It's Time For An American League Checkup.
Well Everybody, We Are Past The First Half Of The 2019 Major League Baseball Season. I Am Going to Give You a Checkup Of Each Division And I Have Some New Predictions Going Into The 2nd Half Of The Season. And Don't Forget We Have The All-Star Break And The MLB Trade Deadline Coming Up, So Anything Can Happen, Keep That In Mind.
The American League East, I Precited The Boston Red Sox, BUT I HAVE CHANGED MY MIND. I Am Going With The New York Yankees, And Here's Why.
The New York Yankees...
What The Yankees Have Done Is Something Else To Write Home About. About Half Of Their Rooster Is On The Injured List, You Can Almost Do a Whole Lineup Card Of Hurt Yankees. But Despite All Of That The Yankees Have The Best Record In The American League. And How Have They Done It, Well When You Look At The Offensive Production Of Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez And a Few Others You See What I Mean. Gary Sanchez Has 23 Home Runs, 52 RBI's And With An OPS Of .939 You Can See Why Sanchez Is The Hottest Thing The Yankees Have. I Have Not Forgotten About Two New Yorker's That Were In The Farm System When The Season Started. DJ Lemohieu He Leads The Team In Hits with 101 And He's Hitting .336 This Season And He Has Been Great And The Yankees Won't Let Him Go. Luke Voit Is In The Same Boat To, He Does Have 17 Home Runs, 49 RBI's This Season, And With An OPS Of .877, He Can Hit And Do It In The Field As Well.
The Yankees Have Some Pitching As Well. How About Domingo German, He Was Not On The Rooster When The Season Started. But With a 9-2 Record, 77 Strikeouts And An ERA Of 3.86 You Can See Why He's The Hottest Pitcher On The Mound. Masahiro Tanaka Is Another Pitcher For The Yankees, I Know He Did Not Get Out Of The First Inning Tonight But He Does Have a 3.21 ERA. Aroldis Chapman, He Does Have 23 Saves With a 1.45 ERA. So As You Can See The Yankees Are The Team To Beat In The American League.
Boston Red Sox...
I Am Going to Keep It Simple, The Red Sox Have Been BAD THIS SEASON, They Have Gone From First To Worst In a Single Season. Chris Sale, Last Year's AL Cy Young, Has a 3-7 Record With a 3.82 ERA. Eduardo Rodriguez Has The Best Record Of 8-4, But He Has a 4.87 ERA. Now As Far As The Hitting Goes They Have Been Good This Season. The Red Sox As a Whole Have an OPS Of .792, That Needs Some Work. JD Martinez Last Year's AL MVP Has Been a Little Off, He Does Have 17 Home Runs Along With 45 RBI's This Season And Also Has .287/.364/.528 This Season. The Red Sox Have to Step It Up, I Am Talking About Everything From Pitching And Hitting If They Want to Comeback To Win The AL East.
American League Central...
My Original Pick, The Cleveland Indians, I AM CHANGING MY MIND And Going With The Minnesota Twins And Here's Why.
The Minnesota Twins...
The Minnesota Twins Have Shocked Major League Baseball, At One Point They Had The Best Record In All Of Baseball. I Know That The Twins Have Cooled Off a Little But They Are The Team To Beat In The Central And Here's Why. The Hitting Has Been Great. The Twins Are On Pace To Set The Home Run Record Set By The Yankees Last Year. Jorge Polanco Has Been Some Of a Savior For The Twins. How About 102 Hits, He Leads The Team, He Been Hitting .319 This Season And With An OPS Of .901 You Can See Why He's a Keeper. Eddie Rosario, He Leads The Team In Home Runs And RBI's And His Numbers Are Good But Can Use Some Work, /.282/.312/.529/ And With An OPS Of .841 Rosario Needs To Work On His OPS As Well.
The Twins Pitching Has Been Great This Season. Jake Odorizzi, He Has 94 Strikeouts This Season And Also Has The Best Record Of 10-3 With an ERA Of 2.73. I Would Want This Guy On My Pitching Staff Any Day Of The Week. Jose Berrios, He Leads The Team In Strikeouts With 102, And With an 8-4 Record To Go With a 2.89 ERA He Would Be On My List Anytime. Taylor Rogers, He's Been Fantastic In The Bullpen, How About 10 Saves With a 2-1 Record And an ERA Of 1.98. That Would Be My Go To Closer In Clutch Situations If Need Be.
Cleveland Indians...
What's Going On With The Cleveland Indians, Well The Only Two Offensive Producers This Season Are Francisco Lindor And Carlos Santana, Everybody Else Has Been a Nightmare. Lindor Has 12 Home Runs And 27 RBI's And He Leads The Team In Batting Average With a .294, That's Not Good And The Team OPS Has Been .727 While Opponents Have Had An OPS Of.733, That's Why The Indians Offense Has Been Not So Good.
The Pitching For The Indians Has Been OH BOY!!!!, Trevor Bauer Leads The Team In Strikeouts With 134 This Season, But He Has a 6-6 Record With a 3.55 ERA, You Never Know What You Are Going to Get With Him. Shane Bieber, How About a 6-3 Record But His ERA Is 3.83 And He Does Have 122 Strikeouts This Season. Brad Hand Is The Best Closer On The Staff, He Does Have 22 Saves And With a 2.36 ERA You Can See Why The Indians Want To The Ball Over To Hand In Clutch Situations.
If The Indians Want To Catch The Twins In The Central Division, They Have To Get Hot Now And Stay Hot!!!!!.
American League West, I Am Sticking With The Astros, But Don't Take The Rangers Lightly...
Houston Astros...
The Astros Hitting Has Been Up Or Down, But Michael Brantley Has Been Up. The Former Cleveland Star Leads The Team With 98 Hits, And With a .314 Batting Average You Can See Why This Change Of Venue Was Right For Brantley, But He Needs to Work On His OPS, His OPS Is .865, That Needs Some Work. Alex Bregman, He Leads The Team In Home Runs And RBI's This Season. He's Also Been Slugging. 536 This Season So Bregman Is a Go Big Or Go Home Hitter. Now That's Good Sometimes But He Needs To Do The Little Things And His Batting Average Which Is at .270 Can Go Up. Bregman Is a Hot Slugger But Let's Work On The Batting Average. George Springer, He Has An OPS Of 1.026, He's Been Hitting .310 This Season. Springer Is The Hot Hand For The Astros This Season And You Can See Why.
The Pitching For The Astros Has Been Great, Now Before You Say The Justin Verlander Show Has Arrived We Have Other Pitchers To. But Since I Did Mention Verlander, He Has 142 Strikeouts This Season And Has a Team Best Record Of 10-3 With a 2.67 ERA. Gerrit Cole, He Leads The Team In Strikeouts With 151, The Only Concern I Have Is a 7-5 Record, But His ERA Is 3.42, Now Cole Has Been 2nd Banana To Verlander But Gerrit Cole Could Take The AL Cy Young Away From His Teammate, Just Something to Think About. Roberto Osuna, He's The Best Closer On The Astros Staff, How About 17 Saves, a 3-1 Record and a 2.18 ERA This Season. The Astros Could Run Away With The American League West.
Texas Rangers...
The Rangers Have Been a Sleeper This Season, They Are Only 4 1/2 Games Behind The Astros Right Now. How Have The Rangers Got Themselves Into This Position. How About Elvis Andurs, He Leads The Team In Hits With 91. He Does Have a .307 Batting Average Despite Only Having Seven Home Runs This Season. Joey Gallo, He Leads The Team In Home Runs with 19 This Season And He Has an OPS Of 1.091 And He Has Been Slugging .667 This Season, So Joey Gallo Has Benn The Power Hitter. But The Rangers Hitting Needs Some Work
Rangers. .256/.335/.451 OPS .786
Opponents .267/.338/.451 OPS .790
The Rangers Need To Hit Some Balls And Do Some Small Things If They Want to Win Some Ballgames.
Now The Pitching For The Rangers Has Been Up Or Down, Here's What I Mean. Lance Lynn, He Does Lead The Team In Strikeouts With 118, He Does Have a 10-4 Record But He Does Have an ERA Of 4.00, The ERA Needs to Comedown Some Because IF The Rangers Want to Get Into The Postseason, He Has To Step Up. Mike Minor, He Has 110 Strikeouts This Season, To Go Along With a 8-4 Record And a 2.40 ERA. This Would Be Pitcher I Would Want On The Mound To Go Deep Into Ballgames If Need Be. Shawn Kelley, How About 11 Saves Along With a 3-2 Record And 2.79 ERA This Season. He Would Be In My Bullpen With Numbers Like That.
The Rangers Need to Hope That The Astros Start The 2nd Half Of The Season With Verlander Having An ERA Of 5.00 Or 6.00 And The Rangers Are Going to Have to Get Hot The Rest Of The Way.
