A lot has changed in baseball over the last eighty years, expect for the monumental structure that resides at E. 161st Street and River Avenue in the Bronx.
The Royals have been major players in the free agent market, making a big run at Andruw Jones while signing Jose Guillen, but they did lose David Riske to the Brewers.
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Considered the dominant league for the entire year, the final four teams left in the American League will give any opposing manager restless nights as he looks over the roster. With dominant pitching and loaded line-ups, weaknesses are hard to find, but we will do our best to break down each of the four teams and provide the eventual winner.
Cleveland Indians:
They only have one regular who hit over .300 this season and that was catcher Victor Martinez at .301. Seven of their other starters though are all hitting at least .270. The team lacks playoff experience, which could spell problems for surprise starters like Ryan Garko and Asdrubal Cabrera. Outfielders Trot Nixon and Kenny Lofton will be valuable with their experience in not only the playoffs, but in the World Series as well. The key question is designated hitter Travis Hafner, who has struggled this year, but they need his power to get the offense going. Also watch for centerfielder Grady Sizemore, who is a budding star the national scene doesn’t know much about.
C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona are both Cy Young candidates and will carry the load for the Indians this October. Both pitchers logged at least 215 innings this year. Carmona has better stuff with the best sinker in the game, while Sabathia will be the workhorse. Also, look for Pual Byrd to make a difference in his starts. He has a 4.59 ERA and has allowed 239 hits in 192.1 innings, but his 15-9 record shows he’s a fighter. The bullpen could be their biggest weakness. Closer Joe Borowski is very hittable and the bullpen lacks depth and if their starters get knocked out early too often, it will be an early exit for the Indians.
New York Yankees:
This offense is almost unfair. Alex Rodriguez leads the show with .314/54/156 in a certain MVP season. In total, they have four hitters hitting at least .300 and six hitting at least .280. The stars in this line-up speak for themselves, but I would worry about the production of guys like Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi and Melky Cabrera because they seem to inflate their numbers against lesser opponents. Cabrera will be able to compensate for a lack of hitting with a great outfield arm and range.
The pitching could go either way, but I think its pretty good. Chien-Ming Wang has had a great second half and Andy Pettitte is a playoff proven winner. He also has been throwing well, while logging a team high 215.1 innings. The rest of the rotation has big question marks in Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina. The bullpen is great at the end with Mariano Rivera, but like Cleveland, they lack depth. Joba Chamberlain will be this year’s version of Joel Zumaya, but if they are extended too much, I don’t think even this offense can score enough to keep them advancing.
Boston Red Sox:
This line-up rivaled that of the Yankees’ for most of the year before injuries and a lack of production set in. Designated hitter David Ortiz had another good year and third baseman Mike Lowell had a great year. This offense, I think, could be the best in baseball, if they can get Manny Ramirez back to his old form and if J.D. Drew can get his mind right. Can they do that in a few days? No, but they have speed and smart hitters throughout this line-up to give the offense another dimension. However, without Ramirez and Drew at top notch, this offense will struggle with consistency.
Pitching is also very good, but with question marks are abound. They have a star in Josh Beckett and then the potential for difference maker starters in Daisuke Matsuzaka and Curt Schilling. Both have shown dominance this year, but they have also had too many average to below average outings to be fully trusted. The bullpen was supposed to be a strong point, but Eric Gagne has been a bust since the trade. When Jonathon Papelbon gets overworked, his stuff gets more hittable, but with the only other reliever, Hideki Okajima wearing down, they will have to rely on Papelbon more if they want ot advance.
Los Angeles Angels:
The offense is tough to figure out as I think they will struggle at points to score enough to win. They do a better job than anyone in baseball of manufacturing runs with speedster Chone Figgins. Vladimir Guerrero and Orlando Cabrera are stars in their own rights, but overall, this club can go through stretches of bad offense. To be good enough on offense, they need one more player to step up and make sure Guerrero stays healthy enough to be a force in the middle of the line-up.
Pitching and defense is what the Angels are about. The rotation took a blow with the ineffectiveness and injuries to Bartolo Colon, but John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar have been very good this season. The bullpen is still tough at the end with Scott Shields and Francisco Rodriguez. To win, they will need to play mistake free baseball and get timely hits late in the game. If they can’t control the opposition’s offense, it will be a short October in Los Angeles.
Winner:
I picked them in March and I will stay with them. I like the Boston Red Sox because I believe in Manny Ramirez and this will be the time Daisuke Matsuzaka shows his vast potential to this country. They have too much offense and pitching to overcome any small deficiencies and will make a return trip to the World Series for the first time since 2004.
Who do you think will win the American League? Email your thoughts to Douglas.Benton@realgm.com
