New MLB season set to begin — and already half the teams are irrelevant
NEW YORK — Besides the tanking Orioles, Pirates and Rangers, the slowly tank-emerging Tigers, and the incompetently run Rockies, there are teams like the Red Sox, Diamondbacks and Giants who did little to improve upon their under.500 performance of last year, and still others like the A’s, Reds and Indians who figure to regress mightily after shedding some of their best players for payroll purposes. Here’s a division-by-division breakdown:
AL East
If the Yankees, on paper one of the few elite teams in the AL, can stay reasonably healthy — obviously a big if — they could render the rest of this division irrelevant.
For the time being, however, we’ll give the Rays and Blue Jays a reasonable chance of staying competitive deep into the season despite legitimate doubts about both.
The Rays shed two of their top three starters, Blake Snell and Charlie Morton, didn’t replace either and plan to use multiple “openers” to get them through the season. They also just lost their most effective back-end reliever, Nick Anderson, for at least half the season with a partially torn elbow ligament. The Blue Jays spent a ton of money over the winter, most of it on center fielder George Springer, who starts the season on the injury list with an oblique strain, and closer Kirby Yates will miss at least half of the season with an elbow flexor strain. Definitely irrelevant are the Red Sox, who won’t finish last again, and the Orioles are looking at a third straight 100-loss full season despite the dubious addition of Matt Harvey after a 10-hit, 5.40 ERA in 10 innings in spring.
AL Central
Until their best hitter Eloy Jimenez went down for the season tearing up his shoulder in the outfield last week, the White Sox — who added a proven starter in Lance Lynn for their rotation along with a dominant closer, Liam Hendriks, over the winter — looked like the team to beat, not just in this division, but possibly in the entire American League.
AL West
This could easily be the worst division in baseball. The defending champion A’s cannot possibly be expected to repeat — much less contend for anything — after losing their best player, Marcus Semien, and their elite closer, Liam Hendriks, to free agency. The Astros should win the division even though they will be without Justin Verlander and lost George Springer to free agency, because they still have the best lineup and there’s hardly ever been a Dusty Baker team that wasn’t competitive.
NL East
Conversely, this is most likely the best, most competitive division with the Braves, Mets and Nationals all justifiably considering themselves viable World Series contenders.
The Phillies are at least competitive, having addressed the worst bullpen in the league with the additions of Archie Bradley and Jose Alvarado. The Nationals made the most improvements in the offseason, signing Brad Hand for the bullpen, Jon Lester for the back end of the rotation and adding defensively challenged thumpers Kyle Schwarber and Josh Bell as lineup complements for Juan Soto and Trea Turner. To remain relevant, their rotation aces Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg must stay healthy.
NL Central
This is a mystery division with none of the teams seemingly on par with the Braves, Mets or Nationals over in the east. The Cardinals, who finished last in the majors in homers and runs last year, are the team to watch after trading for Nolan Arenado — especially after they get frontline starters Miles Mikolas and Kwang-Hyun Kim back from injuries in May.
NL West
The defending world champion Dodgers remain until further notice the best balanced, deepest and most talented team in baseball. The Padres, who made the most offseason noise of any team this winter by adding Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrave to their rotation, will give them a challenge as possibly the second-best team in baseball.