Before Opening Day, 40 staff writers and contributors from across our family of blogs made predictions about which teams would make the 2018 playoffs. I compiled the results, which can be found here. Some predictions were bold; others were fantastical. Many exhibited a perhaps unsurprising deference to our preseason projections. Affecting an air of clairvoyance is a rite of spring; realizing we’re a bunch of goofs is fall business. So before the playoffs begin this evening, let’s spend a moment reckoning with the fact that we’re bad at predicting things.

First, though, we should acknowledge the winners. I will not name the loser here; the world has enough cruelty in it. No one got every playoff team right — nor did anyone’s ballot perfectly mirror the order in which the field was eventually seeded — but David Laurila and Neil Weinberg each correctly predicted eight of the 10 playoff teams. David had the Twins in Oakland’s place, while Neil thought Boston would be traveling to Los Angeles for the American League Wild Card, but the rest of their AL ballots were correct. They also predicted four of the five National League teams. They both thought the Nationals would win the NL East, and they weren’t alone: 39 of 40 ballots agreed, with the final vote going to the Mets. We messed that one up, though not as badly as the Nationals did. Our full results are below.

Jeff Sullivan was the only person to correctly predict all five AL playoff teams. He had New York and Boston swapped for the AL East crown, but rightly thought Oakland would be the second Wild Card Team. Paul Sporer and Ryan Pollack also believed in the A’s, though the remainder of their ballots did less well. The AL results are below.

The National League stymied us much worse. The Braves not only didn’t appear as a division champion on anyone’s ballot, they weren’t included on anyone’s ballot anywhere. Only four of us believed in the Rockies: Laurila, Sporer, Weinberg, and erstwhile contributor Travis Sawchik.

One could interpret these results as a reminder of our limitations as human beings or perhaps as a testament to how our affection for the things and teams we like best can cloud our judgement. But I prefer to read it a bit differently. I’d hate baseball that was entirely predictable. My pride might wish I had seen Oakland coming and could say so, but my heart? My heart delights in the surprise. Happy playoffs, everyone.