Baseball observers often talk about a “World Series hangover” a phenomenon in which the teams that made it to the previous year’s Fall Classic play much worse the following season. It’s understandable when you consider that the two teams in a World Series may play a for a full month longer than most other teams do. The extra postseason games also mean wear and tear on the arms of pitchers and the legs and bodies of hitters and fielders.

As a result, teams that looked great the year before may spend much of the next year spinning their respective wheels. When predicting the outcome of baseball games, the UNU Baseball Swarm has to consider whether playoff teams from the previous year are still among the league’s elites. For instance, this year the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians both seemed to be stumbling along through the season’s first half, often playing listless, uninspired baseball. The swarm loved picking these two teams earlier in the year, but started to pick against them as the season wore on. Now that we’re in the season’s second half, have things changed?

As you can see, it sure looks like both the Tribe and the Cubs are starting to get back into the good graces of our swarm predictors. Both teams stumbled into the All-Star break playing some terrible baseball…but since then, the two clubs have been as hot as the July sun. Both teams are in action tonight, and the swarm definitely likes their chances.

Every week during the MLB season, Unanimous A.I. will be conducting swarms to pick the outcomes of games. If you’d like to either join a swarm or just get the predictions weekly, click the button below.