3 surprising predictions that affect the Miami Marlins

The Miami Marlins made some big roster moves before the season and tomorrow I will be making more detailed predictions for the 2023 season, with regular season and playoff predictions that will involve players. I decided to do a little preview by making 3 surprising predictions for the season. Some of these will be really shocking and against the grain, but that's the point. Anything can happen during the season and surprises will happen. Did most people predict the Philadelphia Phillies to win the pennant last season? I'm not saying that all of these will definitely happen, I'm just saying that there's a good chance that they will.

3 quick surprising predictions that affect the Miami Marlins.

1. Shohei Ohtani will be traded to the NL at the trade deadline

Shohei Ohtani is a free agent at the end of the season and he repeatedly said that winning is important to him. The Los Angeles Angels have not even made the playoffs in the 5 years he's been on the team. They don't look like a playoff team now either. He will reject all extension offers and they'll trade him at the deadline...to the NL. Not to their LA rivals for obvious reasons, but to the New York Mets or the Milwaukee Brewers or the St. Louis Cardinals. Maybe the Atlanta Braves.

The Los Angeles Angels are not going to the playoffs. They have one of the worst bullpens in the Majors (just look at what Fangraphs thinks); their lineup is weak and full on injury-prone players and their rotation outside of Ohtani is projected for ERA's around 4.00. This is a team that will have to deal with the Houston Astros, Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners in their own division.

They're not going to be in playoff contention by the trading deadline, and Ohtani will almost certainly not want an extension. He will be the biggest name moved at the trading deadline, to some team with a solid farm ready to push their chips in. The only team I don't see them trading Ohtani to is the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers will be in playoff contention, running away with their division as usual, but there's no way that the Angels trade Ohtani to their biggest rivals. The backlash from the fanbase would be the biggest in team history.

NEXT: The NL East won't be as competitive as we think...