Hello, hello, and welcome to the first edition of Matty Ice and mine's baseball prediction series! Alright, so before we start I need to get something out of the way, I'm not gonna sit around and sell you guys on the idea that I'm some sort of baseball wizard with a plethora of knowledge, because there was about a five year stretch where I really didn't pay that much attention to the MLB. However, as of last year, I have begun to pay attention again and getting back into the swing of things thanks to betting. As a matter of fact I even drafted a fantasy team yesterday and I can honestly say I think I'm going to do pretty well. So, between fantasy and gambling I WILL be paying attention to the MLB again and I am very excited to lose a ton of money and bring all of you content. I'm not sure why or if it was just my friend group, but it seems like baseball has lost some traction recently and it's pretty sad. And when Ice approached me to do this series I was all about it, time to get baseball some more praise in the sports world and if I can help do that, then dammit I'll do it. So here we go, the first of the AL divisions, the AL East.
American League East Standings:
1. New York Yankees 105-77
The Yankees will likely be the best team in baseball. With the Gerrit Cole addition they add a proven ace that will help them win big games deep in October. They lost Edwin Encarnacion this offseason, but end up getting Andujar back from injury. Miguel Andujar won't add quite the power that Encarnacion added to this Yankees lineup(not that they need it) but he doesn't fall far behind. During the 2018 season he hit 27 bombs along with 92 RBIs, even if he comes close to that the Yankees shouldn't miss a beat from their offensive dominance this past year. With Judge, Stanton, LeMahieu, and Torres, they will be a VERY exciting offense to watch and should easily win this division as the Tampa Bay Rays prove to be the only real threat.
2. Tampa Bay Rays 92-70
After a tough loss in last years ALDS to the Houston Cheaters, trading away Tommy Pham, and losing other players to free agency the Rays looked to add bats through free agency this off-season. Only making a couple moves, they added Hunter Renfroe and Japanese left fielder Yoshi Tsutsugo. Along with the Pitching trio of Morton, Glasnow, and Snell should likely prove to be enough to earn them a wild card spot. Lastly and most importantly, they will need yet again another productive season from breakout player Austin Meadows, without fellow outfielders Tommy Pham and Avi Garcia, Meadows will have to take control of this team and play even better this year if they want a shot at anything serious. All in all, none of this should be nearly enough to put them over the defending AL East champion Yankees but still except the Rays to be an exciting team this upcoming season.
3. Boston Red Sox 79-83
Ok, I'm not entirely sure what to say about this team. They traded away the face of their franchise in Mookie Betts and lost their Manager to a cheating scandal with a former team. Things are not looking great for them but they should still be about a .500 team with ace Chris Sale, Devers, Bogaerts, and JD Martinez in their lineup. The Red Sox will be able to compete but ultimately won't be able to win enough games to put them in the playoffs. Even with losing starting pitcher David Price in the Mookie deal, their rotation should still be fairly good. The back end of the rotation is some concern with the lack of consistency. Pairing that up with the weaker lineup from last year the Red Sox will find it difficult to continually compete with the top of the division.
4. Toronto Blue Jays 68-94
The Blue Jays will actually be a fun team to follow this year. While no one is expecting them to be good, they are extremely young and the sophomore duo of Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette will be exciting to watch. They also added former Dodger all-star Hyun-Jin Ryu. While this isn't nearly enough to fix their riddled pitching staff, it is a start. Speaking of which, the Blue Jays pitchers last year were HORRIFIC and if they want to ever compete they will likely need to make some moves and revamp this area of their team. For the positional players, they are incredibly young. Aside from the already mentioned Bichette (21) and Vlad Jr. (20), they also have Biggio (24) and Gurriel Jr. (26). For now this youth will represent a lot of promise but it appears to be another rebuilding year for the Toronto Blue Jays. Aside from watching their young stars gain experience, don't expect much from this squad.
5. Baltimore Orioles 54-108
Do I even need to waste my time with this? The Orioles are absolutely atrocious and I would put a lot of money that they will be the worst team in baseball yet again. To be blatantly honest I really don't know a whole lot about this team either, which is saying something because that probably means you don't have anyone good on your team. The only players I know of are Trey Mancini and this Hanser Alberto guy who had a pretty solid year last year. Nevertheless, the Orioles suck and you really shouldn't ever bet on them or draft any of their players in fantasy(except maybe Mancini). RIP to Orioles.
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