OK. I’ve been through a pair of Japan Baseball Weekly Podcast prediction shows, the first of which dropped last week regarding the PL, and the second, on the CL is to come out Monday, but time to do the necessary research in time for the shows is tight, and it’s hard to do as much as one would like.

I’m not a fan of predictions, because there are hundreds of things we can’t possibly know about a season even when it’s in progress, and to try and pick the winners in advance is little more than a fool’s errand. But here I go.

I basically looked for indicators of future success, based on what NPB teams have done in the past, and try and apply that to the teams from 2021 and see how they stack up.