The AL Beast
The AL East could be its usual cutthroat fight to the finish, but several question marks suggest a wider gap between the haves and havenots than last year. Somehow, the Yankees are almost always projected to come out on top, even when they haven’t won a pennant since 2009 and are dealing with all manner of injuries. This year, a first-place finish seems more far-fetched than usual; even though Gerrit Cole doesn’t need Tommy John surgery, the reigning AL Cy Young will be out until late May, at the earliest. They’ve added Soto and Alex Verdugo, but Aaron Judge may not be ready for Opening Day and DJ LeMahieu is dealing with a serious bone bruise on his right foot.
The Tampa Bay Rays are a perennial threat, and even though they have one of the smallest budgets in baseball and Wander Franco may never play again, somehow they always find a way to make life difficult for opponents. The Blue Jays are talented, but their window may be starting to close as their talent gets older.
The Orioles massively outperformed expectations last year, winning 101 games and the division. Then they added ‘21 NL Cy Young Corbin Burnes to the top of their rotation. They also have Jackson Holliday, son of longtime Rockies and Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday. The younger Holliday is currently MLB’s No. 1 overall prospect, and one of three top prospects named Jackson slated to crack their respective franchise’s Opening Day roster; the Milwaukee Brewers are putting Jackson Chourio on theirs, and Jackson Merrill won the Padres’ Opening Day centerfield job.