Happy opening weekend of the MLB season to those who celebrate!

I’m hoping my St. Louis Cardinals have what it takes to win the NL Central this year and make a deep playoff run, but I’m a bit worried about the Cardinals’ pitching staff. Then there’s the behemoth that is the NL East, with the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets.

Whoever wins that division has a great chance to win the World Series this year.

I’ll make my official World Series prediction at the end of this column, so read on to find out my sure-to-be-wrong pick!

Now let’s dive into this week’s SDS Mailbag:

Joe:

Which SEC team that has never made the College Football Playoff before has the best chance to make it for the first time this year?

Alabama, LSU and Georgia are the only SEC teams to have made appearances in the College Football Playoff thus far, and all have CFP titles in their collection. That’s a solid track record.

In ESPN’s way-too-early top 25 rankings for 2023, Tennessee (No. 10) and Ole Miss (No. 20) are the only other SEC teams ranked other than the trio mentioned above.

Let’s go ahead and cross the Rebels off the list. I love Lane Kiffin and think Ole Miss will be good again, but the schedule has the Rebels playing at Alabama and at Georgia this year. Brutal.

The answer is Tennessee. If Joe Milton can keep the offense running smoothly, the Vols have a fairly manageable schedule. They’d have to beat Georgia on Rocky Top on Nov. 18, but we saw how good the Vols were against Alabama in Neyland Stadium last year.

I’m going to be honest – I don’t see a non-Georgia, non-LSU, non-Alabama SEC team making the Playoff this year. But if I did have to put some money on it, I’d go with the Vols, probably.

@SChinni12:

Which SEC team should be most disappointed with its performance in March Madness?

Well, Alabama has to be up there because it was the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament and failed to reach the Elite Eight. So there’s a strong case to be made that the answer is the Crimson Tide. A generational talent in Brandon Miller, a team that won the SEC regular-season and tournament titles and no Final Four to show for it is a tough pill to swallow.

But I’d also add that Tennessee, Mizzou and Kentucky shouldn’t be thrilled with how their NCAA Tournament runs ended, either. Mizzou had a great chance to advance to the Sweet 16 after No. 15 seed Princeton took down No. 2 seed Arizona. Unfortunately, Mizzou fell to a 15-seed once again.

Tennessee wasn’t expected to do much after the injury to Zakai Zeigler, but then to dominate Duke the way the Vols did was incredible. Losing to Florida Atlantic after that was a bit disappointing, to be frank.

Then there’s Kentucky. It’s been a while since the Wildcats have had any sort of March Madness success. Kentucky hasn’t made the Sweet 16 since 2019. That’s an eternity in Lexington.

Let’s be real – outside of Arkansas, it was a disappointing NCAA Tournament for everyone in the SEC this year. But at least the SEC fared better than the Big Ten!

Thomas:

Can Quinshon Judkins repeat as the SEC rushing leader in 2023?

I don’t see why not.

He won the rushing title last year, going for 1,565 yards on an SEC-high 274 carries. He also led the league with 16 rushing touchdowns.

As Lane Kiffin often points out, his offense often unfairly gets touted as a pass-happy attack when the exact opposite is true. Judkins is what made the Rebels’ offense work in 2022. This fall, he won’t even have Zach Evans to split carries with.

I don’t think he’ll go too much higher than 274 totes in 2023, but I expect him to be a workhorse once again. He and Arkansas RB Rocket Sanders should have another exciting battle for the league’s rushing title this fall.

@Dobbe8:

Who do you have winning the World Series this year?

I’m going to go outside the box and pick something a bit different just to have some fun with it. Who knows what will happen over the course of 162 games? Not me, certainly.

I really like what the San Diego Padres have done in recent years. They’re fun to watch and have some great players on their squad. So I’ll pick them to pull off a mini-upset and advance to the World Series from the NL.

In the AL, I certainly don’t want to pick the Yankees, so I’ll go with the Toronto Blue Jays. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a heck of a player and that lineup has some major firepower.

Give me the Padres over the Blue Jays in the Fall Classic.

Let’s just say every FOX TV executive out there is hoping I’m wrong and we get Yankees-Dodgers or Yankees-Mets or something like that.

Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at Adam.Spencer@XLMedia.com.