AL East Preview
The AL East will be a very competitive division this year and there will be a few surprises as there always are in this division.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays have sat around Wild Card contention, and this may be the year they finally break through and win the division.
Toronto only lost Ross Stripling in the offseason and continued to build around a young and promising roster.
The addition of Chris Bassitt makes the rotation much deeper than it already was and they traded from a position of abundance in catcher for Daulton Varsho who will fit in nicely to the lineup.
If Brandon Belt and Whit Merrifield can find their swings and Erik Swanson continues to be a solid bullpen arm, the Blue Jays will be a serious World Series threat this year.
New York Yankees
The Yankees have a lot of talent but the question so far will be if they can stay healthy and hit around Aaron Judge.
New York will rely on DJ LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and Josh Donaldson to provide offense around Judge.
The starting pitching has been injury plagued to start the season with injuries to Carlos Rodon, Luis Severino and Frankie Montas but ace Gerrit Cole is still anchoring the rotation.
Boston Red Sox
The hardest team to predict in the last ten years has been the Boston Red Sox who lost Xander Bogaerts and Nate Eovaldi in free agency.
Boston has a few new names such as World Baseball Classic star Masataka Yoshida, Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen, Corey Kluber and rookie Tristan Casas.
The Red Sox have seen a few injuries already in Trevor Story, Brayan Bello and Garrett Whitlock but they will look to replace them with Christian Arroyo and Kutter Crawford.
The bullpen will work itself out in the season but they will likely carry Jansen, John Schreiber, Chris Martin, Ryan Brasier and Kaleb Ort throughout the season.
Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles will rely on their youth movement this season as Adley Rutschman returns for his second season and rookies Gunnar Henderson and Kyle Stowers will likely make the Opening Day lineup.
The Orioles have a very talented and underrated outfield with Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays they will make up a lot of Baltimore’s offense.
The starting pitching is a huge question mark with veterans Kyle Gibson and Cole Irvin leading the way along with Kyle Bradish getting his first full season at the MLB level.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays seem primed to disappoint as they did not add much in the offseason as everyone else in the division has been.
Aside from Randy Arozarena and Wander Franco, the lineup is not that scary and pitchers should be able to navigate it pretty well.
The starting pitching will be solid as they are led by Shane McClanahan but after him, they will look to Zach Eflin, Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen to pitch a lot of innings for them this season.
The bullpen is essentially a two-headed monster with Pete Fairbanks and Jason Adam and it will be interesting to see who else steps up.
James Morrison is a Junior majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact him, email jpm6920@psu.edu.
