Week of September 11, 2023
This week, the playoff push has settled down a little bit. Here are my predictions for this week:
AL East:
The Baltimore Orioles have been the frontrunners all season. Actually, let’s not forget about the Tampa Bay Rays starting 13-0. But ever since taking over first place in mid-May, the Orioles have shown that their young strength will last a while. Their key young players include Adley Rutschman, Cedric Mullins, and probably the AL Rookie of the year, Gunnar Henderson.
Speaking of Tampa Bay, the Rays are also going to make the playoffs this year. Their pitching has been amazing, as usual. Led by Shane McClanahan, who probably would have won the Cy Young if it weren’t for injuries. In the first part of the year, we saw highlights from rookie Taj Bradley, and offseason acquisition Zach Eflin. Bolstered by great hitting, especially from MVP candidate Yandy Diaz . Randy Arozarena has also been great, and until his unfortunate departure, Wander Franco.
AL Central
In this division, the only team who will be making the playoffs this season is the Minnesota Twins. They have been a pretty consistent team all year, unlike the other teams in their weak division. Leading the way have been Max Kepler, Joey Gallo, and Carlos Correa.
AL West
This division has most definitely been the strongest in MLB this year. With the thee headed monster of Texas, Houston and Seattle, all of whom making the Postseason lead it, following far behind, is the Angels, and even farther behind, the A’s. The Astros, led by heating up Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, and Alex Bregman on offense, and great pitching arms like Framber Valdez who threw the Astros 1st no hitter this year, and Jose Urquidy. For those reasons, Houston is going to take home the 3de straight division title and be the AL 2 seed.
The Texas Rangers in the 2021 offseason acquired Corey Seager from LA, and Marcus Semien from Toronto, after finishing 60-102. The next offseason was possibly the best in MLB Pitching wise with the exception of the New York Mets. Grabbing free agents Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi would soon severely benefit this exciting team. Expected to finish 4th in the division, it is safe to say that they are exceeding expectations. Although recently they have sort of been slumping, they are still a great team, and we are all excited to see the 5 seed Rangers in the 2023 Postseason.
2 years ago, the Seattle Mariners came within 2 games of being in the American League Postseason for the first time in 20 Years, so there fans were hoping for an incredible 2022. They did not disappoint, having a 90-72 record, and Julio Rodriguez won the Rookie of the year. Then, on October 1st, in a game against the Athletics, Cal Raleigh hit a walk off missile to right, ending their 21 year postseason drought. Although they got swept by the Houston Astros in the Division Series, it was an accomplishment for sure. Putting up with Houston and Texas this year was hard, but on the whole, the Mariners are a Playoff competitor in 2023.