30 Thoughts on 30 Teams Part 1: The American League
In the first half of his two part MLB season preview, Ben Ripley breaks down each AL division before the upcoming season.
The boys of summer are back, despite the fact that as I write this, it is snowing outside.
Yes, baseball season is upon us. As hope springs eternal, every team’s fan base enters the season believing that this could be the year. We all know that this is only going to be true for one team’s lucky fans, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of exciting story lines to go around.
AL Central
Chicago White Sox
The ChiSox traded Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox for a package of prospects. Yoan Moncada is now the White Sox number one prospect and the number five prospect in all of baseball according to Baseball Prospectus. The trade also included Michael Kopech and Luis Alexander Basabe, which bolster their overall farm system. White Sox fans this year are just looking for a glimmer of hope for good things on the horizon.
Minnesota Twins
Brian Dozier put up an impressive 42 home runs last year for the Twins. He has improved each year thus far in his career, and if he can maintain these kind of numbers the Twins may have a centrepiece to build around.
Kansas City Royals
After a couple of seasons of being the darlings of postseason baseball the Royals fell back to being a .500 team last season. The question for the Royals fans is simple; was last year the outlier of an otherwise impressive run or a return to form as mid-level team?
Detroit Tigers
The biggest question with the Tigers is whether or not they can still be a viable World Series contender. Justin Verlander returned to form last year and probably should have won the Cy Young. Miguel Cabrera is still doing Miguel Cabrera things, and if the Tigers don’t win they will have certainly underachieved through the primes of two generational talents.
Cleveland Indians
Is The Tribe the best team in baseball? That’s really the only question to ask. They added one of the best sluggers in the game in Edwin Encarnacion and, barring injury and drone attacks, they will have an even stronger pitching staff than last year.
AL West
Oakland Athletics
Is Moneyball dead? The answer is no. It’s just every team does it, and with more money. However, every few years Billy Beane seems to assemble a team that is shockingly competitive. There aren’t any signs of the A’s being competitive right now, but it wouldn’t be a shock if they were.
LA Angels
The Angels are wasting Mike Trout. The undisputed best player in baseball has only made the postseason once in his first 5 full seasons in the majors. That’s not good enough. We should be spending our Octobers with Mike Trout.
Texas Rangers
The Rangers have been a very competitive team for some time now, but they always seem to fall just short. They should be a strong team again this year, but Houston has already leapfrogged them in division. Their window may be closing.
Seattle Mariners
Robinson Cano may finally be poised to make it back to the postseason for the first time since 2012 with the Yankees. The Mariners won 86 games last year, and if they can build on that we could see playoff baseball back in Seattle for the first time since 2001.
Houston Astros
I hate to make this comparison but the Houston Astros are the Chicago Cubs of the American League. I mean that in the sense that they went through a prolonged rebuild where the team stacked their farm system until it finally burst with can’t miss prospects. It looks like Houston has a perennial contender on its hands now.
AL East
Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa has three great pieces in Evan Longoria, Kevin Kiermaier, and Chris Archer. Is there enough of a team around these guys to surprise people, or will they do what they always do and trade their best players away?
Baltimore Orioles
Does Buck Showalter know he has the best closer in baseball? I think so, because he pitched Zach Britton in 69 games last season, but I’m also not sure because he didn’t pitch him in the biggest game of their season. Can the O’s continue to be greater than the sum of their parts?
New York Yankees
Do you hear that? It’s the same sound you hear when Duke gets a commitment from a top five prospect. That sound is the sound of impeding doom. The Yankees have torn it down, stacked themselves with prospects and have tens of millions of dollars coming off the books. We should all be very afraid.
Toronto Blue Jays
Can the Blue Jays fill the void left by Edwin Encarnacion? Also, can the angriest man in baseball, Jose Bautista, stay healthy enough to bounce back to form and get the mega millions jackpot he wants. If the answers are yes, the Jays will be great again.
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox are poised to take a serious run at the World Series again. Will they miss David Ortiz? Of course they will. He has been the face, heart and soul of their franchise for 14 years. The bigger concern, however, is David Price. It’s not a question of when will he pitch. It’s a question of when his left arm will fall off entirely?
(Ben will pick the World Series later today in his NL preview)
Ben is a multi-sport writer for theocho.ca. He’s an avid fan of all things post-secondary, along with any sport you can name. Follow Ben on Twitter at @benny_sauce.
