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MLB This Major League Baseball season will feature breakout star seasons, surprise prospect promotions, popular rule changes and much more. Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Ezra Shaw, Meg Oliphant, Sam Hodde, Alika Jenner, Emilee Chinn / Getty Images, Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images The Major League Baseball season begins tonight with the New York Yankees visiting the San Francisco Giants. The remaining 28 teams will play their first game tomorrow or Friday. Before those first pitches are thrown, it’s time for me to predict just how this 2026 season will unfold. Like all preseason predictions, I’ll hit on some and whiff on others. Many of my predictions are chalky, some are bold, some are silly, others are my weak attempt at humor and the rest are somewhere in between. Advertisement But baseball is back, so let’s have some fun. Here are my 26 predictions for the 2026 season and beyond. Let me know what you think and share your own predictions in the comments section. 1. The Athletics extend the contracts of both first baseman Nick Kurtz and catcher Shea Langeliers, as the pair join Jacob Wilson, Tyler Soderstrom, Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker as A’s players locked up long-term ahead of their move to Las Vegas in 2028. 2. The ABS challenge system is a huge success, but in a surprise twist, it does not reduce the number of ejections for Yankees manager Aaron Boone. Instead, he’ll be tossed 10 times, the most in his career for a single season. 3. Garrett Crochet, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman combine to throw the season’s first no-hitter, which falls on Crochet’s fourth start of the year for the Red Sox. 4. The Chicago White Sox select UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky with the first pick in the MLB Draft. 5. Yankees’ top prospect George Lombard Jr. is called up before the All-Star break and becomes the everyday third baseman for New York for the remainder of the season. 6. With a year and a half remaining on his contract, starter Nathan Eovaldi is traded by the Rangers to the Mets at the deadline. 7. The Marlins trade Sandy Alcantara, with a year and half remaining of team control, to the Padres at the deadline. 8. Twins star Byron Buxton waives his no-trade clause and is traded to the Reds at the deadline with two-and-a-half years of control remaining on his contract. 9. Angels GM Perry Minasian is relieved of his duties by the Angels immediately following the Aug. 3 trade deadline, becoming the only in-season GM firing of the season. 10. The AL East final standings will be: 1. Yankees 2. Blue Jays 3. Red Sox 4. Orioles 5. Rays. Only five games will separate the first four teams in the standings, as it becomes the most competitive division race in the wild-card era. Advertisement 11. The NL East final standings will be: 1. Phillies 2. Mets 3. Braves 4. Marlins 5. Nationals, with both the Phillies and Mets advancing to the playoffs. 12. The AL Central final standings will be: 1. Tigers 2. Royals 3. Guardians 4. Twins 5. White Sox. 13. The NL Central final standings will be: 1. Cubs 2. Brewers 3. Reds 4. Pirates 5. Cardinals. 14. The AL West final standings will be: 1. Mariners 2. Astros 3. Rangers 4. Athletics 5. Angels. 15. The NL West final standings will be: 1. Dodgers 2. Padres 3. Giants 4. Diamondbacks 5. Rockies. 16. The Dodgers win the National League pennant, defeating the Cubs four-games-to-two in the best-of-seven NLCS. 17. The Mariners win the American League pennant, defeating the Yankees in the ALCS in seven games. 18. Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals wins AL MVP and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers wins NL MVP. Ohtani’s win will be the fifth MVP of his career. 19. Paul Skenes wins his second straight NL Cy Young Award and Garrett Crochet edges out Tarik Skubal to win the AL Cy Young. 20. Kevin Mc Gonigle of the Tigers wins AL Rookie of the Year. 21. JJ Wetherholt of the Cardinals wins NL Rookie of the Year. 22. Freddy Peralta signs a seven-year, $214 million deal with the Giants in free agency. 23. Jazz Chisholm Jr. signs a 10-year, $300 million deal to remain with the Yankees. This comes on the heels of Chisholm’s second straight 30/30 season. 24. Tarik Skubal signs a record-breaking $429 million contract with the Mets in free agency. 25. The A’s stun the industry by getting aggressive in free agency, landing starters Trevor Rogers and Casey Mize on long-term deals with the first year of their deals backloaded. 26. As expected, MLB owners lock out the players when the existing CBA expires, and they push for a salary floor and cap or some variation thereof that will be for the betterment of all 30 teams and the players. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Jim Bowden , a national writer for The Athletic MLB, was formerly the Sr. VP and general manager for the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals for a combined 16 years, including being named the 1999 MLB Executive of the Year by Baseball America. He is the lead MLB Analyst and Insider for CBS Sports-HQ and a regular talk-show host on Sirius XM for the MLB Network and Fantasy channels. Follow him on twitter: @Jim Bowden GM Follow Jim on Twitter @Jim Bowden GM