Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum, right, shoots over New York Knicks' Mikal Bridges, left, during the second half of Game 3 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series, Saturday, May 10, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith) AP
Want to know when Jayson Tatum is coming back? If Alex Bregman is coming back? The winner of the Super Bowl, the College Football Playoff and the World Cup?
You’ve come to the right place. For the 2026 predictions, I’ve taken a Ouija Board, the Crystal Ball, the Tea Leaves and the Tarot Cards and programmed their results into a computer program that spits out predictions for the new year.
For 2026, I’m getting specific. I not only predict Jayson Tatum’s return date, but how many points he’ll score in that game.
The Patriots will be at the Lions on Thanksgiving — It is possible that the Patriots could play on Thanksgiving and Christmas and the Celtics could play on Christmas too. But I’m predicting New England at Detroit on Thanksgiving at 1 p.m. is a lock. Plan your turkey accordingly.
The Red Sox won’t re-sign Alex Bregman — He’ll get more years than they want to give. But they’ll be really excited about Triston Casas’ return in Spring Training, while Bregman is bringing his leadership and wisdom to the Tigers.
Belichick was a disaster, the Patriots did fire Mayo and other 2025 predictions I botched
After lots of exciting rumors, the Red Sox will lay up and add a reliever half their fans have never heard of at the trade deadline, while those around them get better — Hold on, I’m copying this into my 2027 predictions now.
Johan Oviedo will be 9-7 and Sonny Gray will go 13-10 — And Lucas Giolito will be 12-8 somewhere else.
The Red Sox will win 87 games — They’ll go into Game 162 unsure if they’ll make the playoffs or not. I’ve asked the crystal ball five times and all it will say is that it will come down to a tie-breaker.
Want more predictions over a longer period? Check out:The 25 people who will shape the future of Boston sports for the next 25 years
Baseball will have a lockout after the 2026 season that will badly dent the gains they’ve made — I hope I’m wrong, but sadly, this is extremely likely.
Drake Maye will be the MVP. Mike Vrabel finishes second in the Coach of the Year voting — Maye will win in a runaway.
Two of the following three coaches will get fired: Sean McDermott, Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh —And at least one of them will replace one of the others.
Jaylen Brown will finish in the top three in MVP voting — He could actually win it, given how much the Celtics are exceeding expectations.
Jayson Tatum will return Feb. 8 — Against the Knicks at the Garden on ABC. He’ll have 14 points in limited minutes off the bench. He’ll be good, but not Jayson Tatum-good for the remainder of the season so...
The Celtics will lose in the second round of the playoffs again — But this time it will go seven games.
USA wins double hockey gold — The men and the women will leave Italy on top. Canada’s men’s team’s goaltending will cost them and they’ll finish with the bronze.
Joe Burrow will ask to be traded in the offseason — I’m not predicting where he’ll end up, but he’ll want out of Cincinnati to go to a contender and the Vikings and Falcons will be aggressive.
The Patriots will go hard after Wan’Dale Robinson if the Giants don’t franchise tag him — Especially with Stefon Diggs’ new issues, the Patriots will be hunting for a new top receiver and playing with Drake Maye will be attractive. Robinson makes sense. But keep an eye on guys who become available unexpectedly.
Bill Belichick’s North Carolina tenure will end — I can’t completely tell if he steps down or Carolina fires him, but there won’t be a Chapel Bill Year III after a five-win season in year two. Maybe they’ll call it a mutual parting of the ways.
Mrs. Jordon Belichick — They’ll get married this summer. I’m thinking July in a small beach ceremony in Maine.
Bill Belichick will get into the Hall of Fame — It’ll be an eventful year for the former Patriots coach.
Robert Kraft, Adam Vinatieri will get left out — The Hall of Fame’s selection process is dumb. Both should be in. Both will have to wait because the convoluted process is keeping worthy candidates out.
Ohio State 35, Alabama 28~~~~— Back-to-back Buckeyes.
It’s 10:52 on Dec. 31 - The above wrong prediction (Ohio State lost to Miami in the quarterfinals at about 10:30) has the distinction of happening too late to be in today’s column about botched predictions and too soon to make it into this column.
Bruins just miss the playoffs — Boston isn’t quite good enough to add players at the deadline, leaving them just a little short of a wild card berth.
Steve Pagliuca and the Mohegan Tribe will sue the WNBA for preventing his bid to buy the Connecticut Sun from being accepted — Not sure if he’ll win, but this is not going away quietly.
Super Bowl: San Francisco 42, Jacksonville 35 — I have no confidence in this pick at all. I had the Patriots here, but the Diggs stuff concerns me. I had the Seahawks, who always make the Super Bowl when there’s a new pope (Really! Look it up). But this pope is a Bears fan so I don’t know.
The World Cup champion will make a stop in Foxborough — Anyone lucky enough to have a ticket to France vs. Norway will get to see the French en route to lifting the world’s most coveted trophy.
But the USA will make it to the quarterfinals — Which will be big for soccer in this country.
This year’s predictionswill be better than last year’s — Happy New Year.