Is the 2020 MLB season the year of Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels?
Yes, there will not be any trash cans to help the Houston Astros out during the 2020 MLB season, but this lineup is still easily the best in the American League West.
Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, George Springer, Carlos Correa, and Michael Brantley will be providing the power this season in Dusty Baker’s lineup, but we know they will produce.
The starting pitching is the big question mark in terms of how far they can make it into October.
The last sight that Astros fans got to see last season was Gerrit Cole sitting in the bullpen in Game 7 of the World Series while the Washington Nationals celebrated in their own field.
Now Cole is in the Bronx and Justin Verlander is back to being their best pitcher.
Verlander and Zack Greinke are not the young spring chickens they used to be and nobody knows how Lance McCullers Jr. is going to pitch after coming back from injury.
The Astros have plenty of talent even without Cole to take the AL West yet again, but we have to wait and see if they have enough to beat the Yankees.
Just like the Rays, Bob Melvin and the Oakland A’s are always in contention despite not having a huge payroll like the other large-market teams.
Their pitching should improve this season with young guns like Jesus Luzardo and A.J. Puk being in the starting rotation.
But what will carry the club this season will be their offense. Marcus Semien nearly won the MVP last season at shortstop, and the two Matt’s–Matt Chapman and Matt Olson–were pillars in their lineup.
Khris Davis is their x-factor for the 2020 MLB season because in 2019 he struggled with his power, so if he can get back to hitting a bunch of home runs as he did in 2018, the A’s will be playing in October yet again and might get past the Wild Card.
A lot of readers might expect to see Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels in the third spot, but they don’t have the pitching that the Rangers have.
Texas would have been set up pretty good if they just would’ve stuck with Mike Minor and Lance Lynn at the top of the rotation but GM Jon Daniels went out and acquired Corey Kluber, Kyle Gibson, and Jordan Lyles to put the Rangers in a position to stay in ball games every single day.
Robinson Chirinos has returned to be their catcher and Todd Frazier has been added to their lineup as their third baseman. Add him to Joey Gallo and Elvis Andrus and you have a decent lineup.
Again their starting pitching is going to be the key this year but if they get anything more than they expect from the offense, they could surprise some people.
The Angels have the best player in all of baseball and then added Anthony Rendon to a long seven-year deal. Shohei Ohtani is back from Tommy John surgery as a pitcher once a week and then a DH the rest of the time, but their problem is the same problem it has been for the last few years–the pitching.
Andrew Heaney is going to be their “ace” this season followed by two guys that haven’t been great the last few years in Julio Teheran and Dylan Bundy.
Teheran lost more games than he won in 2019, leading the league in hit batters while Bundy led the league in home runs given up just two years back.
Their lineup is pretty star-studded–Trout, Rendon, Ohtani, Albert Pujols, Justin Upton, and Andrelton Simmons–but their pitching is definitely not. Joe Maddon will need to work his magic if the Angels want to reach October for the first time since 2014.
The Seattle Mariners always seem to get off to a hot start and so you might be seeing them near the top of the division at the beginning of the year, but they always fall off and I don’t expect any difference this year.
GM Jerry Dipoto has set up his club to be in a position to win in the future. Justus Sheffield was acquired from the Yankees, Jered Kelenic was brought in when they shipped Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano to the Mets in what turned out to be a very lopsided traded in Seattle’s favor, and Kyle Lewis has a very bright future.
But in terms of this season, all signs point to them being at the bottom of the AL West with Scott Servais using this year as a developmental two-month season for all of the young players that will get an opportunity to show what they can do.
Marco Gonzales will be the team’s Opening Day starter vs the Astros on July 24.