When it comes to the projected top of the American League East standings in 2023, most experts agree it will be a battle between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees for division supremacy.
Sure, the Tampa Bay Rays and even the Baltimore Orioles could well be in the battle for a postseason spot, but it is the Blue Jays and Yankees that most oddsmakers put as the top two in the American League East for the upcoming season. One of the biggest reasons for that? The projected lineups rolled out by the two clubs on Opening Day and beyond.
Best lineup on MLB Opening Day: New York Yankees or Toronto Blue Jays?
For this article, we’re going to look at projected lineups and their wRC+ (which is explained here) for the upcoming season. A quick shout-out to Eric Treuden, who is the site expert at our sister site, Jays Journal, for doing the work and creating a Twitter thread (you can see here) on the subject, detailing all of the projected lineups and their associated in the AL East.
As you can see from the thread, Treuden used FanGraphs Depth Charts as the determination for the numbers in this article. Also, as a reminder, 100 wRC+ is considered league average.
Let’s start this article with the Boston Red Sox, the team projected by FanGraphs ZiPS to finish last in the AL East with a 79-83 record.
2023 Boston Red Sox projected lineup and wRC+
LF Yoshida 138
SS Hernández 101
3B Devers 138
DH Turner 120
RF Verdugo 116
CF Duvall 103
1B Casas 122
2B Mondesí 87
C McGuire 88
Team average — 112.6
Note: It’s certainly a different Red Sox team in 2022 without Xander Bogaerts, who left in the offseason for a big contract in San Diego. Without Bogaerts and Trevor Story (out with elbow surgery to start the season), what will Boston look like up the middle and at the plate?