Author: Andrew Valdes
The baseball season has been well under way for over week now and a whole lot has gone down within the first week of play. And while the thought of putting out an American League preview a week after opening day kicked off may seem silly, we here at the Oxy Weekly do not want to show any bias towards the National League so here is your American League Preview.
Instead of going on a team by team rundown, I am choosing to focus on the teams who have the best shot to win this year’s pennant. Starting with my favorite to make it to the Fall Classic, descending down to my dark horse pick.
Angels: given the tragic passing of Nick Adenheart, followed by their heated encounter with the Red Sox days after their commemoration of the fallen pitcher, look for the geographically challenged team from Orange County (seriously wtf does Los Angeles of Anaheim mean?) to play with a lot of fire and a lot of passion this season. As it stands they are my favorite to capture the pennant. This season.
Red Sox: The pitching staff has only gotten stronger with the addition of Penny, Saito, and Smoltz and having the reigning AL MVP on your squad isn’t such a bad thing either. I am taking the Sox to win the division over the Yankees and if they manage to meet the Angels in the post season I would not be surprised to see the Sox continue their post season dominance over the Halos.
Yankees: So C.C. Sabathia got railed in his first outing, Mark Texiera is struggling at the plate so far, Jeter is starting to show signs of his age, and A-Rod is a shit show all in itself. You gotta give it to the Bronx Bombers, at the very least they keep things entertaining. Unfortunately to be able to see this traveling circus in action at their new home it’ll probably cost you an arm and a leg and in this economy I mean that literally, you know what limbs are going for on the black market these days.
Rays: Last year’s story book season came to an unfortunate end, but fret not Rays fans (all six of you), the team is bringing back nearly their entire squad and is looking for a repeat performance of last year. And for the most part so far so good. Evan Longoria has been on fire to start off the season, B.J. Upton continues to develop into a fine player, and Carl Crawford coming back from an injury plagued season is looking to have the break-out year he is capable of. Along with one of the league’s most well rounded offenses the Rays bring an equally impressive starting rotation. Unfortunately for the Rays they are in the same division as the Sox and Yank’s who are both fiending to find their way back to the top of the baseball world and it looks as if they might have the edge on the Rays.
There you have it. While this list of contenders may seem a bit short ,do you honestly seeing anyone from the Central Division or anyone in the West outside the Angels putting up much of fight… no seriously…really? I mean The Royals have a great shot to win the division that should say something.
All in all I would look for a rather mild and predictable season from the AL. The East will be a dog fight until August where one team will eventually fall by the way side, The Central will be mediocrity at its best and the West is essentially the Angels to lose. Nonetheless the fact is if you are a sports fan, after the NBA and NHL playoffs, your choices outside of baseball are the MLS and WNBA, enjoy.
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