SFGiantsGuy

It's Opening Day week officially, with every team slated to kick off games this coming Thursday. Technically, the season has already begun with the Seoul Series in Korea where the Dodgers and Padres split a short 2-game set, but hardly any Americans got to watch it. After a slow burn of an offseason that lasted way too long, most teams have their roster set. Even so, there still are players on the market that shouldn't be: Jordan Montgomery, Tommy Pham, Mike Clevinger, Brandon Belt, and maybe not so shockingly #ForeverGiants Evan Longoria, Johnny Cueto, and Mark Melancon. Given that, barring any surprise trades or the last remaining free agents signing this week, we know what each team's roster likely will be. I had some success in my predictions last season, getting both Rookie of the Year winners correct (Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Carroll), the AL MVP (Shohei), and 5 out of 12 playoff teams (not so great). You can see my 2023 picks  here . With some major moves made by

Ohtani is gone. Yamamoto is gone. Worse, they're both Dodgers for the next decade. If you missed my tongue in cheek Christmas poem about it, you can take a minute to read it here . The thing that sucks most about the two best free agents joining the Dodgers is that they chose the easy path, both joining a juggernaut that didn't necessarily need them. Instead of making baseball interesting, had even one just signed with LA and the other signing with someone else, it would have built up some fun storylines. Yamamoto and Juan Soto on the Yankees? Ohtani on the Dodgers? Potentially great theater in a World Series, much like watching Ohtani the pitcher face Trout in the WBC this past year. Or Ohtani the Dodgers hitter facing Yamamoto the Giants pitcher in one of baseball's best rivalries? It could have been a great addition to the rivalry for the foreseeable future. Instead? Yamamoto and Ohtani will team up to make baseball's best team for the past decade even better. Bah hu