We have all heard about the Sports Illustrated cover jinx. Tom Verducci talks with Maggie Gray at SI Now about expectations and jinxes when SI picks a team. When you are expected to win, many teams succumb to the pressure.
https://soundcloud.com/the-gray-area-si/the-si-cover-jinx-with-tom-verducci
The Mets were on the Sports Illustated cover for homes and news stands in Washington, DC and the following states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware.
The rumor was that many people in the DMV burned this SI:
Sports Illustrated has picked the New York Mets to win the NL East and the Washington Nationals for 2nd place. USA Today picks the Nats to win the NL East and the NY Mets for 2nd place:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/02/15/mlb-2016-win-totals/80389576/
Fangraphs has been updating their projections and now have the Mets at 89 wins and the Nats at 88 wins. As we have discussed previously, the Fangraphs projections give no value to managers, just the players.Here are the individual WAR ratings: http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=24
This is why they play the games, and we will soon start the season in a little more than a week.
