Baltimore Orioles
Most of this 2018 the Orioles spent their time watching as their divisional rivals armed and reinforced, including quality pieces, teams like the Yankees brought the undoubtedly can be considered the hitter with more strength in all the big baseball Giancarlo Stanton leagues, The Red Sox are going to tell you that some of the most imposing starter bodies in all major baseball, figures like David Price; Chris Sale etc. they are part of its rotation, and finally Toronto sees with great eyes its great core of players without mentioning its closer Roberto Osuna crashing that undoubtedly will be key to these final inings.
Continuing with the Baltimore issue, only more and more problems accumulate because his closer Zach Britton suffered an Achilles tendon fracture and will miss much of the season, as this is a very serious problem as is seeing how his weighty figure as they are: Adam Jones, Jonathan Schoop, Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo; they accumulate more and more years of experience, but they do not reach important instances and they are letting their best times pass to shine permanently in the MLB, and perhaps for Manny Machado his best and greatest years are coming, but we all do this Question How much longer will Manny be in the Orioles? Because the insistence of teams like Yankees was pressing to take the Dominican to the Bronx and this is added that this could be his last season before being a free agent, all these factors can be very harmful for them and be in the last place of your division like last year.
But it's not all dark for the Orioles. The emergence of prospects like Anthony Santander makes Baltimore think in the near future.
Red sox
After what was done last year in post-season, the red sox were in debt with fans, so to pay off this debt the Boston board moved some strings and brought Alex Cora.
This new manager gives an emotional injection to the team and the fans, due to the successful success that Puerto Ricans have had in baseball in recent years, in addition to the enthusiasm that has the manager, does not need much more because the team that has under his command is top quality with names like Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Andrew Benintendi and company, plus the arrival now JD officer Martinez, which makes Boston have a complete and balanced team in the field, in addition to a bench with a lot of depth.
And not leaving behind the great body of starting pitchers that has Boston that has names like Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Drew Pomeranz and Eduardo Rodriguez; Without a doubt, the biggest challenge that the new manager will face will be to be able to administer the correct form to these great starters.
If he manages to get Chris Sale to arrive in good condition and with strength in his arm to October and get the rest of his starters to overcome the inconsistency this will be a team to fear.
New York Yankees
To talk about this team is to talk about history, rivalry, and power; the latter is what will define the Yankees this season because they managed to bring together a trio of assassins such as Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, to have these great hitters have a good amount of home runs secured all the year, and if this power combines the skills of a Didi Gregorius and others of his teammates we will have an offensively complete team in every way, and without a doubt this is what will take the Bronx to October and if his pitching arrives to gear as expected we can ensure great things for this team as it has names like CC Sabathia, Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka Sonny Gray, Jordan Montgomery; and in the bullpen he has Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances and David Robertson.
So we can conclude that the Yankees are based on their power, but they have a lethal combination of experience and youth in their pitching and if everything happens in the right way the Yankees should be at the October party without a doubt.
Tampa Bay Rays
This team has a very similar scenario to that of the Orioles, only that they bring with them the shadow of 4 seasons with more defeats than wins, which in baseball usually weighs a lot, and if we add the game of their flagship player and captain as it is Evan Longoria, which left the Giants and took with him the most offensive records of this franchise, this can be added the loss of his best starter last season as it was Alex Cobb, leaving the baton to the young Chris Archer, to replace his position, within the difficult years that looms for Tampa are small flashes that may be interesting as they are Denard Span, who will bring his experience to a garden in which with Kevin Kiermaier and Steven Souza Jr. can get to do interesting things; as well as the addition of Cuban Adeiny Hechavarria, a favorite of the fans of the area and who comes to try to alleviate the other penalties that the team will have during the regular calendar.
Manager Kevin Cash comes to his fourth season in charge of this franchise, and despite the problems he has faced, at least he managed to leave a good face for this franchise.
Toronto Blue Jays
When talking about the Blue Jays we must go back to the years 2015 and 2016 when they reached the American League championship series but it is worth remembering that in these years they did not exceed this height falling against Kansas and Cleveland.
Already with the passing of the years the coas have changed a little, because at that time they had great names Edwin Encarnación, José Bautista and Josh Donaldson, were key in the arming and success of these versions of the Azulejos, which at the end they understood that without pitching it is impossible to raise the trophy, and they have begun to make the transition to try to return to the first planes.
In this 2018 he no longer has Edwin Encarnación and José Bautista, one went to Cleveland and another is a free agent this year, those two big absences will have to be solved by the rest of the lineup, who does not seem to have so many weaknesses. The Dominican Teoscar Hernandez arrived from Houston last year and hit 8 homers in September, so we'll see him every day in the lineup, accompanying Josh Donaldson, Justin Smoak, Troy Tulowitzki, Kendrys Morales and Kevin Pillar, a capable lineup to take away the Azulejos.
Already focusing more on what the pitchers are Toronto has brought the Mexican Jaime Garcia to reunite him with his countrymen Marco Estrada and Roberto Osuna, and thus have a body of starters and reliever to sit in the environment, has these 3 we can add Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, JA Happ and Joe Biagini, three reasons to see the Mexican flags waving in Canada, three hopes of returning to a Fall Classic, after a quarter of a century of absence.