As the offseason is brewing up some captivating headlines such as the Juan Soto trade and the Dodgers big spending, it reminds us how 2024 opening day is closing in. Today, we will take a look at my division standings predictions, award winners, and postseason results.
Let’s start with the weakest division in the MLB, the AL Central. I’m going to be clear, this division is extremely weak and has not done much this offseason to get better. The AL Central had two 100 loss teams in the White Sox and the Royals. The Tigers are young but are still very weak. The Guardians seem to have no direction. Their only high point is the young pitchers like Triston Mckenzie, posting a 2.96 era in 2022 and Tanner Bibee, posting a 2.98 era in his rookie campaign this past year. And the twins are the best average team of the bunch. They lost Sonny Gray who was a young finalist ; (2.79 era) and haven’t added anything else. With the current state of the division they don’t have to do much to compete. Let’s put this into perspective. In the other two AL divisions they would have come in fourth, that’s bad. Here are my predictions.
- Minnesota twins (85-77)
- Detroit Tigers ( 83-79)
- Cleveland Guardians ( 81-81)
- Kansas City Royals ( 65-97)
- Chicago White Sox ( 56-106)
The AL West, a two horse race division, with the Rangers and the Astros being the front runners. The dark horse in the division that could make some noise is the Mariners. With the addition of Luke Raley, who is a serviceable lefty bat, Anthony DeSclafani, and the reunion of Mitch Haniger they are a young team looking to make some noise. Then there are the Angels and the Athletics. The Angles have offloaded Max Stassi, and David Fletcher. They also lost, arguably, the greatest baseball player of all time. A truly rough off season so far for a team I project to regress in 2024. The Athletics are a very broken team. They won’t spend money and have no real direction forward. Here’s how I think the division will shake out.
- Texas Rangers (94-68)
- Houston Astros (91-71)
- Seattle Mariners (90-72)
- Los Angeles Angels (68-94)
- Oakland Athletics (52-110)
The final division in the American League is the East, the strongest division in the bunch. The Orioles, one of the youngest teams in the league looking to make a statement as a powerhouse for a long time to come. The Blue Jays, a team that when hot can take down anyone in the league. This year they are looking to be a dangerous wild card team. The Yankees coming off a blockbuster trade for star outfielder Juan Soto will be contenders if they can learn how to play baseball as one group. Then the Red Sox, a team that seemingly refuses to spend money due to a greedy owner, really need to make some moves if they want to compete in the very strong AL East.
- Baltimore Orioles (104-58)
- Toronto Blue Jays ( 95-67)
- New York Yankees (90-72)
- Tampa Bay Rays (85-77)
- Boston Red Sox (75-87)
Now onto who I think will bring home some hardware this year.
AL MVP – Corey Seager
Coming off of the last season that Corey had posted a .327 avg, 33hr, 96 rbi and 1.013 ops. he is looking to make some more noise. If it wasn’t for Ohtani he would have won it last year, now that he’s gone Corey is poised for a MVP campaign.
AL Cy Young – Gerrit Cole
To be honest, I don’t see anyone really getting close to Coles numbers. He doesn’t get hurt and produces a lot. I’m expecting back to back CY Youngs for the right hander. Possibly back to back triple crowns as well.
AL Rookie of the year – Jackson Holliday
I believe that he will get called up mid summer and never look back. He is going to absolutely tear it up and be electric.
AL Hank Aaron award – Vladimir Gurerro Jr.
In 2021 Vlad Jr. came second in MVP voting and was a force at the plate. I expect him to rise close to those numbers yet again and take home the trophy.
