[ot-caption=”The Cubs went 103-58 in 2016. (via Matt Marton/AP Photo)”] [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Alas, the most wonderful time of the year is upon us. October brings with it fall, Halloween, and, most importantly, postseason baseball.[spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

With the American League Wild Card game going down tonight, it is officially prediction time. But first, the regular season saw some teams deliver while others fell flat, and it gave way to some interesting stories along the way. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

An effort to recap glaring storylines of this year, including great successes and miserable failures. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″][spacer height=”5px” id=”3″]

• The Cubs! From start to finish, the Chicago Cubs were the best team in baseball this season. The National League Cy Young award may very well go to Kyle Hendricks (one of his contestants being fellow Cub Jon Lester), Kris Bryant has the MVP award locked up, Anthony Rizzo drove in 108 runs of his own, and, most importantly, Chicago won 103 games along with the NL Central. But, none of that matters to the diehards in the North Side. A chance to end their 107-season championship-less streak is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the Cubs, and all that matters now is winning a World Series. [spacer height=”5px” id=”3″]
• The Diamondbacks. Arizona dominated talk in the 2015 offseason and came into this season backed by some lofty projections. They stole ace Zach Greinke from division rival Los Angeles, sold last year’s first overall selection Dansby Swanson to Atlanta for an inconsistent Shelby Miller, and even unveiled some pretty horrible looking new uniforms. Well, 162-game story short, Greinke has an earned run average over four, Miller’s is over six, and the Diamondbacks ranked 21st in attendance. They also lost key 5 tool outfielder AJ Pollock in spring training to injury. Questionable, bold moves from GM Dave Stewart flopped as the Diamondbacks finished one game short of dead last in the NL West — 22 games back of the Dodgers. [spacer height=”5px” id=”3″]
• What happened to the Giants? It is 2016, and that’s an even year, so we should give the Giants their rings now, right? That sure is how it looked at the All-Star break, as the Giants held baseball’s best record at 57-33. Now they are fighting for their lives in the Wild Card game leaving us to ask what went wrong. Well, the worst record in the second half of the season certainly didn’t help. Their main contributors’ stats simply tailed off in the second half, and there is no stat worse than their .099 batting average at the start of September. [spacer height=”5px” id=”3″]
• The Mets did not get enough credit for their relative success this season. Looking at the Mets’ Opening Day lineup and the one that took the field in late September, you probably thought that these were two different teams. They had three starters in the lineup on September 28 in the thick of the Wild Card race that played in Kansas City to start the season and Bartolo Colon and Noah Syndergaard remain from their flaunted young rotation. Somehow, someway, the Mets managed to stick in the race and pending make it to the Wild Card game. New York still definitely fell short of the high expectations set for themselves after last year’s pennant, but they put together a hell of a run to make it this far. [spacer height=”5px” id=”3″]
• David Ortiz and the Red Sox win the AL East. This one will be quick. David Ortiz had the best retirement season ever, leading the league in SLG and OPS, while finishing top 10 in RBI. Mookie Betts became the third Red Sox to hit 30 home runs in a season before turning 24, and Rick Porcello came out of nowhere to win 22 games. The Sox are hot heading into the playoffs. [spacer height=”5px” id=”3″]
• The next generation of great shortstops is finally here. Corey Seager, Francisco Lindor, and Xander Bogaerts all hit over .290. All three are also no older than 23. To add to the list Carlos Correa slugged 20 home runs of his own, and who can forget the crazy start Trevor Story had, ultimately hitting 27 home runs in just 97 games.[spacer height=”5px” id=”3″]

So, that’s that. Now that October is finally here, it is time to move on to the real stories, and then try to predict the ones that will be written in history this fall. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

The Cubs enter the 2016 Postseason as overwhelming favorites, followed by the Texas Rangers. A major development regarding the Nationals came up last week, when they announced that power-hitting catcher Wilson Ramos would miss the rest of the season. The Nationals will also be without ace Steven Strasburg for at least the National League Division Series (NLDS). Many believe that leaves the Dodgers as Cubs’ main competition. For me, this pick is easy. The Cubs will coast through the NLDS, they may have a little trouble with the Dodgers, but they will make it into the World Series unscratched. Their pitching is simply too strong for a battered Nationals team and Los Angeles is putting a lot on the shoulders of rookie starters Kenta Maeda and Julio Urias. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Over in the AL, the Red Sox should emerge victorious. This Sox team only has one way to beat you and they do it with their bats. The formula to beat the Sox this year is simple, and all it takes is a dominant pitching staff. However, neither the Indians nor the Rangers have the depth in starting pitching to be able to defeat Boston in a long series, and the Red Sox will win the AL for that reason. Texas has a real shot though, and an ALCS between Boston and the former would be very even. If David Price assumes form as an ace, something he has really yet to do this year, it will only make the Red Sox scarier. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Nailed it last year, but this year will certainly be tougher. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Picks: [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Blue Jays beat Orioles in AL Wild Card [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Giants beat Mets in NL Wild Card [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

ALDS: Red Sox defeat Cleveland in five games. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

ALDS: Rangers defeat Toronto in four games. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

NLDS: Cubs sweep Giants. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

NLDS: Dodgers defeat Nationals in five games. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

ALCS: Red Sox defeat Texas in seven games. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

NLCS: Cubs defeat Los Angeles in five games. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

World Series: Cubs defeat Red Sox in six games. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

The Cubs will win the 2016 World Series and break their storied curse for a few reasons. First, they have the aforementioned dominant pitching staff to break down the Red Sox. Many think of this Cubs team and see the big bats in Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, but the real engine of this team is the pitching rotation. To enter the postseason with a four man rotation featuring the talents of Lester, Lackey, Hendricks, and Arrieta is a feat alone accomplished by GM Theo Epstein. They will be firing on all cylinders in the playoffs and the bats will not let them down. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Next is their bullpen. Chicago finally figured out their bullpen issues in the middle of this season with the acquisitions of Aroldis Chapman and Joe Smith. Silencing the Red Sox bats will be very hard, but the Cubs are ready. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

This is a Cubs team that is young, but looking for revenge from their ugly exit last year. They know the fans are hungry. They know that this is the year. A team does not lose under sixty games every so often. 2016 will be the year that the Chicago Cubs bring home a championship. [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Sources: MLB.com, Cubs.com, Rangers.com, baseball-reference.com, azcentral.com, espn.com, yahoo.com.