2019 MLB season: Which is the best team in the AL?

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With the 2019 MLB season winding down, the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, and Minnesota Twins have all had dominant seasons. Which is the best?

As we approach the end of the 2019 MLB season, the current wild card standings show the Tampa Bay Rays holding on to a slim, one-game lead over the Oakland Athletics and Cleveland Indians.

The Rays seemingly have an infinite depth of players, who they can conveniently bring up and contribute on an everyday basis. Their bullpen is the asset that allows them to deal with a plethora of starting pitching injuries and mishaps.

The A’s have a similarly deep bullpen as well as the power it takes to get to an opponent’s starter. The flaw that both pf these clubs cannot cover for is that they have a lack of experience and even though bullpen depth plays very well in postseason series, a lack of rotation depth can be a death sentence.

A far more experienced team resides in Cleveland, yet their injury woes have seriously hamstrung them. Jose Ramirez is likely done for the year and Danny Salazar and Corey Kluber‘s returns have taken significant detours.

Overall, these three teams would all be a tough matchup in a series, yet just do not have the depth or fortune it takes to conquer a club such as the Houston Astros or New York Yankees.

(Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) /

2019 MLB Season: Best AL Team

The Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins are where they are at the top of the AL Central for the sole reason of their prolific power. The pitching and bullpen are solid- Jake Odorizzi and Jose Berrios standing out from the pack.

They currently have eight batters with more than 20 home runs and two players- Max Kepler and Nelson Cruz– who have posted 35 or more long balls. In essence, their lineup is reliant on the home run and those disappear in October.

Of course, the best hitters still run into them, the issue is when a team is only striving to hit the ball over the wall, a pitcher can easily take advantage of that. Minnesota is in the top 10 in the league in regard to the fewest strikeouts.

Thus their team is driven by great hitters, who of course, drive the ball with such force that it gets out of the stadium with relative ease. In fact, they lead the league in OPS and SLugging percentage.

The pitching is also quite solid according to the numbers, as they hold the eighth-best ERA. The main issue is the depth because they will not have the advantage of facing the hapless Tigers, White Sox, and Royals in the postseason.

The Twins pitching staff will be challenged in the postseason and if they are up to the task, they can be much more formidable than anyone is willing to give them credit for. However, their inexperience will cause most analysts to bet against them- fair or not.

In conclusion, despite a relatively solid 2019 MLB season from the Twins staff has a lack of swing and miss stuff, which the Yankees and Astros are saturated with.

2019 MLB Season: Best AL Team

New York Yankees

This Yankees roster may be packed with more home run potential than any team ever to set foot on a baseball diamond, yet it is entirely possible that they do not reach the Fall Classic. Their bullpen is an asset and they have a few starters that can more than do the job.

Despite all of this praise that everyone has heaped upon the Bronx Bombers, there is a real truth that their lineup- outside of D.J. LeMahieu and possibly Brett Gardner– is entirely one dimensional and would make for an easier matchup for top-end pitchers.

Injuries have also played a major role here, as Giancarlo Stanton remains out, so do Dellin Betances and Luis Severino. Their absence significantly cuts deeply into the depth of the Yankees bullpen and rotation. That was the reason why a bullpen addition- given that they did not add to the rotation- was the logical decision at the July 31 trade deadline.

The mistakes of inferior pitchers will not be there as often in the postseason, as teams only offer up the toughest matchups due to the importance of each and every pitch. Also, the Yankees do not have the same types of batters as the Twins, having struck out far more frequently.

The most difficult part about it is the Houston Astros are the perfect matchup to quell the Yankees strengths.

2019 MLB Season: Best AL Team

Houston Astros

More from Call to the Pen

Finally, the Astros top of the list for one reason, obviously their starting rotation. Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and Zack Greinke will be starting six out of seven games in a playoff series. If that is not a daunting task, perhaps one does not exist.

This is the sole reason the Yankees will struggle in this matchup. All three aces have the capability of racking up bizarre numbers of strikeouts and the solid defense behind them provides them with tremendous support.

Once the bullpen comes into play the playing field is strikingly even, as stud reliever Ryan Pressley’s absence has left Roberto Osuna on an island and his potential absence from the postseason makes Houston’s bullpen stunningly average.

It is abundantly clear that through the Astros and Yankees flaws a potential series between the two would go for a tension-filled seven games. However, the Yankees need to bear down and opt to not hit the long ball in every at-bat. If they are always swinging for the fences, they cannot possibly manage to get Verlander or Cole out of the game early. However, by working the count and providing tough at-bats, they can make a large difference.

In essence, the answer to the best team in the AL is a flip of a coin. Both teams have obvious strengths and injuries have created clear weaknesses as well.

Next. The Twins elite reliever you probably never heard of. dark

The one thing that favors the Astros, in the end, is that they match up far better against the Yankees than vice versa.

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