3 American League teams facing a make-or-break June

One quick look at the American League standings shows that there is very little room and I mean, very little room for any mistakes. It is clearly a tougher league than the National League, from top to bottom.

The American League East is a monster of a division with all five teams over .500, the only division in both leagues that can say that. The Central Division is very similar to the NL Central, mediocrity could very well be good enough to win a flawed division. In the AL West, the two Texas teams are leading the way, while the other teams continue to spin their wheels in, well, mediocrity.

Six postseason spots are up for grabs in the AL, but unlike the National League, it’s going to take a strong four months to get one of those spots. If you’re in the AL East, it’s going to be a long summer where a significant losing streak can be the difference between playing October baseball to watching it from home. It’s not out of the question that four of the five teams could find themselves in the playoff field. Yes, it’s a long shot, but not impossible.

The two teams from Texas, the Texas Rangers, and Houston Astros, will have a say in that, but the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners are two teams capable of making a move for a berth. Both teams face a big stretch coming up in June. With that said, here are three teams that need to have a strong June to avoid being sellers at the trade deadline on August 1.

Los Angeles Angels

Out of all the teams in the majors, no team will be closely watched more than the Los Angeles Angels. Why? It’s simple really for two reasons.

First off, it’s almost an annual tradition that they play good baseball in April and May and look like a playoff team, only to slowly fall off following Memorial Day Weekend and find themselves digging too deep of a hole to be close enough to claim a playoff berth. Second? That’s easy, Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani’s impending free agency following the 2023 season has teams lining up to make a bid for his services. If he hits the free agent market, this will be a lot different than Aaron Judge’s free agency last offseason. It never felt like he was going to leave the New York Yankees, despite multiple teams making a run at the 2022 home run King. Ohtani feels different.

It’s bad enough that the Angels are spending Mike Trout’s prime years playing out the string in September, but doing so again this season should be a warning sign to Ohtani that winning in Los Angeles might not happen with the Angels. Making a move across the city to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, however, could be a path to winning for him, and what a story that would be.

It is also possible that the Angels decide to trade him at the trade deadline, but it’s very unlikely unless they get the sense he’s gone for good over the winter. Having to deal with the Rangers is one more obstacle for Los Angeles to deal with this season and a tough June, which has started off by losing three out of four in Houston, could be a serious dent into the postseason hopes and Ohtani’s future with the organization.

Toronto Blue Jays

Last season, the Toronto Blue Jays made the playoffs as a wild card, but dropped their best two out of three series at home to the Seattle Mariners. It was disappointing, but it was thought of as the beginning of a run that Canada’s only MLB team was going to make to October baseball.

A young team full of offensive talent up and down their lineup and a pitching staff that made strides in 2022, it has been the first two months of the 2023 season the Blue Jays and their fans hoped it would be. The Tampa Bay Rays are the division’s measuring stick, while the Baltimore Orioles continue to prove that they are on the up and up.

Then there’s Toronto. Stuck in fourth place behind the Rays, Orioles, and New York Yankees, they have been getting enough offense to win games, but until their weekend stop in New York over the weekend where they swept the Mets, pitching has been their biggest question mark. Alek Manoah is not having anywhere the season he had last season and they need more of him.

Offensively, they are going to score runs with a lineup that can be a nightmare for opposing pitchers with George Springer, Bo Bichette, Vlaadamir Guerrero, Jr., and Matt Chapman leading the way. Chasing the Rays, Orioles and Yankees are not what the Blue Jays want to do all summer long.