I, Sportstradamus, the all-knowing, all-seeing swami of sports prognostications, present to you my annual predictions for 2025.

As I ask simple questions to my Magic 8 Ball hoping to receive the answers to sport’s complicated problems. Remember those; Magic 8 Balls? My granddaughter got one for Christmas and I didn’t even know they still made them.

Let’s recap a couple predictions I made last year that proved my psychopathetic abilities are still alive and well.

I predicted in the Jan. 11, 2024, edition of this newspaper that regarding OU football, the question of whether the replacement at quarterback will be half as good as Dillon Gabriel. Well, as we saw this past season, Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins Jr., saw the most playing time out of five quarterbacks, but neither was stellar. Arnold played in 10 games, completing only 154-of-246 passes, for 62.601%, a total of 421 yards passing and 12 touchdowns. Hawkins, who appeared in 7 games, completed 76-of-120 passes for 63.33%, 783 yards and three touchdowns.

Also, last year I predicted the ORU women’s basketball team will finish the season with a better record than the men and go further in the post-season. I was right about that, and it looks like that prediction will hold true again this season. I’m predicting that the ORU women’s team will win the Summit League title and advance to the NCAA Tournament.

The ORU baseball team will also have another exciting and successful season in their remodeled ballpark, as the Golden Eagles advance to the College World Series.

This year, I see the OU, OSU and TU football teams all having turn around seasons and all becoming bowl eligible. Although OU did become bowl eligible this past season with a 6-6 record, I see them winning eight games next season, while Oklahoma State and Tulsa will each get to six wins.

I predict the Tulsa Oilers indoor football team will total the same number of wins of the past two seasons combined, eight, and make the IFL playoffs. I also predict the Tulsa Oilers hockey team will their division and make it the ECHL playoffs.

The Tulsa Drillers, under a new manager this season, will advance to the Texas League Championship series, losing to Amarillo.

The Drillers parent team, the Los Angeles Dodgers will indeed be led by Shohei Ohtani’s return to the mound, as he wins 15 games and the NL Cy Young award, while finishing in second in the race for the batting title. Ohtani had elbow surgery at the end of the 2023 season and hasn’t pitched since Aug. 23, 2023.

Here are my predictions for which teams will win the championship in various leagues:

NFL: Last year, I picked the Dallas Cowboys to win the Super Bowl. Okay, you can stop laughing. This year, the Buffalo Bills will defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.

NBA: Last year, I predicted the Boston Celtics would defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder for the NBA title. I was right about Boston winning, but they beat Dallas in the finals. This year, however, I’m picking Oklahoma City to win the NBA Championship by defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers.

MLB: Admittedly I was wrong about this one last year as I picked the Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series, and in my predictions, I said that the Dodgers spending spree would not translate to a championship, but it did. The Dodgers beat the Yankees in the World Series. This year, we may very well see the first repeat World Series winner since the Yankees won three in a row between 1998-2000. L.A. will beat Boston.

NHL: Again, I nailed this one last year in picking the Florida Panthers to beat the Vancouver Canucks for the Stanley Cup. The Panthers actually beat Edmonton, but close enough. This year, watch for the Washington Capitals to beat the Winnipeg Jets in the Stanley Cup Finals.

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament: Duke will defeat Kansas to win the National Championship.

TULSA BEACON RADIO

Tune in to “Tulsa Beacon Weekend” radio show every week, featuring interviews with local and national level guests, talking about everything from politics to family issues. The guests this week will include PBR stock contractor Brandon Stewart. The show airs on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. CST on 970am KCFO.