The 2024 Major League Baseball regular season is officially a week old, which essentially means that every team will trend through the whole season in the exact way that they’re trending now, right? Let’s talk about six of these potential cases.
Boston Red Sox
The BoSox are off to a 6-2 start, including five straight wins heading into their game against the Angels tonight. Their first round of the rotation was pretty impeccable for a team that had one of the worst starting pitching ranks in Spring Training. While a 1.60 ERA through eight games is impressive, I don’t see it continuing. This is a pretty lackluster Sox team that hasn’t played any games against the potent AL East yet. While there are worlds in which Boston doesn’t finish at the bottom of the division, I would say that their pace doesn’t continue.
Cleveland Guardians
One of the favorites to win the AL Central, Cleveland has roared out of the gate in 2024 to the tune of a +30 run differential through the team’s first eight games, which tops baseball. While this number is heavily weighted by an absolute thrashing of the OAKLAND Athletics, I’ve always loved Cleveland’s offense of contact specialists, who currently rank seventh in batting average and eleventh in OPS. Shane Bieber’s Tommy John surgery aside, Cleveland’s no slouch, but I still like the Tigers to win the AL Central, so I’ll say their pace might continue.
Texas Rangers
The defending World Series champs are off to a torrid start in 2024 for the same reasons why they won the World Series in 2023: their offense is crushing baseballs. Despite the loss of Josh Jung due to injury, the Rangers can more than compensate on the back of perennial MVP candidates Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Adolis Garcia, all of whom are off to great starts. And I haven’t even mentioned rookies Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford yet. This one is easy; the Rangers’ pace will continue.
New York Mets
Yuck, yuck, yuck. A rock bottom start for the Mets has them at the bottom of the National League in too many offensive categories to count. Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, and Brandon Nimmo have not seen the baseball like they usually do, and the starters and bullpen haven’t been able to compensate for it much. Believe me, come the Deadline, conversations about Pete Alonso will be plentiful. There’s no way the Met hitters repeatedly face the bad BABIP luck they’ve been seeing, but this might be the beginning of the end for this lineup in blue and orange. Their pace will continue.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Call me crazy, but the Pirates might be back. While I don’t want to fall into the same trap with Pittsburgh as I did when they started last season 20-10, I have to say that this Pirates team is different. Oneil Cruz is back; new pitcher Jared Jones has shown some promise; and the lineup as a whole is mashing. When Paul Skenes joins this rotation, it might be a true coin flip as to who wins the NL Central. But I’m not going against my Cincinnati Reds, so I’ll say the Pirates’ pace might continue.
San Francisco Giants
A middle-of-the-pack Giants team might’ve been a fair prediction before they spent like crazy during the back half of the free agent cycle, except that’s where they stand a week into the season in the NL West. A 3-5 start might not be what the Bay Area faithful had in mind, but they’ve played tough NL West opponents in the Padres and juggernaut Dodgers quite well. I just don’t think their -9 run differential is as indicative of true talent for this team as it might be for others. Their pace won’t continue.
Comentarios