Despite their team’s shameful performance in the last season, the Yank

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



THE PROMPT


• Issue: verb tense, past perfect ("had expected")

The Yankee fans possess expectations about the media before those fans opine about the media.
The earlier of two events that occurred in the past is usually expressed using the past perfect verb tense, also called "the past of the past."
The construction is had + past participle (verbED)

Especially because surprising contrast exists, chronology is clearer when the verb had expected is used.
Yankees play horribly → fans expect media to be a little harsh on the team → media is harsher than fans had expected → despite Yankee's dismal performance and probably because of media's criticism, Yankee fans opined that the team would once again be among the best in baseball.

• Issue, verb tense: will vs. would
→ The fans opined about the future from the past.
To talk about the future in the past, use would.

The fans said, in the past, (notice that "opined" is past tense), that they hoped their team _____ be among the best.
We should use would, the past tense of will.


• Issue: THAT
The Yankee fans opined two things:
(1) that the media was harsher on the Yankees than the fans had expected the media would be, and
(2) that the Yankees would once again be among the best teams in baseball.
It is very difficult to predict when GMAC writers will require the repetition of that.
By my count, in the vast majority of sentences in which a verb idiomatically takes a "that," and in which belief or statement is being reported, we need a second "that" to tie the second that-clause material back to the verb opine.
Try to avoid deciding whether to keep an option on this basis alone.
Although you can allow the preference to "tilt" the answer, you should find an additional basis upon which to eliminate an answer.

THE OPTIONS

• sentence fragment / construction
→ . . . expected it to is either a fragment or nonsensical. Probably both.

• second THAT is missing
(opined that the media was harsher than expected and that the team would once again be phenomenal)

• would is better than will in this context
→ The Yankee fans opined (talked about, past tense) about the future while they were in the past.
Use would.
Eliminate A


• I do not see any errors
• would is the correct past tense form of will
• had expected refers back to the unexpected media harshness towards the team
• a second that keeps the two statements both parallel and easier to follow.
KEEP


• as in A, a fragment or nonsensical.
You cannot omit (use ellipsis on) words that have not yet been mentioned (unless you use do, does, or did).
The implication is that the fans did not believe that the media would be harsh, but the sentence is not even close to expressing that implication.

The word harsh does not appear. The word harsher does appear.
This part of the sentence says that the fans did not expect that the media would ____
Would what? Would not be so harsh? Would not be harshER?
We cannot imply the word "harsh."
This option leaves us with two ungrammatical possibilities:
→ would harsher
→ would ????

• second that is missing (just as is the case in option A)

• would, not will, is the better verb for this context

ELIMINATE C


• verb tense: past perfect (had expected) is better than simple past (expected) to describe the earlier of two previous events

• second that is missing

• would, not will, is the better verb for this context

ELIMINATE D



• verb tense
→ As in option D, the simple past (expected) is not as effective at communicating chronology as is past perfect (had expected)

• would, not will, is the better verb for this context
ELIMINATE E

The best answer is B.

Now, if you were really brave, you might act on the 4-1 will/would split and simply choose B because all the other options use will rather than would.

When someone is hoping out loud about something while they are in the past, we use the past tense of will—namely, would.

It is okay if you are not rock solid about the word would, which can start to get really confusing, even for native speakers.

COMMENTS

Wow, these answers are good.
I cannot pick a best.
The aspirants who follow should read this thread.

Analysis is thorough and clear.
Well done!

B is the correct answer.

Two things: Use of 'would' is important beacuse of the use of 'opined', which is an action in the past. And, the use of 'that' which keeps the sentence parallel and retains the meaning.

Posted from my mobile device

A) had expected it to and they will once again be
Yankee fans opined that .... and that that is missing after and resulting in parallelism error + Use of it to be is the correct use but here its not needed.

B) had expected and that their team would once again be
Parallelism is maintained + redundancy has been removed. All good.!

C) had expected it would and their team will once again be
Same as A.

D) expected and their team will once again be
There are two events happening in the past so what happened first needs to be made clear. Expected something first and then the result was harsher so had expected is the correct use.
+ the parallelism issue.

E) expected and that their team will once again be
Same as D but without parallelism issue.
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Despite their team’s shameful performance in the last season, the Yankee fans opined that the media was harsher on the team than the fans had expected it to and they will once again be among the best in baseball.


A) had expected it to and they will once again be
Incorrect - "had expected it to" is incomplete

B) had expected and that their team would once again be
Correct - We need to use "Would" here and not "will", for more information refer to this article
https://gmatclub.com/forum/usage-of-will-vs-would-249705.html

C) had expected it would and their team will once again be
Incorrect - "had expected it would" is incomplete and there is a parallelism error because "that" is missing before their team

D) expected and their team will once again be
Incorrect - We need a "that" in the answer to make it parallel

E) expected and that their team will once again be
Incorrect - We can't use will, please refer to the article mentioned in answer B

Original Sentence
Despite their team’s shameful performance in the last season, the Yankee fans opined
that the media was harsher on the team than
the fans had expected it to and they will once again be among the best in baseball.

Sentence intended meaning:
Here two events has happened after Yakee shameful performance in last season,which the Yankee fans opined
1. that the media was harsher on the team than the fans had expected
and
2. that their team would once again be among the best in baseball

A) had expected it to and they will once again be
Flaw: ambiguity by usage of "it to", "it" can be used as placeholder
or as pronoun to antecedent nearest noun, which here is not
additionally "they" singular is refer whom, is it to the yakee team, the media or the fans and
last as a fan opinion "Will" gives strong commitment to sentence,
"would" on other side states probability of events might happen

B) had expected and that their team would once again be
Correct: idiom that X and that Y holds good here, "their" clearly refer to fans, and "would" probability of events might happen or imaginary task which might happen in future, additionally sentence maintains parallelism

C) had expected it would and their team will once again be
Flaw: Pronoun "It" + "would" both creates ambiguity,
wherelse "their" is used correctly referring to fans, but the usage of "Will" refer to future real possiablity task to happen, still doubtfull, additionally this sentence lacks parallelism.

D) expected and their team will once again be
Flaw: parallelism error, usage of will, lack of idiom structure "that X and that Y",
and Intended meaning: 1st sentence was event completed and 2nd sentence was about future expectation"
only word expected, makes it simple past tense and event is not completed yet.

E) expected and that their team will once again be
Flaw: Only "expected", makes intended meaning of tense error and usage of "Will"

The official explanation is here.
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