MLB: 2017 AL East Preview

MLB Spring Training is coming to a close and the regular season is almost ready to kick off! Here is your 2017 AL East Preview!

In the past the AL East was a tough division with teams battling for first, but now the division is really slumping. I think this year will be a “rebuilding” year for the AL East. The Red Sox look like title contenders but the Blue Jays, and Orioles look to have declined. As for the Yankees and Rays, well the Yankees haven’t been great, but I think they will be better this year, and the Rays… well, yea.

Boston Red Sox:

Like I said before the Red Sox look to be a true title contender in the AL even if they did lose one of the greatest hitters ever in David Ortiz due to retirement. They have also added some key guys that I can think make a difference. Now that Papi is gone Hanley Ramirez will most likely take over at DH and Mitch Moreland will probably take over a first base. After last years loss in the ALDS to the Indians I really think this team is motivated to go far. Last year they had a lot of guys who had never played a playoff game like Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Travis Shaw, Sandy Leon, Ryan Hanigan, and Andrew Benintendi. With that year just to get them some experience I think now that they know what it's like to play in an MLB Playoff game they can go far.

Toronto Blue Jays:

Toronto lost a huge component to their offense this offseason in Edwin Encarnacion. Yes they still have Jose Bautista but he is aging and they don't have a lot of other bats besides Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki. Lets not forget about their pitching staff though. This is a young group of rising stars. Marcus Stroman, J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez, and Mark Buehrle. Stroman had a down year last year, but is looking to bounce back (he's looking pretty good in the WBC.) Happ had a tremendous year last year posting a 20-4 record, with a 3.18 ERA, while striking out 163 all in 195.0 innings of work.

Baltimore Orioles:

The Orioles just came off a season where they were a Wild Card team. They still have Trumbo, Machado, Jones, and Davis. This team could be nasty. While their pitching may not be so great their offense sure as hell makes up for that. Remember last year when they were hitting so many bombs it would be on SportsCenter every morning? This team could be very dangerous if they can grab some pitcher at the trade deadline. If they do that i could see this team making a run for the AL East crown or getting in at that Wild Card spot and possibly even making it to the ALCS.

New York Yankees:

The Yankees are young and don't have a lot of veteran leadership, but these young guns are the real deal. Aaron Judge, Tyler Austin, Gary Sanchez, and Greg Bird lead these young stars. Them being young though means they don't have a lot of experience so it will be interesting to see how they handle their rookie years. The one thing the Yankees need though is pitching. They do have Masahiro Tanaka, but after that their guys are either old or just simply not good. C.C. Sabathia old, Rich Hill old, Michael Pineda not good, Bryan Mitchell… wait, who?

Tampa Bay Rays:

Normally I would say “Last but not least the Tampa Bay Rays” but i'm not going to. “Why?” you might ask, well my friends the Rays are awful. That's simply it. They are awful. The only good thing they have going for them is that they signed Kevin Kiermaier to a contract extension and they have Chris Archer (who also looked good in the WBC.)

My 2017 AL East Predictions: