2019 MLB Season Preview: AL East
One of the more interesting divisions in baseball in 2018, the AL East saw two teams win 100 games, one win 90 and not make the playoffs, and another that was historically bad, losing 115 games. How did last season go in the AL East?
Boston Red Sox
Key Questions: Would the Red Sox be able to repeat? What will the Sox do with their bullpen with the departures of Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel?
The Red Sox had a phenomenal year. The scored the most runs in baseball, with the Yankees being #2 in that department. Their run differential was second only to the Houston Astros, who didn’t have to play the Yankees. The Yankees and Red Sox faced each other 19 times in the regular season (and another 4 in the postseason), with the Sox winning 10 of those games (and then 3 out of the 4 playoff games to win the Division Series).
Even though Kimbrel had a bit of a rough postseason, he is still one of the premier closers in all of baseball. Of course, as of right now, he won’t be pitching for the Red Sox. Though Kimbrel hasn’t signed with any team yet (on Opening Day!), a reunion with the Red Sox seems unlikely. Additionally, Joe Kelly departed via free agency. In terms of innings pitched, that’s the top two relievers from Boston’s bullpen that will not be pitching for the Sox in 2019.
Though the bullpen may struggle at times this season, Sale, Price and Porcello are about as good of a threesome that you will see headlining any rotation in 2019, and that will go a long way in getting the Red Sox back into the postseason at the end of the year. Oh, and in case you forgot, with MVP Mookie Betts and MVP also-ran (who had an equally compelling case for the award) JD Martinez in the order, the Red Sox can hit and score runs — both pretty important skills to win baseball games.
New York Yankees
Key Questions: What effect will the Yankees’ offseason have? Can the Yankees leapfrog the Red Sox and win the division?
The expectation was that the Yankees would do what the Yankees have done. Spend big in free agency. It was expected they would go after either Manny Machado and/or Bryce Harper, as well as Patrick Corbin and/or Dallas Kuechel. In the end, whether the submitted an offer or not is irrelevant because none of those players signed with the Yankees.
However, what the Yankees did do this offseason was pretty significant. They kept midseason acquisitions Zach Britton and J.A. Happ, a full year of Luke Voit lays ahead, and C.C. Sabathia (who, admittedly, is past his prime) is still better than starters on a lot of teams. They traded for James Paxton from the Mariners, and then signed Adam Ottavino, DJ LeMahieu and Troy Tulowitzki. While they didn’t sign a top of the line free agent — like the Yankees of days gone by — what they did do was improve an already good team.
Look for these moves to have an impact, as the Yankees climb over the Red Sox to take the division.
Tampa Bay Rays
Key Question: How would Tampa Bay capitalize on their surprising run that fell just short of a postseason birth?
In reality, I don’t think anybody outside of the Tampa clubhouse thought the Rays had a chance at even finishing at .500 for the year. Midseason acquisition Tommy Pham played well after coming to Tampa, Blake Snell won the Cy Young Award, and the Rays were in it late into the season. It’s hard to win 90 games and NOT make the playoffs, but that’s the way the ball bounced for the Rays last season.
Now, what did they do in the offseason? They traded their two leading HR hitters, and signed/traded for some people who, quite frankly, I had to look up (except Charlie Morton; he’s been around for a while now). I’m not feeling too optimistic about their chances for 2019, but they’ve proven to be a scrappy team that can win ballgames. Never count that kind of team out.
Toronto Blue Jays
Key Questions: Will they get to .500 this year? How bad is their pitching going to be?
A good argument could be made that the Blue Jays could have been a whole lot worse than they were last year, in terms of their overall record. To give some perspective, the Jays gave up nearly as many runs as the Royals, who only won 58 games — on a normal year, that enough losses to give somebody the worse record in all of baseball… of course, 2018 was not quite a “normal” year.
The best player for the Jays is going to be spending some time “maturing” in Triple-A at the beginning of the season, and, by that, I mean Vlad Guerrero Jr. will be waiting on service time manipulation (and rehabbing an oblique injury) before he gets called up to the big league team. He will be a significant player when he does come up, but not enough to really make a difference for this Blue Jays’ team overall outlook.
The Blue Jays are a solid lock for 4th place in the AL East this season.
Baltimore Orioles
Key Question: Will the Orioles be as historically bad as they were in 2018… or will they be worse?
The Orioles were bad last year. And I mean really, really bad. They were the worse team that baseball had seen since the 2003 Detroit Tigers, who only won 43 games. To find teams worse than that, you have to go back to the turn of the 19th century. If the Orioles played the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, you would see a competitive game (look it up).
I haven’t looked this up, but I feel comfortable claiming that the Orioles had fewer wins on the season than the Red Sox had at the All Star Break, and that was BEFORE they traded Manny Machado to the Dodgers. They ended up 61 games out of first place. Let that sink in for a minute. They may have been officially, mathematically eliminated from the division in August. They were THAT bad.
It’s not going to get better. It may get worse. Buckle up, Baltimore, and just be glad that The Wire is set in your city and is still available to stream from HBO. Because that’s the best news you’re going to hear all season.
2019 Predictions
The AL East is an interesting division. I don’t think the Rays really did enough to repeat their performance from 2018, but they aren’t going to be bad either. I could see them winning 83–87 games, and still ending up 3rd in the division. Toronto is going to be worse, and Baltimore is still going to be really bad.
The most interesting thing about the AL East is going to be the continued Yankee-Red Sox rivalry. I think the Yankees will jump over the Red Sox to win the division, but both teams will once again win 100+ games this season.
