World Series Contenders: Which AL Teams Have What it Takes?
Pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training, and all is right with the world. Okay, maybe not with the world. Okay, maybe not even with Major League Baseball. But it’s still a thrilling time of year because it means that baseball games will be played soon.
After an offseason of historic player signings and surprise blockbuster trades, all MLB teams appear to have their opening day player personnel accounted for. There are still a few free agents of note out there looking for a deal—like Yasiel Puig.
Though we can’t say for sure what players will be starters or benchers, we now can take a look at the collective talent for each team and get an idea of who are the proverbial pitchers and belly-itchers.
It’s baseball, though. So, anything can happen. Remember last year when the Twins surprised everyone and dominated the AL Central? Or when the Red Sox kicked off the year with one of their worst season-starts ever and didn’t have enough in the tank to make the playoffs to defend their World Series title?
While I would never be so foolish as to attempt to predict who will be in the World Series, I feel quite comfortable discussing who possibly might make it to the World Series.
There are all kinds of projection systems for the final standings and, of course, we’ll never be without betting odds telling us who’ll win the “piece of metal.” Incidentally, statisticians and bettors are somewhat aligned this year.
I prefer to go with a much less scientific method involving an educated guess that is a combination of statistical studies, linear analyses and wild guesses. So, let’s take a look at the American League teams that should have what it takes.
Houston Astros
Up until the recent cheating scandal, most experts would say that the Astros were the best team in the American League. Their combination of top-to-bottom offense, lights-out starting pitchers staff and top-level prospects make them formidable even without the banging trash cans and center field cameras.
New York Yankees
Gerrit Cole going from Houston to the Big Apple is a significant power swing. Cole’s numbers probably won’t be quite as good as they were with the Astros because Yankee Stadium is more of a hitter’s park, but he’s still the best pitcher in the AL. The Yankees offense is also extremely deep in case any of the flukey offensive performances from last year regress.
Oakland Athletics
I don’t know how they do it. Some of the guys in their starting lineup seem like they might just be backups somewhere else. And this might be the year when we see the Athletics starting pitchers break out into aces: A.J. Puk, Jesus Luzardo, Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas.
Tampa Bay Rays
They’ve made a ton of trades this offseason moving lesser players around their small-budget chess board. The Rays have a knack for coming out on top with these moves (sorry, Pirates fans). They won 96 games last year and might even be better.
Cleveland Indians
They seem to have a never-ending supply of quality pitchers to bring up from their farm system. And this year they’re going to need them. They traded away Corey Kluber, and Mike Clevinger looks like he’ll miss some time again to start the year. This year, we should start seeing their offensive prospects pushing up to the big club, so any weaknesses you see now might be fixed with low-cost, high-potential farm players.
Minnesota Twins
They were last year’s surprise team, winning over 100 games and crushing the ball on offense. So, they added Josh Donaldson to the lineup to help them in their crushing ways. They starting rotation and bullpen are still a bit suspect, but they have the farm system to trade for upgrades midseason.
Los Angeles Angels
Are Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon enough to push the Angels over .500? It looks like it. It’s going to take a lot of things working out just right—which isn’t really the Angels’ way. However, with a solid lineup, farm system reinforcements on the way and a healthy (for now) pitching staff, Mike Trout can end his five-year playoff drought.
Boston Red Sox
Well, if we’re going to squeeze the Angels in here then we might as well include the 2018 champs. Sure, they don’t really have a manager and they just traded away the best hitter the team has had in decades, but there is still a lot of talent on this roster. The starting pitching is thin, but the bullpen actually looks pretty dominant even though it lacks a marquee name like Aroldis Chapman or Kenley Jansen.
