Welcome back everyone. It has been quite some time since I have been active with my writing. I was pretty open in my first post that starting a new role at my company and buying a house was not an ideal time to start a blog. Admittedly, it has been even more time consuming than I thought.
With that said now that we are 1/3 of the way through the baseball season, let’s dive into each AL division and see the biggest over and under achievers.
AL East:
I think it is pretty easy to say that the rays are over performing. They are a good baseball team, but I am not sure anyone had them as their clear world series favorite which is what their record indicates. The rays are hitting for contact and power 1-9 and have an innate ability to manufacture runs. This, in addition to some solid pitching has the Rays dominating.
What could go wrong: The Rays seem to be the timeliest team ever. When their pitching has a bad game, the bats come alive and vice versa. One would think that the luck may eventually run out.
The Blue Jays are again the easy choice for the underperforming team. While I personally love the Orioles and were hoping for them to improve this year, it ultimately came at the cost of Jays. Bo Bichette is having an absolute year, but where is his help? Vlad just cannot have 8 HR at this point in the season. Yes, his average is .286 but he is not paid the way he is to hit singles. His role is to blast bombs. Imagine Aaron Judge slapping singles all over the place. All start pitcher Alex Manoah has been far from that form. 5.46 ERA tells you about all you need to know. The “ace” needs to show up. By no means is Kevin Gausman’s numbers to scoff at (ERA 2.76 over 75.0 IP), but when he can only pitch every five games, it hurts.
What needs to change: Vlad needs to start crushing the ball. His bat in the lineup gives everyone else more freedom to operate and he can produce some insane RBI numbers.
AL Central:
My favorite division of course. Over performing is the Detroit Tigers. SEVEN pitchers have landed on the IL and they are 4 games back. That is incredible. There is a lot of young talent on this team and AJ Hinch has them playing smallball akin to the Guardians last year.
What could go wrong: Eventually the injuries catch up and the lack of depth runs down the team come mid-summer.
The biggest underperformers is tough between the Sox and Guardians. Both were expected to be better, but the Gaurdians are coming off of an AL Central title, so I will give them the nod for biggest under performer. Jose Ramizez is and always will be great. He leads the team in BA and HR. The Guardians biggest issue is that their skill is getting on base and creating havoc with runners. Well, their fastest players are all hitting below 0.250 with the exception of Steven Kwan. Similar to the Blue Jays there has also been a decrease in pitching performance. Clase was unhittable last year and carries a 3.33 ERA this year. Similar issue for Bieber and Quantril.
What needs to change: The speed the Guardians has is off the charts. They need to find ways to get runners on base and replicate last year.
AL West: Best division in baseball. No doubt.
This is a tough one. The Rangers are a wagon, but the Angels look competent this year! Nod to the Rangers for leading the division at this stage. The HIGHEST run differential in baseball by 27 runs. It isn’t even close! Adolis Garcia is performing a hair above his career average, but the power is way up this year. Josh Jung is a kid (98 AB last year) and having a fantastic year. Is it overperforming if you were the 8th pick overall? Yes, this early in your career. All of this is without mentioning the best pitcher in free agency. Of course, Nathan Eovaldi! He is playing like a stud. 3 starters under an ERA of 3 is always going to be great. What happens when (if) we see deGrom?
What could go wrong: Will the bats cool off? There is still a lot of divisional games left, and as stated earlier, this is the best division in baseball. Houston is…inevitable.
Mariners are the underperforming team of the AL West. They were the sexy pick to knock of Houston (which I don’t see happening anyway). So, what is happening? Nothing really, they just seem not to be able to string wins together. If anything, the OPS could be improved pretty much across the board which screams of a young team and the bullpen could clean it up. Otherwise the bats and pitching has been ok.
What needs to change: More patience at the dish. There is power in the lineup and basic math will tell you, with more runners on, home runs are worth more.