Even though I have little more than an academic interest in tonight’s opener between the Giants and Yankees, I’m excited that the season is finally starting. Incidentally, I’m hoping the Giants win and narrow the gap between them and the Dodgers.

Some seasons I feel the urge to make preseason predictions-even guessing win totals for all 30 teams as much to see how connected all of the teams are. For if you pick one team to win a certain number of games, somebody has to lose those games. Despite what some prognosticators believe and write, games are not played in a vacuum.

I appreciate that some writers are bold enough to publish their predictions although what they have to say has no bearing on my predictions. I’ve never been a fan of award predictions because those opining usually have a vote at the end of the year and will make sure their picks sync up with their votes, regardless of merit/performance.

That being said, I love the talk about expectations. We all have different expectations, scales and measures for how we judge a season and a team’s likelihood of winning. Predicting individual performances is less scientific than most of the intelligentsia would have you believe. It’s really more about hunches, educated or otherwise.

Even the respected publications/outlets speak out of both sides of their mouths. I’ve had an especially hard time reconciling the difference in the outlook for the ’26 Cubs. Within one account the author had the Cubs beating out the Pirates by 5 games and the Brewers by 10, yet the win totals they based this on were not in sync. More than a few experts suggest the Cubs are definitely improved, yet their projected win totals fell short of the 92 wins last year??? As anyone with 4th grade math would say, what gives hombre?

It’s also fun to predict free agent flops-especially if they signed with teams that you don’t like. Along those lines, I don’t think Harrison Bader is the guy that’s going to push the Giants past the Dodgers. He is a media darling partially because of his flowing locks, aerodynamic or not, but hasn’t proven to be a three-tool talent. Regardless of the laundry, I’ve never been one for hype.

A safe prediction- Cubs 120-42.