In an unusually quiet winter offseason for Major League Baseball, there were a couple of offseason moves that included; Giancarlo Stanton joining the Bronx Bombers (The New York Yankees), J.D. Martinez joining the Red Sox, and Yu Darvish joining the North side Chicago team, the Cubs.
These lowkey moves bring about many questions like will Stanton be able to help the Yankees win the division for the first time since 2012 ? Is Martinez the Sox’ missing piece? Here are the Score’s “way too early” predictions of the division winners of “America’s favorite pastime” with opening week beginning today!
American League
East Division – New York Yankees
The Yankees acquired the reigning National League MVP in Stanton from the Miami Marlins, the first time a player has been traded following an MVP season since Alex Rodriguez was traded from the Rangers to the Yankees in 2004. Stanton joins a team that was a wild card in the postseason last season and one game away from the World Series. If the Yankees can get mass production from heavy hitters like Aaron Judge and Stanton and at least some good pitching from Sonny Gray, C.C. Sabathia, and Masahiro Tanaka, expect the Yankees to edge out the Sox’ in the race for the division.
Central Division – Cleveland Indians
The Indians have won the last two division crowns and it should continue behind the pitching of reigning American League Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber and All-Star outfielder Francisco Lindor. They won the division by 17 games last season and have appeared in the postseason the last two years with an appearance in the World Series in 2016. In a division with the White Sox continuing to flounder as they have for years, the Royals losing key players from their 2015 World Series championship team, the Tigers being a middle of the pack team, and the Twins barely making the wild card last season despite being 17 games back, expect the Indians to win this race.
West Division – Houston Astros
The defending World Series champs are the favorites to win the division, as they have a young roster full of winners including the AL MVP Jose Altuve and All-Star Carlos Correa, to go along with the addition of veteran starting pitcher Gerrit Cole. Despite the addition of Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani to the division rival Los Angeles Angels, expect the Astros and their dynamic core of young stars to fend off Ohtani and superstar Mike Trout of the Angels, their closest competition in the division.
National League
East division – Washington Nationals
The Nationals have won back-to-back NL East champions, but need to get over the hump in the postseason. However as far as just winning the division, they have it in the bag. The Marlins have sold their best players including the MVP for little to nothing of value, the Mets have fallen off since their 2015 World Series appearance, the Phillies have been bad for the past seven years or so, and the Braves…well they have a new stadium.
Central Division – Chicago Cubs
The Cubs have the firepower to make a deep postseason run behind their stout defense and young heavy hitters. They had a slight World Series slump and ran out of gas in their National League Championship Series loss to he Los Angeles Dodgers. Although the Brewers and Cardinals did sign All-Star outfielders Marcell Ozuna and Lorenzo Cain respectively, that shouldn’t be enough to upend the 2016 World Series champions.
West Division – Los Angeles Dodgers
While Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks is a favorite for the NL MVP, the Los Angeles Dodgers will most likely outlast their rivals from Phoenix and win the division as well as go back to the World series. They lost 4-3 in seven games to the Houston Astros but only lost one game in the first two series combined with one of those series being a 3-0 sweep of Goldschmidt’s Diamondbacks in the first round. Kershaw and company will bounce back and produce another 100 win season.
