Earlier today we took a look at just how low the
expectations for the New York Yankees were on the ESPN side of things, or BSPN as
I like to call them when they are being what I feel to be anti-Yankee, so now
we will look at a prediction from a publication I trust, the USA Today. The USA
Today is usually pretty anti-bias in their predictions and in their write-ups
but they apparently aren’t too keen on the Yankees chances this season either
unfortunately. Thankfully for the Yankees though is a lot can happen between
today, the middle of February, and the end of September and the beginning of
October. Injuries can occur, prospects can come up and make an impact, big
money free agents can falter in their first years with a new club and a
plethora of other reasons. That’s some of the many reasons I don’t put much
stock into these rankings.
If you want to see the complete rankings head over to the
USA Today and check them out but we will focus on the American League East
Division here since this is a Yankees blog and all.
1.
Boston Red Sox (88-74)
2.
Toronto Blue Jays (86-76)
3.
Tampa Bay Rays (83-79)
4.
New York Yankees (83-79)
5.
Baltimore Orioles (78-84)
According to these rankings the Blue Jays would host the
Texas Rangers in the Wild Card Round while the Kansas City Royals would miss
the playoffs entirely. Meanwhile Boston’s win total was bumped by the Kimbrel
trade, the Price acquisition and a “MVP” ceiling year for Mookie Betts. I’m not
sure I would go that far but they called their predictions “semi-scientific” so
who am I to argue, right? The publication may be stretching a bit on Mookie but
they seem spot on in their worries about the Yankees. This is only a four win
deduction from 2015 and the publication points out that the team got over 50
home runs from Alex Rodriguez, who turns 41 this year, and Carlos Beltran, who
is 39-years old, and has question marks everywhere in their rotation.
Hopefully we’ll look back on these predictions and the
earlier ESPN predictions in October and laugh. Either we’ll laugh because they
were wrong and the team far exceeded expectations, which I truly think that
they can, or we’ll laugh to keep from crying as we watch David Ortiz go for one
more World Series ring before riding off into the sunset. Let’s hope for the
former and not the latter…
No comments:
Post a Comment
Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)