Chris Sale and the Red Sox figure to play some big games against Aaron Judge and the Yankees.
@NBCSports
After a long and fairly uneventful offseason, opening day is right around the corner and it’s time to watch some major league baseball. No matter your favorite team may be, it is an exciting time of year for fans of the sport, as every ball club gets to start fresh and have a chance at making it to the World Series all the way in October.
This year, opening day is scheduled for March 29th, which is actually the earliest it has ever been in the history of the MLB in order to help teams gain a handful of extra off-days throughout the regular season. It may seem a bit odd to be watching baseball before the month of April, but I bet it would be hard to find any baseball fan who is actually complaining about the date. On Opening day we will see all 30 major league teams in action with games ranging from 12:30 p.m. until 10:10 p.m.
It should be a great season with some big names having moved clubs and following one of the most exciting World Series in the history of baseball.
American League
In what usually tends to be the more exciting of the two, the American League figures to feature a lot of exciting teams coming into 2018. Last year’s world champion the Houston Astros figure to be the face of the league after a great season and a winter where they acquired another strong arm in Gerrit Cole. It will be tough to beat out the Astros this season, but teams like the Cleveland Indians, the New York Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox figure to all be elite and make another run at the postseason.
Cleveland was upset by New York in the divisional series of last year’s playoffs, after earning an American League-high 102 wins in 2017 but figures to compete for a World Series title again this season. The Indians feature one of the best rotations in the entire league, anchored by Cy-Young award winner Corey Kluber, and a powerful lineup that includes veterans like Edwin Encarnacion and young stars like Francisco Lindor.
The Yankees and Red Sox should also be in a heated battle all summer to determine who is going to win the American League East division. Both teams have added big power since last year, with National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton getting traded to New York, and J.D. Martinez who hit 45 home runs last year getting signed by Boston in the offseason. In 2017 the teams finished within two wins of each other, with the Red Sox winning the division, but this season it looks as if the Yankees are making a serious case for being the best team in the east, let alone the entire American League.
Other teams who have a shot at grabbing the last wildcard spot or beating out one of the aforementioned ball clubs are the Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, and Baltimore Orioles. The Angels and Orioles feature the best lineups of the three, but Minnesota has easily the best starting rotation with the additions of pitchers Jake Odorizzi and Lance Lynn over the winter.
National League
The National League figures to have some pretty good competition heading into the 2018 season, with a lot of the action happening on the west coast. The NL West Division alone features four teams that could compete for playoff spots.
The Los Angeles Dodgers finished with a league-high 104 wins last year and are bringing back the same dominant team from last season. Headlined by elite starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers are looking for redemption after their World Series loss. The Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks also feature strong rosters that will look to repeat on their 87 and 93 win seasons from a year ago. Finally, the San Francisco Giants who after years of ruling the division fell back to earth last season (64 wins) added two big time veterans in Evan Longoria and Andrew McCutchen in hopes of returning to the playoffs.
The National League East features a handful of young teams who aren’t quite ready to compete just yet, but are led by the Washington Nationals who have been one of the best teams in baseball over the last 5 years. The Nationals are led by Cy-Young award winner Max Scherzer and elite outfielder Bryce Harper. The New York Mets could also make a push for the playoffs if their rotation stays healthy, but it might be tough for them to beat out the teams from the west.
Finally, the central division features the elite Chicago Cubs who with the addition of Yu Darvish figure to win the division and make a run at their second World Series in three years. They will compete with the always solid St. Louis Cardinals, and the Milwaukee Brewers who won 86 games last season. It doesn’t seem like the Brewers or the Cardinals have enough firepower to beat out the Cubs for the division title, but could make a run at the wild card spots.
