American League Division Series
1. Tampa Bay Rays vs. 4. Boston Red Sox
Continue readingRed Sox
American League East
Standard* – indicates new to team
+ – indicates injury
1. New York Yankees
What becomes of the rotation going towards October will determine if they are World Series contenders.
2. Toronto Blue Jays
Their offseason moves suggest they are ready and willing to do what it takes to keep them atop the American League for many years to come.
3. Tampa Bay Rays
They are primed for having some bumps in the road this season, but don’t count out their pitching depth keeping them in contention.
4. Boston Red Sox
The penny pinching will continue this year with their ace Chris Sale still recovering from Tommy John surgery.
5. Baltimore Orioles
Get ready for the youth movement to arrive as Ryan Mountcastle and Adley Rutschman make their debuts.
Player to Watch: P Tyler Glasnow – Tampa Bay Rays
Best Acquisition: OF George Springer – Toronto Blue Jays
New Kid on the Block: P Luis Patino – Tampa Bay Rays Continue reading
American League East
Standard* – indicates new to team
+ – indicates injury
1. New York Yankees
A stacked lineup with a legitimate ace in Gerrit Cole and a deep bullpen has them atop the contender list in the American League.
2. Tampa Bay Rays
Their pitching depth is almost unmatched in baseball. They’ll need to score plenty of runs though in a stacked league.
3. Toronto Blue Jays
The youth movement could surprise a lot of folks in a 60-game sprint to the finish.
4. Boston Red Sox
Fortunately for them they have the Baltimore Orioles to keep them out of the cellar this year.
5. Baltimore Orioles
A 60-game season could work to their advantage, but that won’t make them contenders with more playoff spots available.
Player to Watch: SS Gleyber Torres – New York Yankees
Best Acquisition: P Gerrit Cole – New York Yankees
New Kids on the Block: Toronto Trio; SS Bo Bichette, 2B Cavan Biggio, 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Continue reading
Unprecedented Fallout For Baseball
Standard
Full disclosure, I love baseball and pretty much everything about it. The sights, sounds, smells. All of it. I’d love to teach the next generations how to play America’s past time and I’m becoming more intrigued about that possibility with each passing day. Continue reading
2019 MLB All-Star Teams
Standard
For the 90th year of the Midsummer Classic, baseball turns its sights to Progressive Field (formerly Jacobs Field or “The Jake”) in Cleveland, Ohio. The last time the mid-summer classic was played in Cleveland was in 1997. Now every year there is always a lot of discussion and some of it a little dated about how the teams are put together. No system will ever be perfect. Fans don’t always get it right and managers won’t either, nor the commissioner’s office. The fact that the players are able to vote for participants was a great choice and they know who is deserving. Regardless of who should or shouldn’t be in the game lets just accept that the best players will always be involved one way or another. Here are my all-stars keeping with the rules that every team be represented and a total of 32 players for each league.
AVG – Batting Average
ERA – Earned Run Average
HR – Home Runs
RBI – Runs Batted In
SV – Saves
BAA – Batting Average Against
WHIP – Walks/Hits Per Innings Pitched
K – Strikeouts
Stats are accurate as of July 5
* – asterisk indicates starter Continue reading
westhesportsguy.com 