edition 2 Week 1
