Bold Betting Predictions for 2023

This year certainly had its share of excitement for sports and sports bettors.

Who saw the TCU Horned Frogs claiming the No. 3 seed in the college football playoffs or the San Diego Padres ousting the 111-win Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS?

Did anybody have money on Rich Strike to win the Kentucky Derby? How about Justin Verlander to win the AL Cy Young at age 39 coming off Tommy John surgery?

Did you put any early money on Geno Smith to win Comeback Player of the Year? You could be in for a treat. If you bet on the St. Peter’s Peacocks to oust Kentucky in the NCAA Championship, I’d like to borrow your Magic 8 Ball.

All of these would have been bold predictions just one year ago.

Now, it’s time to see if we can predict the future for 2023. Who’s going to surprise us?

Let’s get bold.

Here are the Bold Betting Predictions for 2023 from SI Fantasy and Betting’s staff:

Jeremy Reper-USA TODAY Sports

Jacksonville Jaguars will win AFC and play in the Super Bowl

Predicted by Jennifer Piacenti
I said bold, so here we are. Trevor Lawrence is looking every bit the player he was drafted to be. In their second year under Doug Pederson, this team should only get better. Imagine year two of Travis Etienne alongside a blossoming Trevor Lawrence, who will not only have Christian Kirk, Zay Jones and TE Evan Engram, but also Calvin Ridley. You forgot about him, didn’t you? Yep, look out AFC South. These are the new favorites, and they could just go all the way.

Calvin Ridley and Breece Hall will finish the year among the Top 10 players in PPR formats

Predicted by Frankie Taddeo
Coming off a year-long NFL suspension for betting, I will “bet” that Calvin Ridley takes the fantasy world by storm and puts up WR1 numbers playing his first season in Jacksonville. If Breece Hall hadn’t suffered a torn ACL in Week 7, he would likely have won the Offensive Rookie of the Year award and been in the conversation for a top-five pick in re-draft fantasy leagues next season. The Jets expect Hall to be ready for the beginning of next season. Combine his on-track return with the emergence of Garrett Wilson as a top-end WR2 and fantasy managers can invest in the former Iowa State standout putting up elite production in his sophomore campaign.

The Mighty Mets Dollar leads to a disappointing second-place finish in the NL East while falling short of winning a World Series.

Predicted by Shawn Childs
The most intriguing follow for me in the 2023 baseball season is the mega spending of the New York Mets and their owner Steve Cohen. Winning a World Series in today’s game requires a franchise to have two front-end aces plus a lockdown ninth inning arm. In addition, they must have the foundation of a top-tier offense. The Mets check many of those boxes, but buying a title rarely works out in baseball. In the end, the Atlanta Braves have a better overall major-league roster with much wiser spending in their team build. I expect the NL East to be won by the Braves, giving them the inside track to a World Series title.

Nikola Jokić becomes the fourth player in NBA history to threepeat as MVP

Predicted by Kyle Wood
Okay, this admittedly would’ve sounded quite a bit more bold about a month ago. Still, it would be an all-time feat if Jokić can pull it off, something only Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Larry Bird have done before, most recently accomplished in 1986. The tear he’s on in December has lowered his preseason MVP odds substantially as he continues to compile ludicrous box scores and, more importantly for his case, wins. The Nuggets finished third and sixth in the West the last two times he raised the recently renamed Michael Jordan Trophy—finishing with the best record in the conference would go a long way. Though Jokić’s scoring and rebounding numbers are down a tick, his efficiency and assist numbers are career-best marks and he’s on his way to what would be his first triple-double average of his career.

Paul Sancya/AP

Lions win NFC North

Predicted by Bill Enright
Detroit hasn’t won a division title since 1993 (when it was the NFC Central). That’s one of the longest droughts in the NFL. But Dan Campbell’s squad is making enough noise in 2022 to buy into their future. They already have an established, successful quarterback in Jared Goff, one of the best offensive lines in the league, and their defense is improving on a weekly basis. The Lions have two first- and second-round picks in the upcoming class, one of which will likely be in the Top 10 (via Rams for Matt Stafford). The Vikings may have dominated the division in 2022 but they have a point differential of plus-5 — for a 12-3 team (through Week 16), that’s pretty pathetic, actually it’s historically pathetic. Minnesota won’t repeat as the kings of the North in 2023. Who knows what happens with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay next year. Does he retire? Demand a trade? Run it back for another mediocre season? Then there’s the Bears, who have one of the league’s most exhilarating players in Justin Fields but that’s where the excitement stops for Chicago. That’s why 2023 is the year of the Lions!

Justin Fields MVP

Predicted by Matt De Lima
It’s been a breakout 2022 campaign for the Chicago Bears’ stud quarterback. Look for him to build upon this momentum with another leap forward in 2023. We can expect the Bears to find some offensive upgrades in the 2023 NFL Draft, particularly with their picks in Rounds 2 and 3 (57 and 66 overall). David Montgomery could be a free agent, which means the at times more electric Khalil Herbert could excel. Hopefully for the Bears, they find a way to boost their wide receiver corps and give Fields better options in the passing game.

The Bengals win Super Bowl LVII

Predicted by Matt Ehalt
These are meant to be bold, so let’s go with the Bengals winning the Super Bowl. This bold prediction is being made before Cincinnati even faces Buffalo on Monday night in a Week 17 game with huge ramifications in the AFC. The Bengals are playing well and finding ways to win, and we’ve seen that they have the Chiefs’ number. They can beat the NFC champion. The fuel from last year’s Super Bowl defeat galvanizes Cincinnati to finish the job this time around.

Cleveland Browns to win AFC North

Predicted by Craig Ellenport
You’ll get decent odds on the Browns just making the playoffs in 2023, but as long as we’re being bold let’s really be bold. Remember, this is a young team that went 11-5 and won a road playoff game just two years ago. If Deshaun Watson returns to form after shaking off the rust down the stretch this season, Cleveland has a quarterback that just a few years ago was considered a young superstar. Add Nick Chubb, Myles Garrett and a host of other good young defensive players and this roster is actually quite good. Betting the Browns to win the AFC North means you’ll need the Bengals to stumble, but it’s a worthy risk.