I avoided doing this ever since I began the MillersTime Baseball Contests for fear of showing my ignorance. But several of you have said I should stop hiding and show my baseball knowledge, or lack thereof.

Don’t take any of these predictions too seriously, and certainly, don’t be foolish enough to repeat them in your own 2016 predictions.

Speaking of which, we’re only about two weeks away from Opening Day and the deadline for your own submissions. Get to it.

Of course, I am not eligible for any of the prizes, but in the unlikely event that any of my own predictions would have won, I will send a MillersTime Winner T-Shirt to the next two contestants who send in their predictions following the posting of my predictions (March 15, 6 PM).

Contest #1: Predictions about a favorite team:

A. The 2016 Red Sox win-lose record – 88-74.

B. They will make the playoffs and lose in the ALDS.

C. The positive factors for their season will be outfield defense and bullpen efficiency. Starting pitching, although better than 2015, won’t get them to 90 wins.

Contest #2: Prediction about something in the 2016 MLB season:

No MLB player will play in all 162 games.

Contest #3:

A. The top 10 MLB players’ Batting Average will be .319, lower than the .322 in 2105.

B. The top 10 MLB players’ OPS Average will be .924, lower than .931 in 2015.

C. The top 10 MLB pitchers’ Earned Run Average will be 2.33, lower than 2.38 in 2015.

D. The top ten MLB pitchers will win a total of 188 games, higher than 183 games in 2015.

Contest #4.

A. Two teams with a combined won/loss record closest to .500 – Philles & Cubbies.

B. Team with the most won/loss improvement – White Sox,

C. Pitcher with most relief wins – Mark Melancon will edge out Craig Kimbrel and Trevor Rosenthal.

Contest #5. Who will get the most AL & NL All Star Votes:

AL – David Ortiz and NL – Giancarlo Stanton who will edge out Bryce Harper.

Contest #6. What 10 teams make it into the playoffs, which two to the WS and who wins it all?

AL – Kansas City, Houston, Chicago, Boston, Toronto

NL – Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis, NYM, Arizona

Cubbies beat Royals

Extra Credit: Make up a question for the 2016 season and answer it:

Last year the total number of stolen bases in the MLB was 2,505. Will that number increase, stay the same, or decrease?  What will that number be?

Decrease – 2,412.

Respectfully submitted on The Ides of March, 2016 at 6:00 PM.

To see all contest details, go to 2016 MillersTime Baseball Contests