As we approach the 2019 Major League Baseball regular season, a theme is apparent when it comes to judging who the contenders are: The American League is unbelievably top heavy while the National League has mostly teams looking to contend.
On the AL side, the Yankees and Red Sox appear to me to be the two best teams in baseball while the Astros aren't far behind, if they are behind at all. Those three, for me, are far and away the best AL teams. Projection systems agree. SportsLine has all three winning at least 100 games with the next-best team being the Indians at 92-70 and, let's be frank here, a lot of those wins are going to be coming against the rest of the worst division in baseball.
Can the A's repeat their magical run? Can the Rays build on last year's 90 wins? I'm not particularly bullish on either of those things. Maybe the Twins bounce back or the Angels finally play well around Mike Trout.
Still, I keep coming back to the thought that it would be an utter shock to see the AL champion this season not come from the Astros-Red Sox-Yankees trio. Saying that on March 4 seems a bit depressing, no?
Fear not, we have the NL. Sure, the Dodgers are the favorites to repeat, but there are plenty of question marks. Every team in the league has question marks and lots of them have the potential to contend.
Sure thing contenders from where I sit: Dodgers, Cubs, Nationals, Brewers, Cardinals.
Very likely contenders: Phillies, Braves, Mets, Rockies
Squint to see a road to contention: Pirates, Giants
Possible breakout teams: Reds, Padres
That's everyone except the Diamondbacks -- who I maybe could use the squinting skills of George Costanza to get into contention -- and the woeful Marlins.
Do you prefer true greatness? If so, the AL is probably your thing. Competitive balance? Hop on over to the NL.
Really, though, both things can be good. They are good! It's all baseball and that's beautiful.
