Story begins a new chapter

Last season, Colorado Rockies' No. 11 ranked prospect Trevor Story finished the year in Triple-A Albuquerque, with a Major League shortstop still in front of him on the depth chart -- Jose Reyes. Reyes was acquired in the Troy Tulowitzki deal with Toronto, and was set to be a place holder until Story was ready. After a domestic violence incident left Reyes on the restricted list, the 23-year-old Story was given an opportunity to take the starting shortstop role for the first time. Taken with the 45^th overall pick in 2011, Story has always been seen as a solid, future Major League shortstop. Last year between Triple-A Albuquerque and Double-A New Britain, Story hit 20 home runs, with 40 doubles and 22 stolen bases. He had a strong showing this spring, finishing up with a .340 average (18-for-53), with six home runs and 13 RBIs, and was rewarded by manager Walt Weiss with the Opening Day shortstop job.

The story only gets better from there.

In his debut, Story faced 2015 NL Cy Young Award runner-up Zack Greinke, and in his second at-bat, promptly hit a three-run-home run the opposite way for the first hit of his Major League career. He wasn’t done there, and in his third at-bat in the fourth, he followed up with a 439-foot no doubter off of Greinke. Story finished his debut going 2-for-6, with four RBIs and two home runs. He became only the fifth player since 1900 to homer twice in his debut. Offense wasn’t his only tool showcased, as he also showed off the glove by robbing D-backs’ catcher Wellington Castillo of a hit with a diving grab in the seventh. In his second Major League game, Story flashed the power again, hitting a 433-foot shot off of newly acquired right-hander Shelby Miller. Finally, his fourth home run was a two-run blast that came against lefty Patrick Corbin in the third game of the season.

With the home run on Wednesday, Story became the first player in the modern era to have a home run in each of his first three Major League games. As of Thursday, Story is 4-for-14 (all four hits are home runs) with seven RBIs in three games. Now don’t expect him to keep hitting home runs at this pace, but with Coors Field playing a factor in 81 of the Rockies’ games, we might just see a 20 homer season from the rookie.

Prediction time 2016

Although predicting the outcomes of a season is often hard, it is still something that many enjoy doing. This offseason provided the hope of improvement for some, while others stood idle. It should be a very interesting 2016 season, with many new teams in the hunt to make the playoffs. Here are my predictions, division-by-division, for the 2016 season.

American League

American League East
1. Boston Red Sox
2. Toronto Blue Jays
3. New York Yankees
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Baltimore Orioles

American League Central
1. Kansas City Royals
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Cleveland Indians
5. Chicago White Sox

American League West
1. Texas Rangers
2. Houston Astros
3. Seattle Mariners
4. Los Angeles Angels
5. Oakland Athletics

AL Wild Card
1. Toronto Blue Jays
2. Houston Astros

National League

National League East
1. New York Mets
2. Miami Marlins
3. Washington Nationals
4. Atlanta Braves
5. Philadelphia Phillies

National League Central
1. Chicago Cubs
2. Pittsburgh Pirates
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Milwaukee Brewers
5. Cincinnati Reds

National League West
1. San Francisco Giants
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Arizona Diamondbacks
4. San Diego Padres
5. Colorado Rockies

NL Wild Card
1. Pittsburgh Pirates
2. Los Angeles Dodgers

World Series
San Francisco Giants over the Kansas City Royals

Stay tuned this week for a breakdown of each prediction, team-by-team.