There are a few interesting things going on with the start of the 2019 Major League Baseball season, and with power brands such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. And we’ve even had a few surprises such as the Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays.
For the Yankees, they’ve gotten off to a bit of a slow start currently sitting at 6-9 on the season. For the Red Sox, it’s been a bit worse placing themselves with a 6-11 record, already 6.5 games behind the first-place Rays in the American League East. For New York, it’s 5.5.
And speaking of the Rays, they’ve been one of our surprises to start out the season blazing out to a 12-4 record. They’ve been on a tear winning seven out of their last 10, and are a steamy 7-2 on the road and ripping opposition up at home as well with a 5-2 record.
Off to an even hotter start has been Seattle, launching themselves to a dominant 13-5 season here to start out things. The Mariners have won six out of their last 10, and have compiled a sexy 8-1 record on the road. Here’s the crazy thing about that too: The majority of their games have been away ones, and they still have the nice record that they do. Their struggles have been at home. At T-Mobile Park, Seattle is 5-4. Road warriors and that’s it? The Mariners need to win those home games, especially as the season gets longer and longer.
But here’s what Tampa Bay and Seattle need to realize if they already don’t: A Major League Baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. Some of that winning and productivity needs to be saved for the entire stretch, it’s only April after all.
Wow, what an interesting start we’ve gotten off too.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were one of the top favorites to win the World Series before the season started, and now they’re the outright favorite — at least for right now. It hasn’t been the hottest start for the Dodgers, but it’s been a solid one at 9-8 just 2.0 games back behind the San Diego Padres for the lead in the National League West. In L.A., they secure a 6-4 home record, but their struggles on the road are there at 3-4. It happens though.
The main reason for the winning record of Los Angeles is the production from Cody Bellinger, he’s been on absolute fire here to start out the 2019 campaign. Just check out these numbers: .411 AVG, 7 HR’s, 19 RBI’s — If he can keep up those numbers, Bellinger very well may be our MVP. Still, a long ways to go though. Oh, and by the way, he leads the Dodgers in all three of those categories (batting average, home runs and runs batted in). On the pitching side, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kenta Maeda, and Ross Stripling have been putting in work here in the early part of the season. Jin Ryu leads the Dodgers with a 3.07 ERA, Maeda has tallied two wins, and Stripling has compiled 15 strikeouts.
Collectively as a team, the Dodgers have been killing it in each of the four mainline offensive statistical categories of runs, batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage.
In the scoring department, the Dodgers rank 2nd in Major League Baseball with a total of 96 runs, just four under the 100 mark. The only team that has been able to accomplish that so far this season has been the Seattle Mariners with a total of 117. In batting average, they rank 3rd in the MLB currently with a solid average of .281. In on-base percentage, the Dodgers sit at the top of the entire league with a .377 average. And the domination doesn’t stop there: They also place second in the rankings for slugging percentage with a tally of .565.
On the pitching side, it hasn’t been as smooth sailing for the Dodgers. In the Earned Run Average category, the Dodgers are in the middle of the pack sitting in the 17th spot with a little-too-high 4.86 mark. In quality starts, they drop a little lower in the No. 18 position with just four. In the WHIP category, they’re a little bit better ranked in the 11th spot with a figure of 1.262. The Dodgers sit at No. 13 with the BAA statistic placing a number of .250. In other words, the pitching needs a little work.
When the smoke clears, the Dodgers should be on top of the National League West, and also should be in position to make a deep run for a possibility of a third straight World Series appearance. Right now as things stand, I can see that happening. I don’t know how you can’t have Los Angeles as the favorite to win the National League right now — too loaded. As far as the World Series, I’m still a little hesitant to agree with Vegas completely on this one. Two appearances in a row, two losses in a row. That concerns me about it possibly happening a third time. Time will tell.
The New York Yankees have gotten off to a slow start at 6-9, going 3-3 on the road and even a less stellar 3-6 at Yankee Stadium. They’ve stepped it up a bit, however, winning seven out of their last 10 games. Right now, they place 5.5 games behind the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the American League East. If I’m a Yankees fan (which I am), I wouldn’t be concerned about the slow start. Like I’ve already mentioned: “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” Yankees should be good to go as the season progresses.
Leading the damage in batting for the Yankees has been DJ LeMahieu, Gary Sanchez and Luke Voit. LeMahieu leads the team in batting average with a figure of .410, while Sanchez leads the way in power with six home runs. Voit is once again doing his thing this season, leading New York in RBI’s with 12. Masahiro Tanaka, Domingo German, and James Paxton all do their thing on the pitching side. Tanaka leads the team in earned run average with an amazing tally of 1.47. German leads in wins with two, and he also adds 10 strikeouts to his stat sheet. And speaking of strikeouts, new acquisition Paxton has been lights out doing his thing with nearly 20 strikeouts at 19.
Surprisingly, it hasn’t been the most dominant season offensively for the Yankees. They place a little bit above the middle of the pack in the MLB rankings in the No. 12 position as far as runs are concerned — they’ve tallied 61 for the season.
In the batting average category, New York manages to put themselves into the Top 10 here in the early part of the campaign. They rank 10th with a .259 average. They’re also listed in the Top 10 with their on base percentage — they rank 7th with a .353 OBP. In slugging percentage, they’ve once again slipped into the Top 5 with a mark of .479 — that has them in the No. 5 spot overall in the league.
As the Yankees offense continues to progress, the pitching has been taking hits as well to start out the season. Their earned run average could be better, but their 3.77 mark isn’t bad having them 12th in Major League Baseball. The quality starts could be better, they rank all the way in 24th with just a total of three. In the WHIP category, they fall just below the middle of the pack at No. 18 with a number of 1.352. The BAA is also a struggle for New York, they rank No. 17 with a .244 average.
Right now, the Yankees sit 4.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the first place spot in the American League East. As we approach the end of the season, I see the usual suspects of the Yankees and Red Sox battling it out for supremacy of the division — though don’t be surprised to see the Rays hold their own and make a magical run for the AL East, or at least a Wild Card.
The World Series Champions from two seasons ago have gotten off to another solid winning job, starting off with an 11-5 record and place two games behind the Seattle Mariners. But there’s some caution for concern, and that comes on the road at a dismal 5-5 here in the early season — obviously, that desperately needs to be cleaned up as the year progresses. At their home stadium in Minute Maid Park, Houston still holds on to an undefeated record at 6-0. With the 10-5 start, however, the Astros get the idea of “it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Leading the offensive production for the Astros is former MVP Jose Altuve, who is leading the team in each batting average, home runs and runs batted in. In batting average, Altuve has been on absolute fire this season with a .333 average. His home run production is almost at the 10-mark, -3 away with a total of seven home runs for the season. With that being said, it shouldn’t surprise you that he’s also leading the RBI category for Houston at 13. Justin Verlander, Collin McHugh, and Gerrit Cole are the ones leading the pitching staff for the Astros so far this season. McHugh had led the way in Earned Run Average with a mark of 2.65, while Verlander covers the team in wins with two to start out the season. Cole has compiled 36 strikeouts.
The Astros have done a great job offensively this season, well, except for actually scoring runs. Here are the power statistics for Houston: They’re tied for 1st in Major League Baseball with the Seattle Mariners with a .284 batting average. They also place 7th in on base percentage with a .353 mark, while sitting a bit higher in 3rd with a .479 figure in slugging percentage.
All sounds good, right? Here’s the thing though: In runs scored this season, they only have 64 total to rank 18th in MLB. Fortunately for Houston, they still manage to have a successful winning record of 10-5.
Pitching wise, Houston has been on point all across the board in the four mainline statistical categories (earned run average, quality starts, WHIP, BAA) — they rank in the Top 5 in three of the four, and place in the Top 10 in the other. In earned run average, they place 7th in Major League Baseball with a mark of 3.25. In quality starts, they lead the league in that statistic being the only team with double figures at 10. They also place high at 3rd in the majors in WHIP with a number of 1.023. And like I said, they’re excellent across the board, they have another Top 5 ranking of No. 4 in BAA at .209.
The Seattle Mariners have gotten off to a remarkable start at 13-4, but the Houston Astros have held their own in keeping up with the Mariners here in the early season — they’re only 2.0 games behind Seattle for the lead in the American League West. I have my doubts about the Mariners keeping up with Houston and the Oakland Athletics, but it can certainly happen. They showed themselves to be a winning team last season. At the end of this year, I see the Astros pulling out the division, with the Athletics clinging on to 2nd for a possible wild card.
After acquiring Bryce Harper right before the start of the season, and other talents in the offseason, it seems to be that their “spending money stupidly” plan is working with a winning 9-5 start. Even though it’s a long season, Philadelphia has found themselves in the lead in the National League East. In offensive production, the Phillies are solid ranking No. 9 scoring 76 runs for the season. Everything looks sweet, but there’s an issue: Their 22nd ranking in ERA at 5.20. That’ll have to get cleaned up drastically.
The Boston Red Sox have just gotten off to a horrible start, tallying up a 6-10 record to have them placed third in the American League East — six games behind the Tampa Bay Rays. The main reasons for the slow start is average hitting, and to put it honestly, dismal pitching. In offensive production, Boston has only tallied 69 runs for the season and places 14th in the rankings. Here’s where the problem is for the Red Sox: Their 6.27 mark in the ERA statistic, that places 28th in Major League Baseball. And this is why they’re 6-10.
Nearly accomplishing a World Series appearance last season, the Milwaukee Brewers have came out of the gates hot this season as they’ve gotten off to a 10-6 start, and putting themselves on the top of the National League Central. The main reason for their success is good hitting, because it certainly isn’t their pitching. In runs scored, the Brewers rank 8th in Major League Baseball with a total of 77 runs. As far as their pitching department, it needs a little work. Milwaukee ranks 20th with a 5.11 ERA.
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