The video game itself will be much better. That's practically a certainty as Baseball 2023 begins its long march to November, with guidelines changes created to quicken the speed, motivate offense and return the sport to what it utilized to be.

Will the regional groups be better?

The oddsmakers say no. This Space states yes. Unlucky optimism, or do I pick up something the wise men don't? We'll see.

Five of the seven of us who were polled concur that the Angels will get back into the postseason for the first time given that 2014, as a wild-card group. I'm not all set to anticipate they'll get any farther than that this year, nor am I ready to forecast that simply getting back to the postseason will be enough to keep Shohei Ohtani in an Angels uniform.

And let's face it. Angels fans who whine due to the fact that Arte Moreno isn't offering the group-- and there are a great deal of them-- require something, anything, to sustain that hope. A much better, deeper roster and the opportunity to trick the specialists a minimum of a little bit is a start.

It helps that the Angels have included tested big-leaguers to replace the youngsters and fringy people who needed to step in a year ago when injuries rushed the lineup. Gio Urshela, Hunter Renfroe and Brandon Drury provide superior offending production to last year's replacement gamers, and they can boost a lineup that might be terribly scary if Ohtani, Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon are all healthy and carrying out up to their abilities.

There are likewise indications that General Manager Perry Minasian comprehends the crucial function of not just depth but having several multi-position gamers on a lineup, comparable to the method the Angels' neighbors one county to the north have been constructed. (Of course, this might be a difficulty for Phil Nevin in his first full season as Angels supervisor, persuading players that they will not always be on the lineup card in the very same spot-- or at all-- every day. It's been done.).

Pitching, for a modification, wasn't what sunk the Angels in 2022. The bullpen is possibly good and the rotation should be better than average, bolstered by All-Star Tyler Anderson and anchored by Ohtani, who I'm forecasting will win the American League Cy Young Award in addition to buckling down MVP consideration once again.

Bottom line: When you have two of the very best gamers on the planet on your lineup, something's got to go right at some point, does not it? And as for the idea that things need to go right to keep one of those 2 … … well, if that doesn't spark some additional urgency organizationally, maybe there is no hope.

As for the group 30 miles up the 5? I'm calling my shot now.

In a year when the video game returns to a timeless style, prepare for a classic World Series: Dodgers vs. Yankees. And it states here that 2023 will be a repeat of 1981, which will be ideal balance in a season in which the Dodgers will finally retire Fernando Valenzuela's No. 34.

Yeah, I'm sort of lonesome amongst our prediction panel. San Diego, punching way above its market-size weight in terms of payroll, got 4 of the other six votes as World Series winners, with Atlanta and Toronto getting the staying 2. And it's possible I'm simply being overly counterproductive, but I'm thinking this will be a season in which the Dodgers toss the script that has sustained them for much of the previous years and find another way to the finish line, this time lying in the weeds as a wild-card group.

They've been the hunted for the previous decade, winning the NL West in nine of the past 10 seasons and needing 107 wins by San Francisco to beat them in the other. In that 10-season stretch under the stewardship of Guggenheim Baseball, they've played.612 ball, they've won more than 100 video games 4 times in the previous six seasons (and had actually a. 717 winning percentage in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season), and have led all of baseball in regular-season success three times.

And all they've restored because span was one poor Commissioner's Trophy, in 2020, and the last game of that World Series versus Tampa Bay featured the other supervisor's move that backfired. More frequently their own pitching usage miscues have actually cost them, and while Dave Roberts constantly gets the blame, we can discuss whether the supervisor or a front workplace overly active in method choices should in fact be held responsible.

Maybe it's time for a different method, customized to the expanded playoffs and required by a roster that begins the season with more children and more concerns. And by not extending themselves to acquire huge margins in the routine season, they can be fresher for the postseason-- and by this, I imply not only the gamers however the manager, executives and coaches.

The Padres, as noted, have actually gone all-in. Their 40-man roster payroll of $275.8 million is predicted to be the third-highest in baseball by Cot's Contracts, tracking only the New York clubs (the Mets at $375.3 million and the Yankees at $295.3 million), while some $25.4 million ahead of the No. 5 Dodgers.

So let them invest. We were advised again last year, the very first of the broadened playoffs and wild-card series byes, that being hot in October is what matters. The 89-win Padres got rid of groups that won 101 and 111 video games (Mets and Dodgers), 87-win Philadelphia eliminated teams that won 93 and 101 games (St. Louis and Atlanta), and then the Phillies got to the World Series … … where Houston was waiting for them. End of fairy tale.

The Dodgers' lineup, even with the star power of Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, is not the very same monster that it's been at the start of recent seasons. However Andrew Friedman tends to do his best work at the trade deadline, and I 'd want to bet that the roster will be a lot more powerful after the deadline and at least a couple of the children on the Opening Day 26-man will have substantial impacts.

The threat, as normal, depends on Friedman and his R&D staff overthinking things in the postseason and orderi-- … er, recommending … … unusual pitching strategies, such as using an opener in Game 5 versus the Giants in 2021 with repercussions that impacted Julio Urías and Max Scherzer in the NLCS versus the Braves.

If the front office can be persuaded to remain in its lane-- I know, that's a lot to ask-- I can quickly see the Dodgers getting on a roll in the postseason. And this time, it says here, the Dodgers remove the Padres in the NLCS and win Game 6 of the World Series in Yankee Stadium.

This time, a minimum of, they 'd get a parade.

jalexander@scng.com.