PORTLAND, Ore. — Brian Vu has been a fan of the NBA for 14 years, but he has never experienced a game like the one he attended last week in Portland.

Not only did his hometown Trail Blazers beat the Memphis Grizzlies, but also for the first time in his life, Vu said he felt involved in the game, every bit a part of the 18,491 in attendance at Moda Center.

Vu, who has low vision, didn’t see one play during the Blazers’ 115-99 win. But he felt every score, every turnover, every shot.

The 32-year-old Vu used a haptic device that allowed him to follow the action in real time through vibrations felt through his fingers. The device was unveiled this season by Seattle-based OneCourt. After three pilot trials last spring, the Trail Blazers in January became the first NBA team to offer the service to fans. Since then, Sacramento and Phoenix also have been offering the devices at games.

Using a laptop-sized device that has the outline of the basketball court, visually impaired users feel vibrations that indicate ball movement. An earpiece gives updates on the score, as well as the result of a play, whether it’s a steal, block, 3-pointer or something else.

OneCourt founder Jerred Mace likens the concept to a tactile animator, creating the illusion of movement through pixels.

“We’ve basically built this display that functions similarly to a visual screen, but instead of pixels that you see, these are pixels that you feel,” Mace said.

So while Vu couldn’t see Blazers guard Scoot Henderson, his favorite player, zip through the defense for a layup, he could feel the play through his fingertips, which were spread out over the device that rested on his legs.

Vu said his fan experience had changed exponentially.

“It’s pretty cool. I feel more independent,” Vu said. “I’m usually bugging my friend during the game, asking him, ‘What’s happening?’ So now, I can interpret the game in my head … and I don’t feel excluded.”

Vu attended the Blazers-Grizzlies game with his friend James Kim, the recipient of many of Vu’s elbow jabs and questions during games over the years. As the Blazers pulled away in the third quarter, Kim and Vu were in sync, oohing and aahing when Shaedon Sharpe dunked or Donovan Clingan rejected shots.

“Usually, he’s like, ‘Who shot that? What just happened?’ It was not that big of a deal for me, but this is definitely an upgrade,” Kim said of Vu. “He can enjoy the game without having to stop and get the details from me, so I think it’s great for him.”

Vu’s experience is exactly what Mace hoped for when he brainstormed the idea as a student at the University of Washington. Mace, 24, grew up in Spokane, Wash., with parents with disabilities. He also wore glasses so thick he was called “goggles” by classmates. He had astigmatism in his left eye — what people could see 80 feet away, he would see at only 20 feet — and although his vision improved through surgeries and by wearing a patch over the right eye, he was left with a lasting empathy and understanding for those with disabilities.

“You bundle those experiences together, and I think that just primed my heart for this work,” Mace said. “I think it’s given me a ton of perspective and appreciation for what it’s like to experience the world differently.”

During his junior year at Washington, he was surfing through social media when he discovered a video of a blind person watching a soccer match. A woman in the stands moved his hands across a board to mimic the game action.

The idea of OneCourt was born.

“The physicality of that experience stood out to me, and as someone who struggled with vision, it was such an appealing intersection for me,” Mace said.

The OneCourt staff, led by founder Jerred Mace (far right), has produced an effective way for visually impaired fans to enjoy athletic events. (Courtesy of OneCourt)

He presented his idea at the University of Washington’s 2022 Science and Technology Showcase. The idea was in its infancy, just a research poster with no physical product, but it won first place and a $2,000 prize.

The contest used tennis as the example, but Mace had broader aspirations. The key, he knew, would be linking the idea with readily available data. Beginning with the 2023-24 season, all NBA arenas were equipped with optical tracking technology, which captures player and ball movement in real time. The NBA says up to 20 tracking devices are stationed in the rafters of each arena.

Mace reached out to the Trail Blazers with the idea and, with their help, was introduced to the NBA. The league has seen value in working with Mace.

“We’ve been thrilled to work with Jerred and the team at OneCourt to use technology to help advance their mission of enabling visually impaired fans enjoy NBA games,” said Jason Bieber, the NBA’s vice president of new business ventures. “We’re especially excited to have OneCourt in the current cohort of NBA Launchpad companies so we can continue to partner and explore even more possibilities in the space.”

Within four months, Mace had access to the NBA data and began running pilot tests at the end of last season.

“The NBA is innovative when it comes to technology like this and when it comes to accessibility for their fans,” said Matthew Gardner, the Blazers’ senior director of customer insights. “They saw the good that it could do, and they were like, ‘Hey, no problem. We’ll unlock it for you.’”

Mace added: “I think (the NBA) is always looking for new applications for their data, and this happens to be a very special one. It’s not analytics on the back end. It’s not sports betting on the front end. It’s something that had the potential to change someone’s life and their entire experience and relationship with sports.”

A Blazers fan claps while a OneCourt device rests on his lap. The device creates a focused, yet intimate game-day scene for the visually impaired. (Courtesy of Portland Trail Blazers)

Vu and Kim can attest: When Vu experienced the Blazers game with the OneCourt device, it was a game changer. From their end zone seats, Vu and Kim were as locked in and vocal as anyone in the arena.

Vu couldn’t clap because it would cause his hands to lose track of the action. But his legs were in constant movement, and he joined in with the crowd chanting “DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE!”

“There was a steal, and you can feel the vibration go to the other side — really fast — and I got super excited,” Vu said. “I knew why the crowd was cheering. Before, I wouldn’t understand what was happening.”

Vu estimated he used to go to Blazers games once a year. It was exciting to hear the crowd and the sounds, but he always felt detached and behind.

“Now it’s a whole different experience,” he said. “I’ve got the best of both worlds.”

Kim could only smile as he watched Vu’s hands moving quickly across the device, his feet nervously tapping.

“He’s really into the game,” Kim said, nodding toward his friend. “He’s, like, zoning in on it.”

Gardner said several other NBA teams have called and asked him for feedback after the Blazers debuted the device on Jan. 11. He tells the teams that nearly every home game has had at least one device checked out, and offering the device is essential to the fan experience.

“Being a fan should be for everybody,” Gardner said. “This unlocks an entirely new world for our fans who are blind and have low vision. We’ve seen it across all the faces of those who have used it so far.”

Mace said his company of eight employees, five of whom work full time, is bracing for the demand as more teams inquire about the services. Portland and Sacramento have five devices that can be reserved ahead of time or checked out on the concourse, while Phoenix has 10 devices. Fans do not need to pay for the device, thanks to Ticketmaster, an NBA sponsor.

Mace says the impact expands beyond the number of people using the device.

“One might think, ‘Oh, this device just impacts five people in a stadium.’ But really, the ripple effects are incredible,” Mace said. “Now, the circle of who is going to the game — friends and family — has expanded because everyone can share the experience.”

Vu said the device was easy to use after listening to a two-minute tutorial, but he wishes the audio could include specific indications, like which player has the ball and which player is shooting. Those could be updates for the future.

For now, Vu said knowing the Blazers offer the device increases his chances of attending more games.

“Oh, 1,000 percent,” Vu said. “Instead of maybe one game a year, I could see myself going to five a year. It’s just a better experience.”

(Top photo courtesy of Portland Trail Blazers)

So much had been heaped on JuJu Watkins from the start — from the moment she set foot on USC’s campus, she was the one who would bring the program back to the mountaintop. This season, she was the player who would carry the star power in women’s college basketball in the wake of Caitlin Clark.

It was a lot of weight on anyone’s shoulders, but she handled it well. She thrived under that responsibility and blossomed in the spotlight.

But last weekend, the biggest star in women’s college basketball was carried away after collapsing to the court with a season-ending ACL tear. Her absence has left USC fans stunned and the women’s college basketball world restless.

Some kind words for JuJu Watkins 🥹 pic.twitter.com/8syMkUOUCu

— espnW (@espnW) March 25, 2025

Salt in the wound? Commercials featuring Watkins will continue playing during the NCAA Tournament. She’s the biggest individual star in women’s college hoops right now, drawing red-carpet-like turnout from celebrities at her games in the Galen Center. That reception would have boomed with a Final Four trip or national championship as an undeniable Hollywood storyline.

While prayers rained on Los Angeles for Watkins’ recovery, questions bubbled up: What now? Who now?

It’s a fair question. And it echoes the refrain women’s basketball was asked repeatedly after last season, when Clark departed for the WNBA. Would her legions of fans and millions of viewers who set records watching her play for Iowa stick around for the 2024-25 college season?

Nobody expected this season’s tournament to match the record-setting viewership of last season, but progress can’t be measured just in year-to-year gains. And while no one expected the numbers to quite reach the fever pitch of Clark Mania a season ago, the trend continues in one direction: upward.

The first two rounds of the tournament featured no Cinderellas, no major upsets, no Clark. They were light on the dramatics that some believe necessary to attract viewers. And yet, the numbers don’t lie — ratings from the first two rounds ranked second best in tournament history, coming in at 43 percent higher than in 2023, which now stands as the third-best year in tournament history viewership.

As generational as Clark was, the game has still shown momentum in her wake. With Watkins absent over the rest of this tournament, as large as that will loom, there’s no reason to think the sport isn’t strong enough to continue.

Because this question isn’t new.

Many forget that before Clark captivated the country, Paige Bueckers was doing the same. A UConn star as a freshman, she won the national Player of the Year in 2021 and became an early darling of the name, image and likeness era. Then, she tore her ACL and missed an entire season, leaving questions about how the sport would endure without its new prodigy who filled arenas.

It was in Bueckers’ absence that Clark and Angel Reese emerged, overflowing that void to bring even more interest to the game and push the sport to higher horizons, culminating in one of tournament history’s most epic showdowns. Last season, South Carolina’s undefeated campaign was led by coach Dawn Staley, who’s among sports’ most influential figures. The Gamecocks were tested by Clark’s dazzling displays, drawing viewership ratings that dwarfed even 2023’s high standards.

When Bueckers was out, Clark and Reese answered. Bueckers had done the same after Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu went to the WNBA. And fans were similarly skeptical about a lack of star power when Maya Moore graduated from UConn.

The women’s game has proved time and again — especially in these last few seasons — that it will produce. Luminaries will emerge and captivate basketball fans.

Perhaps the answer is not as obvious as it was a week ago, when the nation’s best player was leading a resurgent program with a national following and instant recognition on a must-see journey.

Similar to the reactions Clark, Moore and others before them inspired, coaches were simultaneously vexed trying to stop them but appreciative to what they did for the game. Sometimes, it’s easier to see the growth from within.

If there’s a coach who can attest to the value of players such as Watkins and their impact on the sport, it’s UConn’s Geno Auriemma. He has seen more phenoms up close than anyone else, many who became so beloved they could be referenced by their first names (or initials) alone: Sue, Dee, Maya, Stewie.

When the ESPN broadcast wrapped its coverage Monday from UConn’s second-round win after Bueckers scored 34 points, Auriemma sat courtside in Storrs for an interview. He was asked to answer quickly so the broadcast could flip to the USC-Mississippi State game starting on the West Coast.

“Oh, man, get off me right now, let’s get to her. I want to watch her play,” Auriemma said with a smile. “Here comes JuJu. Give me some JuJu! … Over to you, JuJu, take over!”

Geno counting down the broadcast and then tossing it to JuJu telling her to “takeover” >>>> https://t.co/ErmNJNrp5d pic.twitter.com/A2stO3eH2A

— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) March 25, 2025

Coaches respect great players; game respects game. (If only the latter had some mercy for knees.)

So what next? Who now?

That’s what the next two weeks will decide. But if the past tells us anything, it’s that the women’s tournament will deliver. The most elite talent is still in the game. Every No. 1 seed (UCLA, South Carolina, USC and Texas), 2 seed (UConn, NC State, Duke and TCU) and 3 seed (Notre Dame, LSU, North Carolina and Oklahoma) is left standing. The spotlight is trained back on Bueckers, and as previous tournaments have taught us, even casual viewers will become new fans of the game’s best players. Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson and UCLA’s Lauren Betts have been exemplary all season, and new young players are poised to surprise us.

In Spokane and Birmingham, the show goes on. Nets will be cut. New stars will be made and crowned, and more familiar stars will shoulder a heavier load.

A Watkins-less USC is not the same as it once was, nor is a Watkins-less tournament. But the best testament to Watkins’ greatness and star power is that even in her absence, the sport she’s helping to build will continue to grow.

(Photo: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)

It’s an annual tradition: My column explaining why I think your favorite team isn’t going to win as many games as you think they are.

These predictions are for fun, not a demonstration of my deep-seated loathing for your favorite team, and not the product of a sophisticated machine-learning algorithm to produce impeccable forecasts. I make it all up, and then I talk about it. (I do, however, rely on FanGraphs’ projections as a starting point for several things here, especially some individual player projections, and this piece would be far harder without them.)

I’ve done this for at least 15 years now, and the reactions are always the same — people look for what I said about their favorite teams and then yell at me about it. I got one division winner right last year, and for the second year in a row a team I picked to finish in fourth place in their division won the pennant (the Yankees). This should be an annual favorite column for people who like to tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about. You want proof? I’ll give you proof, every year, in 3,000 words or so.

So, here are my projections for the 2025 season, including playoff results and post-season awards. Disagree all you like, as long as you enjoy.

Team records by division

I guess I’m late to the party, predicting the Red Sox to win their division (and, in this case, to have the best record in the league). They did more to upgrade their roster this winter than any other team in the American League, and they’ve made the right call at second base, giving Kristian Campbell the nod. On paper, I think they’re the best team in the AL, likely to lead or come close to leading the league in runs scored and be at or above the median in run prevention.

That said, there’s some significant downside risk in that rotation: Garrett Crochet has had only one full season as a starter, Walker Buehler’s first year back from his second Tommy John surgery was not a success, and the guys who were supposed to be their next three starters are all going to start the year on the injured list.

The Orioles were perfectly situated to make a big move with the Yankees losing Juan Soto, but they made a lot of small moves that don’t seem to add up to the big move, so their rotation remains a real weakness for a team that is trying to get to the World Series — and has the lineup and defense to do so. They don’t have a true No. 1 starter; they have a few guys who could be No. 2s on a good team, but neither Grayson Rodriguez nor Kyle Bradish is going to pitch a full season in 2025, and there’s a decent chance the Orioles don’t get 20 starts from the two combined. I’m over the fascination with Ryan Mountcastle — they have better options, including Coby Mayo, just optioned to the minor leagues the other day.

Tampa Bay losing Shane McClanahan for a month or more could hurt them significantly because they’re likely to be on the playoff bubble, so each marginal win is especially important to their odds of seeing October. They’re still likely to be an above-average run prevention team, but they’re running back almost the same offense that was the worst in the American League last year (well, among non-White Sox teams), only adding a full season of Junior Caminero.

I might have picked the Yankees to win the division before they lost Gerrit Cole for the year; he was a 5 to 7 WAR pitcher in 2021 and 2023, and replacing him with … well, whoever they replace him with is at least that much of a downgrade, maybe more if they have to hand those starts to guys who are below replacement level. Clarke Schmidt is out, Luis Gil is out, and Soto’s gone. I loved the pickup of Max Fried, but there’s only so much slack he can pick up.

The Yankees’ path to the postseason would include a breakout year from Anthony Volpe, a Rookie of the Year-level campaign from Jasson Domínguez, and a full year of the Jazz Chisholm Jr. they got in August and September. (Yes, that’d be a 6-win season. He’s physically capable of it.)

The Blue Jays are just in a bad spot; whether Roki Sasaki would have made them contenders is immaterial, as it would have at least changed fans’ perception of the team and validated the club’s previous attempts to sign some of the best free agents on the market. Now they’re left with a team that might be competitive in either Central division or the AL West, but not this one. Their bullpen, one of the worst in MLB history in 2024, should be better, both from the addition of Jeff Hoffman, the re-acquisition of Yimi García and from regression (up) to the mean.

It irks me to put a team that did nothing to improve itself this winter atop its division, but the Twins are still the best AL Central team on paper. They added three players, all free agents on one-year deals worth a total of $10.25 million, which is what you find in the dictionary if you look up the word “not-trying.” (Fine, two words.) They were a bit unlucky last year, finishing just 82-80 with an above-average offense and average run prevention.

The Royals are at least trying to win. (Rick Scuteri / Imagn Images)

The Royals, on the other hand, did try to get better this offseason, but they were working uphill to some degree as their 2024 season saw them get over 150 starts from five guys, four of whom were better than league average. They re-signed Michael Wacha, brought in some pitching depth, and traded for Jonathan India, who gives them a viable OBP threat to get on base in front of Bobby Witt Jr. The pitching depth — in the forms of Michael Lorenzen and Carlos Estévez — is a modest insurance policy against the inevitable starts some of their four returning starters will miss, but it’s not going to cover them if one of them misses half the season. At least they did something.

The Tigers are in a similar boat as the Orioles — they had all the room in the world to add talent, and did almost nothing, just bringing in Gleyber Torres on a one-year, make-good contract that blocked Jace Jung at the only position he can realistically play right now. (Torres is a good bounce-back candidate, though, just not a great fit here.) Their own improbable playoff run last season isn’t something they can replicate over 162 games, and even if Tarik Skubal has another Cy Young season, they’re going to need two more starters to step forward and more.

Cleveland won the division last year with 92 wins, but it was a huge fluke, between their outlier performance with runners in scoring position (sorry, that’s not a separate skill) and the outlier performance of their bullpen. They also didn’t do anything to get better this winter, trading their starting second baseman for some pitching depth, re-acquiring Nolan Jones, and bringing back Carlos Santana, who may or may not be older than the guy who played “Oye Cómo Va.” Unless they just happen to get exceptional performances out of everyone for a second year in a row, they’ve got regression written all over them. And yet they could still end up winning this weak division.

The White Sox should be better this year just by chance, although fate seems to be conspiring against them with Drew Thorpe now the fifth pitcher in the organization to blow out his elbow just this spring. Just by runs scored and allowed last year, they should have won around 48 games, and this year they should have more players coming than going, with Luis Robert Jr. the one member of the lineup or rotation with significant trade value right now. A 107-loss season would be a 14-game improvement over 2024.

The Mariners have a playoff-caliber rotation and led the league in ERA last year; even with George Kirby missing the start of this season, they’re going to be among the best run-prevention teams again in 2025. They were an 89-win team by runs scored and allowed last year, so there’s enough here to see them potentially winning the division even though they didn’t make any big improvements or additions this winter. Julio Rodríguez seems like a good bet to return to his 2023-24 form, which should be worth another win or two.

Can the Rangers get healthy and return to their World Series-level play? (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

The Rangers were active this offseason, making marginal improvements to a roster that’s not that dissimilar from the one that won the World Series in 2023. Their fate this year may come down to health more than anything — namely, Jacob deGrom, Evan Carter, Jonathan Gray — as well as whether they pull the plug quickly if Adolis García doesn’t show immediate improvement this spring.

The Astros lost two of their best players from 2024, with Alex Bregman leaving in free agency after they traded Kyle Tucker for Cam Smith and Isaac Paredes, a deal that might not make them any worse off this year than they would have been if they’d kept Tucker. The rotation looks thin for the first time in a while, with very little room for error if any of their starters has to miss a significant amount of time (especially now that Luis García is already dealing with elbow soreness), and unless they have a run like the Royals did last year, with their starters almost never missing a turn, they’ll probably fall just short of the playoffs.

The Athletics’ stadium situation may be a joke, a punchline delivered by John Fisher with laughter provided by the league, but the team on the field is actually getting better. The extension they gave Lawrence Butler won’t win them any more games this year, but it does underscore the tremendous scouting and player development job there, as their 2018 sixth-round pick might now be their best player. Nick Kurtz, their 2024 first-rounder, won’t be too long in reaching the majors, and the rotation is credible, if not exactly contender quality.

The Angels added Yusei Kikuchi to their rotation and picked up some stragglers for the lineup, but it’s hard to see those moves making this team competitive, let alone a contender, given the returning roster and the massive unknown that is Mike Trout’s availability. They were third-worst in the AL in run-scoring last year and second-worst in run prevention. They might be a little better in both categories and still lose 90 games.

Atlanta didn’t make any huge moves this winter, but they’ll get Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr., back early this season, and that may be all they needed to do. Sean Murphy’s injury opens the door for their top prospect Drake Baldwin to get some big-league time, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he acquits himself well enough to make demoting him a tough decision. Jurickson Profar probably won’t repeat his huge 2024 season, but he could give half of that value back and still be an upgrade for them in left.

Juan Soto signing with the Mets was the premier offseason acquisition. (Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)

The Mets did make some huge moves this winter, signing the best free agent in the class in Juan Soto, and the expectation now is World Series or bust, or something like that. Getting to the playoffs should be the real expectation, and whatever happens in October is about luck and health more than preparation or fast-food mascots. (We’re all in the pockets of Big Purple, though.) The rotation doesn’t fill me with confidence, with a whole mess of oft-injured starters and one converted reliever somehow expected to prevent enough runs to help them win the division. I could see them winning 98 games, and I could see them winning 84.

The Phillies added a starter, Jesús Luzardo, and an outfielder, Max Kepler, to a club that won 95 games last year, although they didn’t address the flaw that keeps killing them in the offseason, the aging lineup, especially its right-handed bats. That group is a year older, according to my math, and the hitters who didn’t make some needed adjustments last year aren’t that likely to be any different this year. The rotation will be one of the best in baseball, again, and the rest of the team is more than good enough to get them into October, but they’ll need luck and maybe another bat to get back to the World Series.

The Nationals stood pat in a winter where they probably could have kicked the rebuild into second gear, as the first wave of players from their biggest trades and from their era of high draft picks has largely hit the majors already. C.J. Abrams, Mackenzie Gore, James Wood, Dylan Crews, Josiah Gray (when he returns from surgery) … that’s the start of a good team, but just the start. The second wave will be in High A and Low A to start this year, so there isn’t going to be much more help coming from the farm in 2025.

The Marlins are going to be one of the worst teams in baseball, by design largely, as they traded away almost everyone good and anyone left who’s good should probably rent by the hour. I heard the clubbies wrote Sandy Alcantara’s name on his locker in disappearing ink.

The Cubs traded for Kyle Tucker, and maybe that’s enough to put them over the top in a division where nobody else did anything so substantial. They should see some improvements from within, and get a boost from Matt Shaw taking over at third base. Another starting pitcher would have been nice, one better than rotation insurance like Matt Boyd; if those running the team were willing to pony up for Alex Bregman, they should have done so for Corbin Burnes.

Joey Ortiz takes his plus defense over to shortstop, replacing Willy Adames. (Stacy Revere / Getty Images)

I’ll predict the Brewers miss the playoffs, and they’ll probably make the playoffs, again. In my defense, teams that rely on … uh, defense are a little harder to predict, at least in my experience of making errant predictions. I’m thrilled that they’re putting Joey Ortiz, a plus defender at short, at his natural position, to take Willy Adames’ spot; I’m less thrilled that they may be punting on third base. I’m more concerned about the rotation than the lineup, though; they’ve pulled some good starters out of some very small hats in recent years, and while I believe they’re good at getting the most out of certain types of starters, their margin for error keeps shrinking.

I wanted to get the Reds closer to the playoffs, at least, as my gut says they’ve accumulated enough talent to get to 85+ wins if they get some good fortune on the health side, but my rational side couldn’t get there. They were actually a below-average offensive team last year, sitting right at the league median in runs per game even playing half their contests in a great hitter’s park. They’ll be a little better this year with Matt McLain back, and maybe they’ll get something from Christian Encarnacion-Strand, but an outfield of Austin Hays, Jake Fraley and TJ Friedl is going to be one of the least productive of any would-be contender’s.

The Cardinals could probably have pushed for the postseason this year given their returning roster, but this looks like the beginning of a rebuild instead, and I’m guessing we see more veterans traded away over the course of the season. I’m eternally hopeful that Jordan Walker figures it out, and they do have a few other players on the roster who are good candidates for a bounceback or for a step forward, but it’s not enough to add up to a winning record. They’ve overhauled their player development staff and there should be some improvements there, especially with all of the pitchers they have in the upper levels who seem to have stalled, but that’s also not likely to do much for the big-league team.

The Pirates might be without their No. 2 starter, Jared Jones, for a while, and their offense remains one of the weakest in baseball. I’m not a big Spencer Horwitz believer, at least not enough to trade Luis Ortiz and two high-beta left-handed pitching prospects for him. I was hoping they’d give Nick Yorke the second-base job, as I think he’s their best option there, and maybe he’ll be back in the majors early enough in the season to boost the offense a little. They had the third-worst offense in the NL last year and I don’t expect them to escape the bottom five.

The Dodgers … yeah. Did you really come here to see what I had to say about the Dodgers? They won the World Series and signed two pitchers who could be aces. Hi ho. I didn’t like “Mookie Betts, Opening Day Shortstop” even before this week’s news that he’s lost a ton of weight due to an illness. Maybe Alex Freeland gets a shot at some point before the All-Star break? There, I found something to say about them that doesn’t come down to how much money they have.

Corbin Burnes gives a solid Arizona rotation a true ace. (Rob Schumacher / The Republic / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

Arizona signed Corbin Burnes, who should be their best starter this year, and they might see improvements this year from returning rotation members Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson, plus a full season of Merrill Kelly. Losing Christian Walker stings; getting Josh Naylor at least softens the blow. Jordan Lawlar will get 200 at-bats somewhere later in the year, and be productive. In another division, maybe any of the five other divisions, I’d pick the Diamondbacks to win. Or, to put it another way, if things implode in L.A., the Diamondbacks have set themselves up to take advantage.

The Padres’ run of contention isn’t necessarily over, but the window is closing. At least they kept Dylan Cease to try to take one more shot at the playoffs; if they’re out of it at the break, he and Michael King are probably goners, and I’d probably be shopping Luis Arraez and most of the bullpen too. The scenario that gets them into October one more time is an MVP-caliber year from Fernando Tatis Jr., a relatively healthy rotation, and a surprise bounce-back year from one of the older hitters, like Xander Bogaerts. It’s unlikely they get all of that at once.

The Giants spent some money this offseason to make the team better in a division where “better” might still mean fourth place. This looks more like a development year, with Heliot Ramos, Hayden Birdsong, and maybe later in the year Kyle Harrison, Marco Luciano, et al getting reps in the majors to keep growing and making adjustments — or to show the new front office that they’re not part of the future. I don’t want to see Bryce Eldridge anywhere near here until at least the second half. He won’t turn 21 until October and he’s done nothing to show us he’s ready to hit major-league pitching.

Colorado seems like they should have a rookie somewhere on the field or in the rotation, no? They’re just not that young for a team that’s probably going to lose 100 games, with only two lineup members (Ezquiel Tovar and Jordan Beck) and zero rotation members born in this century. I’m hopeful that by Aug. 1, the lineup has at least two more young’uns, maybe Kyle Karros and Adael Amador, and the rotation has Chase Dollander and maybe even Sean Sullivan in it. The first-half version might be hard to watch, though.

Playoff predictions

Wild-card round

Tampa Bay defeats Minnesota

Texas defeats Baltimore

Arizona defeats New York Mets

Philadelphia defeats Chicago Cubs

A Dodgers-Phillies Division Series will be star-studded. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today)

Divisional round

Boston defeats Texas

Seattle defeats Tampa Bay

Los Angeles Dodgers defeat Philadelphia

Atlanta defeats Arizona

Championship series

Boston defeats Seattle

Atlanta defeats Los Angeles

World Series

Atlanta defeats Boston

Individual award winners

AL MVP: Julio Rodríguez, OF, Seattle Mariners

Last year was an aberration — really, the first half was an aberration, and the second half was more what we expect from Rodríguez, .285/.337/.482. I’m predicting he does that and more over a full season. Also, José Ramírez seems like a permanent threat to win this, even though he’s never actually come out on top.

NL MVP: Juan Soto, OF, New York Mets

Too obvious? I thought about Elly De La Cruz, who exploded last year for a five-win season, but for him to top that I think he’d have to really make a big leap in his swing decisions and plate discipline. The guy in Los Angeles probably has a shot, too. No, not him, the other one. No, not him, either. Well, one of those guys.

AL Cy Young: Logan Gilbert, RHP, Seattle Mariners

Gilbert throws a lot of innings, doesn’t walk anyone, misses enough bats, and if he has one year where a couple of homers stay in the park instead, he’s going to win the Cy Young Award. I’ll just say it happens this year.

There will be more hardware for the phenom Paul Skenes. (Julio Aguilar / Getty Images)

NL Cy Young: Paul Skenes, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates

I feel like this should be everybody’s pick. He might have the best stuff of any starter in baseball right now, at least considering the entire arsenal. The only things that might stop him are injury or the Pirates (meaning they limit his innings).

AL Rookie of the Year: Kristian Campbell, 2B/OF, Boston Red Sox

Campbell won the second base job in the waning days of spring training, and he’s likely to get a long runway even if he starts slow, giving him a big leg up on the competition for this honor.

Other candidates include the Yankees’ Jasson Domínguez, Detroit’s Jackson Jobe, and Texas’ Kumar Rocker.

NL Rookie of the Year: Roki Sasaki, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

Sasaki’s a boring, obvious pick, because he’s a big leaguer — he played several years in NPB, and was dominant there, so we have good reason to think he’ll pitch well enough here to be the best rookie in the NL. Plus he has a job, which only a few other rookies have on Opening Day.

Other contenders here include Washington’s Dylan Crews, the Cubs’ Matt Shaw, and Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin — all position players, who historically have had an advantage in this award over pitchers.

(Photo illustration of Julio Rodríguez and Orlando Arcia: Steph Chambers and John Fisher / Getty Images)