MLB pre season peak - AL

By Dr. Jekyll

Ah, spring training. A time of high hopes and dreams, where everyone in the Major Leagues is convinced that this could just be the year. After a five month hiatus, baseball is ready to get back in full swing. The sight of the bright lights in the stadium, the scent of freshly trimmed grass, and the sound of Ozzie Guillen enhancing the Spanish to English vocabulary of every boy and girl.

But most importantly, a time for looking into crystal balls and knowing exactly how this season will unfold. Just a quick side bit, order of appearance is order of division standing. So, without further ado:

AL EAST

The Yankees consistently find ways to upgrade what is consistently the most talented roster in baseball, and barring a slew of freak injuries look to be playing postseason baseball once again. Upgrading with Curtis Granderson and letting a struggling Johnny Damon walk. Letting Wang walk after this past season may come back to hurt the Yankees on pitching depth, but let’s be honest, as long as Mariano Rivera is closing things out, there won’t be much to fear.

The Red Sox bring arguably the strongest starting rotation in the majors to the mound, with an All-Star ageless wonder in Tim Wakefield even battling it out for a roster spot. But the hits on David Ortiz over the past two seasons have to make you wonder if a team in such a strong offensive ballpark is going to be able to keep pace with the Bombers.

The Tampa Bay Rays are one of those teams you just consistently feel sorry for. With one of the youngest and most talented teams in the league, it’s got to be frustrating being consistently stuck behind big spenders in Boston and New York. Look for Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford to go off, as well as David Price to have a great season. But in this division, you need to be stacked top to bottom. Heart says they deserve a shot at the division, crystal ball says they fade all but out of the wildcard by August.

Things in Baltimore haven’t been this hopeful since Ripken Jr. retired, but unless Matt Weiters can pitch and bat for all nine roster spots, this team is still a year or two from being in contention.

As for the Blue Jays, at least they still have Roy Halladay… er, I mean hockey. Yeah, they still have hockey…

AL Central

Apart from Minnesota, there really isn’t a terribly strong team in this division. And by Minnesota, I mean assuming Joe Nathan is either able to go or they find someone else (John Smoltz anyone?) to solidify the back end of the bullpen. You can’t go against the League MVP in a division this week. Unless of course…

Detroit can find someone, ANYONE, in that lineup to hit. The Tigers have a pretty solid front side of their rotation between Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, and Max Scherzer, but they’re a bat or two short.

Chicago sits in a similar boat as Detroit, and both will be paddling upstream without a decent set of batting gloves.

Meanwhile, Zack Greinke mops in more sympathy votes after the Royals fail to put together anything impressive over the offseason. Alex Gordon isn’t ready to carry this team to anything other than a third place finish in the division at best.

Which leaves Cleveland staring up at everyone. With all of their pitching traded away, this is looking like a clear cut rebuild.

AL West

Folks in Seattle are about to see the best team this city has put together since the 2001, 116 win team. Ignoring the additions of Chone Figgins and Casey Kotchman, putting Cliff Lee at the top of the order with King Felix Hernandez is a lethal one-two punch in this suddenly lackluster division.

The fact that the Rangers look to finish second in this division is more a testament to the bleeding out of their California rivals than anything remarkable that they’ve done.

And on the topic of those Angels, so long Chone, Vlad, and Johny Lackey. Staples from this team’s success have all departed the golden state, and the man to replace them? Hideki Matsui. Yeah, good luck with that. The saddest part is that with enough injuries to Seattle’s pitching staff, they could still make a push for the division.

Money Ball hasn’t been worth a dime in quite a few years, and it still looks to be another solid year for coming to fruition. A healthy Ben Sheets makes this an average team, but without him they could be looking at one of the poorer records in the league.

Look out for the NL tomorrow.