Sorry I’m a day late on this. I’ll probably do a combo of two of the NL divisions(West and East) tomorrow.
American League West Division Champs:
Seattle:
I love Seattle’s pitching, and they added another bat in Nelson Cruz. I doubt Cruz can repeat his performance last year, be’ll still hit his share of home runs. Add him to Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager, and you have a nice heart of the lineup. On pitching, they have Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma, a great one two punch at the top of the rotation. The rest of the rotation isn’t as good, though Roenias Elias had a decent season last year and has potential. Seatlle also has a good bullpen, led by closer Fernando Rodney. All in all a well balanced team.
American League Central Division Champs:
Cleveland Indians:
Cleveland has a underrated offense led by Michael Brantley. The offense has potential, especially if Jason Kipnis bounces back from a bad year. The true strength of this team is the pitching, specifically the rotation. Led by Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber, this is a solid rotation. Trevor Bauer, Carlos Corrasco, and Danny Salazar all have a ton of potential, and if they harness it, this team could be unbeatable. They also have a good bullpen too, led by Cody Allen, their closer.
American League East Division Champs:
Toronto Blue Jays:
I like the improvements they made. Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin strengthen the lineup, and Martin is a good defensive catcher. Capable of catching R.A. Dickey’s knuckler with ease. They’ll miss Marcus Stroman in the rotation, but i think this team is deep enough to overcome that. Plus no other team blows me away. Boston has no ace, the Yankees are buried in unmoveable contracts, and Tampa Bay doesn’t have the offense to back up it’s pitching.
Wild Cards:
Detroit: They have too much talent not to make the playoffs. As much as I’d like to see KC make the wild card, I think Detroit will beat them out for a playoff spot.
Oakland: Never underestimate Billy Beane. Admittedly I’m a giant Billy Beane homer, but I think this team will be better than everybody expects.
Al Champ: Seattle beats Cleveland in the ALCS and makes in to the World Series.
As always, thanks for reading.
