2026 Bold Predictions

Prediction	§  Result
Dallas gets relegated	§  Incorrect
Keith Bush will not be an ace this season. In fact, he may not even be the best pitcher on his own team anymore. His control will steadily decline and he’ll end up with 4.5+ BB/9	§  Incorrect
§  Sacramento beats Dallas in a one game playoff to decide the premier league champion	§  Incorrect
§  Jose ‘Buzzy’ Rodriguez is the first unanimous MVP in league history.	§  Incorrect
§  The Detroit Motors score again, as free agent signee Angelo ‘Grit’ Underhill wins the Premiere League batting title.	§  Correct
§  Carlos ‘Scotty’ Juarez of the Miami Warriors becomes the biggest bargain of the CBA offseason, while winning the triple crown, along with winning ROY, and being an all-star at 3B for less than $2 million per year	§  Incorrect (no triple crown)
§  Not sure how bold this is but Great Lakes will be the first team to be relegated in back to back season	§  Correct
§  The Chilis get auto relegated	§  Incorrect
§  Bay Area will auto promote from the BL	§  Correct
§  Aaron Scheider will win MVP and ROTY	§  Incorrect

Before we get into this year’s predictions let’s quick review on how we did last year.

 

 

I feel like 3/10 is actually pretty good. 30% is a high percentage for predictions that seemed as bold as those did at the beginning of the season. A .300 batting average is pretty good after all. I think that it will actually be pretty hard to repeat that performance this year with the bold predictions submitted this year. However, that’s what I thought last year so clearly I have no idea what I am talking about. That is why I leave the predictions to the GMs of the CBA, who are way smarter than I am. In addition, my feedback from last year’s article said that it was a little long, so I will try to keep this one a little bit briefer. So without further ado, here are your bold predictions for the 2026 CBA season.

Seth “Platinum” Paddock will beat out the likes of Golden, Guzman, Limbach, House, and Bush to win the 2026 PL Pitcher of the Year Award, making him the first pitcher in CBA history to win Pitcher of the Year in all 3 leagues.

To put it simply: Paddock is a stud. I think the best way to show how good he has been is to analyze the trade that Miami made to acquire him. Miami gave up the stud pitcher Matt Peterson (DET), relieving stud Dave Conklin (LA), and the pick that turned into two time silver slugger winner Abe ‘Lincoln’ Caputo (LA) in order to acquire Paddock and I’m sure many of the GMs in the CBA would argue that Miami is the clear winner of that trade.

With that being said Paddock is going up against some stiff competition in his quest to win PL Pitcher of the Year. Golden was the first pick in the draft where Paddock was taken second and he has lived up to the hype, despite having a major injury last season. Guzman had a very good rookie year in the CBA, posting a 5.5 WAR in Denver. He then opted out of his contract and became the first player in CBA history to make eight figures per year on two separate contracts. Limbach was traded within the PL from Cincinnati to Portland this offseason. He has been one of the most consistent players in the CBA’s short history, posting WARs above 3.9 every year. House has been another consistently great player during his time with Dallas, and there is no reason to believe that he cannot repeat his past performances this year. A large part of the reason that House’s performances have not been recognized with end-of-season awards is that his teammate and holder of the last two PL Pitcher of the Year Awards, Keith Bush, have blocked him. Not much has to be said about Bush, he is a stud and the award is literally named after him so he will be hard to beat.

Becoming the first player to win a Pitcher of the Year award in all three leagues would be an impressive feat for Paddock, especially with aces like Guzman and Bush in his way. I guess this is what makes the prediction bold.

Keith Bush will post a 5.00+ ERA OR be removed from the rotation entirely by Kyle due to poor performance

Speaking of Keith Bush, this prediction continues the theme from last year of predicting Bush’s and ultimately the entire Dallas organization’s decline. As mentioned above, Bush is the two time reigning holder of his namesake Pitcher of the Year and he has never posted an ERA worse than 3.30 (although that was last year). Scouts from around the league have been screaming from the rooftops that Bush’s skills are declining rapidly. They say that all of his pitches’ effectiveness have worsened along with his movement control and stuff. However, members of Bush’s camp have said that this is bologna and that people should not listen to scouts, they should look at Bush’s results. I personally find myself between these two camps. On one hand, Bush is 36 and turning 37 at the end of the month, so it is very fair to expect a decline in ability. On the other hand, its hard to argue with his results and it is therefore difficult to imagine his ERA increasing by 1.70 in just one season.

Both DC and Miami are in the relegation zone at the end of the season. The Monster that is the PL chews them up and spits them right back out.

If you are a fan of the Silver League, you should be offended by this prediction. It is spitting in the face of the competitiveness of the Silver League and stating that the Premier League is the only one that matters. Miami led the league almost wire to wire, while DC’s offense is certainly a behemoth, a very good rotation and an elite bullpen that made their Silver League opponents fear them. Both of these teams also have young stars and are in the bottom 50^th percentile in team age across the CBA, so these teams also have room to improve further.

With that being said, the Premier League is a completely different animal. Detroit and Dallas are dominant forces at the top, with Florida not too far behind. The other teams in the league are also quite good, but with teams like Chicago rebuilding and Sacramento’s sub-par offense, I expect DC and Miami to be right in the middle of the pack and to continue moving the Premier League standings in years to come.

Midwest cleans up in the SL and is auto-promoted

Speaking of disrespecting the Silver League, this prediction is saying that the team that was only able to win 39 games in the PL last year (a .310 winning percentage) will win the Silver League the next year. However, Midwest sold last season and received stars Matt Laferty and Jaime Malchow back from loan, which should help their team this upcoming season. The projected standings for the Silver League have the Plainsmen finishing in the middle of the pack, 2 games under .500 with a -25 Run Differential. Which puts them on pace to finish similar to where the New York Roar finished last year after being demoted from the Premier League the previous season. However, I think a more accurate comparison in terms of record would be the Great Lakes Monsters, who finished last in the Silver League last season after being auto-relegated from the Premier League the previous season. I hope that for the sake of Plainsmen fans, Midwest will not suffer the same fate.

 

Both Carolina and San Diego finish in the top half of the BL

 

I think this will be the prediction that surprises CBA fans the most. Both Carolina and San Diego are in the bottom three teams for average player age, so they clearly have room to improve. However, Carolina and San Diego have replaced Bay Area as the bottom dwellers of the league and most teams are not expect much from them. But as you all know, Bay Area shocked the world last year and went from worst to first, getting auto-promoted from the BL with an amazing record. When it comes down to it, I think the result of this prediction will come down to whether these two teams decide to try to sell some of their young assets to try to move up the standings this year. I think these teams are building the right way and if they continue on their trajectory, they can a force to reckon with in a few years.

 

 

That does it for this year’s bold predictions. This year had some bold predictions, but I would bet at least one or two of them come to fruition. I would like to thank the GMs that gave their suggestions; this article would not be possible without them. Good luck to all the CBA teams this year.