Who Are the Favorites To Win the 2017 MLB Season?
Last season saw many teams rise and fall and gain stardom along the way; while some individuals struck out and others hit homers, but overall, it was a great season. David Ortiz retired and the Cubs broke their one hundred and eight year old curse of winning a World Series. 2016 was a good year for baseball with the comeback of a century in the World Series and the rise of many young stars that could make the 2017 season a real treat.
Spring training has given us a taste of what is to come with some highlight reel plays and storylines that couldn’t be found anywhere else in the world; baseball is back and in full effect. Spring training more importantly has shown the baseball world who is in and who is out, at least to some degree. There are teams like the Cubs, who are in 2nd to last place in the Cactus League, but no need to worry, the Cubs will continue to make playoff runs for years to come if they can keep the same core and develop some of their better young stars like Kyle Schwarber and Addison Russell. And then there are teams like the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels, who are on top of the Cactus League, but I wouldn’t expect to reach a playoff berth because they simply don’t have the depth and roster match ups to make a deep run into the playoffs, or even the regular season. Out of the Grapefruit League, the Toronto Blue Jays may be at the bottom now, but expect them to be a force to be wrecked with. The New York Yankees in contrast, are a team that is 21 – 7 in Spring Training and if they can keep that young core consistent, expect for the Yanks to be in a playoff position this upcoming year. Overall, teams from both leagues have produced amazing plays and were given standing ovations in response, but there also has been a few too more mistakes for some managers to be comfortable with their teams going into the regular season.
The teams that will be playing in the playoffs will vary from surprises like the Colorado Rockies to expected teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, and of course, the Chicago Cubs. I think National League teams in particular have an advantage because they have predominantly better teams with more depth. Teams like the Dodgers and Pirates are teams to watch because of their young cores that could launch them into the World Series. A team that prior to last year wouldn’t have had this much depth, but due to trades, now does, is the New York Yankees. With the Yankees ability to always seemingly make a run for a playoff spot and their laundry list of prospects, they have the ability to shoot to the top of the AL in the upcoming regular season. I would expect nothing less than for the Yankees to become everyone’s favorite team again because of their young core that could create a dynasty in the Bronx or could fall to pieces and leave them with nothing, but a bunch of bad trades. Hopefully it is the former!
Even though all 30 teams have a chance at capturing the Commissioner’s Trophy, the realistic teams are: the Chicago Cubs, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Boston Red Sox, the Washington Nationals, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Cleveland Indians. Teams that could upset the favorites stated above are the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers. The outright favorites are the Los Angeles Dodgers because they have a roster destined for a championship. The past few years the Dodgers have always had a championship caliber team, but was always missing something that couldn’t put them over the finish line before everyone else. That “missing something” is consistency and the Dodgers might have just solved that problem with a deep roster full of potential stars that could slot into a mixture of position for the overall success of the team in this upcoming season. Andrew Toles, who is expected to start in left field this regular season for the Dodgers was bagging groceries for the entire 2015 season because no team wanted him at the time. At the age of 24, he is taking on the National League by storm and only because the Dodgers were in desperate need of help last year. Toles was able to climb the ranks of minor league ball and slot right into his starting position now, truly showing the dynamic of the farm system that the Dodgers have and culture that the Dodgers preach for a the betterment of their team. Andrew Toles has been just one player on the team who exemplifies this Dodgers’ characteristic and because there are enough players on the team that have bought into this culture, the Dodgers will be in playoff position because of it.
The only other teams that I could see beating the Dodgers are the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox because of their sheer talent and ability to win games. Both teams have the best pitching rotations in their leagues and some of the best offense in Major League Baseball, so I wouldn’t doubt them for a single second. No matter who is crowned victorious in the fall, the 2017 MLB regular season is about to start and that is all that matters.
Just to remind readers, the first regular season game will be the New York Yankees facing off against the Tampa Bay Rays in a 1:00pm ET thriller on Sunday, April 2nd!
