The smell of pine tar and the sound of a broken bat mean one thing: It\u2019s baseball season.<\/p>\n
The New York Yankees won its 27th World Series championship last fall. While a Yankees title all but guarantees that New York will be favored to repeat, the rest of the American League made some changes to overthrow the Bronx Bombers.<\/p>\n
AL East<\/strong><\/p>\n Boston Red Sox<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 The Red Sox were one of the most active teams this offseason with a lot of fresh faces to show for it. Adrian Beltre, Marco Scutaro and Mike Cameron step into the lineup, while former Los Angeles Angels pitcher John Lackey becomes the best No. 3 pitcher in the league after signing with the Red Sox.<\/p>\n Boston fields an extremely deep and experienced team that will challenge the Yankees until the 162nd game.<\/p>\n Prediction: 95-67<\/strong><\/p>\n New York Yankees<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 I liked the trade for Curtis Granderson and the signing of Randy Winn. Picking up Javier Vazquez was important, too. But the Yanks have absolutely no depth behind the best infield in baseball. If Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez or Robinson Cano goes down with a serious injury, New York will find itself looking up at the Boston Red Sox.<\/p>\n Prediction: 94-68<\/strong><\/p>\n Tampa Bay Rays<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 Tampa Bay\u2019s season comes down to one name: B.J. Upton.<\/p>\n The Rays have plenty of talent and athleticism throughout their 25-man roster, but Upton has to rebound from a mediocre 2009 season if Tampa Bay wants to beat out its AL East counterparts.<\/p>\n Evan Longoria is a good bet to be considered for AL MVP and Carlos Pe\u00f1a <\/strong>should be near the top in home runs. In the end, it all rides on Upton\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n Prediction: 83-79<\/strong><\/p>\n Baltimore Orioles<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 Baltimore has a nice nucleus with catcher Matt Wieters and outfielders Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, along with veterans like Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts and Kevin Millwood. The Orioles need its young pitching staff to mature if they look to stay in contention when September rolls around. But that isn\u2019t going to happen.<\/p>\n Prediction: 75-87<\/strong><\/p>\n Toronto Blue Jays<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 Toronto finds itself in a circle of despair after trading Scott Rolen, Roy Halladay and Alex Rios in a span of a few months in 2009. The Blue Jays lineup is full of questions and the rotation lacks certainty. Pitcher Ricky Romero has potential, but he\u2019s too young to place a No. 1 label on.<\/p>\n I expect the Blue Jays to take a step backward after a fourth-place finish in \u201909.<\/p>\n Prediction: 70-92<\/strong><\/p>\n AL Central<\/strong><\/p>\n Chicago White Sox<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 I\u2019m higher on the White Sox than most, but there is good reason to believe in 2010. Outside of Boston, I believe Chicago owns some of the best arms in the league.<\/p>\n With Mark Buehrle holding down the No. 1 spot, the White Sox starting rotation is stout as former National League Cy Young winner Jake Peavy, Gavin Floyd and John Danks follow. Chicago also added J.J. Putz to its bullpen.<\/p>\n The White Sox aren\u2019t scaring anybody offensively, but if Carlos Quentin stays healthy and Alex Rios returns to form, Chicago should win its third division title in six years.<\/p>\n Prediction: 90-72<\/strong><\/p>\n Minnesota Twins<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 Minnesota has two MVPs under the age of 30 in Mauer and first baseman Justin Morneau that are surrounded by a capable offensive bunch. The Twins brought in Jim Thome, while also finding a solid middle infield in Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy. Those two are easy upgrades over Brendan Harris and Alexi Casilla.<\/p>\n But can the Twins bounce back after losing pitcher Joe Nathan to injury?<\/p>\n Prediction: 88-74<\/strong><\/p>\n Detroit Tigers<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 The Tigers made some changes in the offseason to become more athletic. The Granderson deal had to be done, but I was a bit confused when Detroit traded Edwin Jackson to the Arizona Diamondbacks.<\/p>\n Justin Verlander, one of the nastier pitchers in baseball, leads a good staff, but the offense has question marks. Detroit shouldn\u2019t count on Johnny Damon, Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez to stay healthy for an entire season.<\/p>\n Prediction: 82-80<\/strong><\/p>\n Kansas City Royals<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 The Royals really aren\u2019t that bad this year. Unfortunately for them, the three teams above them are all better.<\/p>\n Zack Greinke is going to put together another fine season and I expect Alex Gordon to stay healthy and put up good numbers. The Royals lack of power will hold them back from competing down the stretch.<\/p>\n Prediction: 78-84<\/strong><\/p>\n Cleveland Indians<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 With LeBron James\u2019 potential departure, Cleveland fans could be facing a difficult summer. Don\u2019t expect the Indians to take some of the possible sting away.<\/p>\n Cleveland isn\u2019t expecting to contend as it looks toward the future with first baseman Matt LaPorta and outfielder Michael Brantley. Hey, at least Grady Sizemore is still around and Travis Hafner can hit a fastball hard at times.<\/p>\n Prediction: 64-98<\/strong><\/p>\n AL West<\/strong><\/p>\n Texas Rangers<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 Offensively, the Rangers have one of the most exciting teams in baseball. Texas can put up a boatload of runs behind the bats of Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Nelson Cruz and the newly acquired Guerrero. Texas added Rich Harden to its staff that should include Neftali Felix, a 21-year-old pitcher that dominated in his first big league stint.<\/p>\n It might get ugly if the Rangers play up to par in the AL West.<\/p>\n Prediction: 96-66<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m sure Beane has a few gems in the rotation and bullpen, but I believe Oakland is going to fall back.<\/p>\n Prediction: 71-91<\/strong><\/p>\n Seattle Mariners<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 It was surprising to see the Mariners become so aggressive in the offseason when Seattle signed Figgins from L.A. and traded for pitcher Cliff Lee. Seattle also added outfielder Milton Bradley, shortstop Jack Wilson and first baseman Casey Kotchman.<\/strong><\/p>\n I really like the one-two punch the rotation has with Felix Hernandez and Lee. Starter Ryan Rowland-Smith pitched well in a limited role and Eric Bedard is expected back in the summer months.<\/p>\n Prediction: 87-75<\/strong><\/p>\n Los Angeles Angels<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 The Angels haven\u2019t experienced a losing season since 2003 and have won the AL West in five of the last six years.<\/p>\n Los Angeles is still a viable club with Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales in the lineup, though losing Vladimir Guerrero and Chone Figgins to teams inside the division is tough.<\/p>\n I like the Angels pitching, but too many question marks hang over whether this team can keep winning without Guerrero, Figgins and Lackey.<\/p>\n Prediction: 80-82<\/strong><\/p>\n Oakland Athletics<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 The Athletics look bad this year. Not one player in their projected 2010 lineup has driven in more than 88 runs in a year. Designated hitter Jack Cust is Oakland\u2019s only source of major power and he led the AL in strikeouts last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The smell of pine tar and the sound of a broken bat mean one thing: It\u2019s baseball season. The New York Yankees won its 27th World Series championship last fall. While a Yankees title all but guarantees that New York will be favored to repeat, the rest of the American League made some changes to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[376,55,1062,1272,245,88,377,1065,1064,1066,1061,1063],"class_list":["post-4519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news","tag-american","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-joseph-stueve","tag-league","tag-new","tag-preview","tag-rangers","tag-texas","tag-white-sox","tag-yankees","tag-york"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-1aT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4519"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15525,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4519\/revisions\/15525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}