Summer is approaching, and so too are its three certainties: road trips, hot weather, and lots of great baseball. Even though school has yet to fully wind down, the Major League Baseball (MLB) season is already in full swing; contenders are emerging, the weakest of the bunch are quickly being exposed, and fantasy baseball matchups are being won and lost every week. The pennant race will be heating up by the start of the next school year, so here are five teams to watch out for as the season unfolds as well as quick picks for major awards in each league.
Kansas City Royals: The Royals have sputtered to start the season, largely due to an inconsistent offense that has suffered from the absence of Ben Zobrist (now with the Cubs) at the top of their order. Nonetheless, having won it all last year, they get some benefit of the doubt, and it’s all the better to see them fail. Kansas City will have to rely on a lockdown bullpen of Kelvin Herrera, Joakim Soria, and Wade Davis; their starting rotation is shaky at best and these dominant relievers helped carry the team to a World Series win last season. Still, there are too many holes in the lineup, even with Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer, for the Royals to seriously challenge for a repeat. They will be interesting to watch, but will ultimately come up short.
Washington Nationals: Bryce Harper may not be a fan favorite anywhere outside of the nation’s capital, but he is one of the top players in the National League, and can make for a dangerous one-two punch with former Cy Young Award–winner Max Scherzer, who recently struck out 20 players in one game. Daniel Murphy, who signed on with his division rival after seven years with the Mets, is leading the NL in batting and will be a key contributor as well. The rotation is as star-studded as any, with Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in the folds, but new manager Dusty Baker has a reputation for overworking his pitchers early in the year and appears to be continuing on that trend. With a bullpen lacking in depth, it will be interesting to see whether or not the Nats can sustain their early-season success.
Chicago White Sox: With General Manager Rick Hahn opting to retool rather than completely rebuild, the White Sox has quietly emerged as a serious contender in the American League, and is impressively built on a foundation of pitching that can succeed in an offense-driven division: the AL Central. Chris Sale may have the nastiest off-speed stuff in the game, and José Quintana is not far behind as one of the best number-two starters. The back end of the rotation has turned in a marginal performance to date, but the back end of the bullpen has made up for that deficiency; setup man Matt Albers only recently had a 35-inning scoreless streak snapped. With big sluggers in the middle of their lineup, the White Sox have proven able to win slugfests and pitching duels, which has carried them to the front of the AL race.
Chicago Cubs: The Cubs, 108-year drought and all, are looking more and more like baseball’s Golden State Warriors. Dexter Fowler, Jason Heyward and Kris Bryant have turned an above-average lineup into a buzzsaw, and the rotation—from preseason Cy Young Award–favorite Jake Arrieta to fifth starter Kyle Hendricks—has been uniformly dominant. However, a regression to the mean is inevitable. The mediocre bullpen and back end of the rotation simply do not add up to the best earned run average (ERA) in the majors. Additionally, the Cubs are vulnerable to dominant pitching in the playoffs, as seen in last year’s sweep at the hands of the Mets. They will be a great team, and it’s never good to bet against manager Joe Maddon, but it would be ridiculous to expect them to win 122 games, which they are currently on pace to do.
New York Mets: With a lineup full of power hitters, a dominant rotation laden with flamethrowers, and everyone’s favorite 42-year old (The Living Legend, Bartolo Colón), the Mets really do have it all. They lead the MLB in home runs, and closer Jeurys Familia has converted 27 consecutive saves, a streak dating back to last season. That’s not to say the Mets are an armageddon prepared to steamroll their competition: they strike out a lot, and expected ace Matt Harvey has pitched more like a run-of-the-mill fifth starter to begin the year. Still, the bullpen will hold its fair share of leads, the otherworldly rotation should heat up as the season goes on, and the offense has already exceeded expectations. The emergence of Michael Conforto and Noah Syndergaard, as well as plenty of bat flips from Yoenis Céspedes, will once again have the Mets near the top of the Senior Circuit.
It will be a great summer and a great season, and hopefully the bunch in Blue and Orange will be well on their way to another NL Pennant when we return in September. Here are a few quick picks for major awards and the World Series winner. Enjoy another great summer of America’s pastime!
American League Rookie of the Year: Nomar Mazara, Texas Rangers
National League Rookie of the Year: Steven Matz, New York Mets
AL Cy Young Award: Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox
NL Cy Young Award: Jake Arrieta, Chicago Cubs
AL MVP: Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles
NL MVP: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals
World Series Pick: Mets over White Sox in six games