With the 2020 MLB season rapidly approaching, it’s time for the annual End of the Bench predictions. For added fun this year, we are going to include record projections as well! Let’s begin with AL East:
Yankees 104-58, AL East champions
Rays 93-69, 2nd Wild Card
Red Sox 81-81
Blue Jays 78-84
Orioles 56-106
It’s no surprise that the Yankees are expected to run away with the division. With the big offseason acquisition of Gerrit Cole, who immediately steps in and becomes the ace of that pitching staff, followed by a full year of Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, JA Happ and a expected return on Jordan Montgomery. The unfortunate news here is that James Paxton is expected to miss up to four months after a recent back surgery. The hope is that he can recover quickly and return to the rotation by early June. As far as the bullpen looks, the Yanks have a returning cast of characters; Chapman, Britton, Green, Kahnle and Ottavino. These 5 help make up one of the best bullpens in the bigs.
In terms of the offense, much of the same as 2019 with one big addition. After appearing in just 24 games last year, Miguel Andujar is ready to come back and make a big splash in the middle of that Bronx Bomber order. The belief is that he will step into the DH spot while Gio Urshela, one of the biggest surprises last year, keeps his glove in the hot corner. Then, of course, New York will have DJ LeMahieu at 2B and Gleyber Torres taking over at SS with the departure of Didi Gregorius. In the OF, Stanton, Gardner and Judge from left to right, with Aaron Hicks expected to miss most of the season after Tommy John surgery in October. Along with other big bats like Voit at 1B and Sanchez behind the plate, it’s understandable why the over/under for the Yanks is 101.5 wins.
We see the Rays with another 2nd place finish behind manager Kevin Cash, who I feel keeps getting overlooked for Manager of the Year. Tampa Bay did lose a few bats with Avisail Garcia leaving via free agency and Tommy Pham being traded to San Diego. The did get back slugging OFs Hunter Renfroe and Manuel Margot, with Renfroe replacing Pham in LF. Tampa will also rely heavily on Auston Meadows, Brandon Lowe, Ji-Man Choi, Yandy Diaz and Mike Zunino, who they acquired by trade with Seattle. They’ll also need their defensive star in CF, Kevin Kiermaier, to step up offensively.
The Rays pitching staff will be anchored by Cy Young finalist Charlie Morton, who hopes to continue his dominance as he enters his age 36 season. Following him in the rotation is former Cy Young winner Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. The Rays were also a big proponent of using the opener last season, so we’re expected to see Ryan Yarbrough in a similar role again in 2020. The Rays hope they will also see young arm, Brent Honeywell, who will be returning from injury and two way player Brendan McKay. Another 90+ win season and Wild Card birth for the Rays seems to be inevitable.
Now the Red Sox surprisingly finished 3rd last year with their best player in Mookie Betts. Now that he’s gone to Hollywood, I don’t see how they will replace his production in that lineup and still compete in the division. Sure, Boston will still have Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi and JD Martinez, but the loss of Betts will hurt. The four above will have to step up, along with Bradley Jr., Moreland and Vasquez and the new addition of Alex Verdugo, who will slide into Betts’ spot.
The staff is still going to be led by Chris Sale, but they also lost David Price in that same deal that sent Betts to L.A. What will be key for Boston in terms of the rotation will be an impressive return of Nathan Eovaldi, who appeared in 23 games with 12 starts in 2019. The question will be whether the Sox plan for him to be in the rotation full time or continue with being back and forth between starter and reliever. His last eight appearances were as a starter last year, so that may be best considering how light the rotation appears to be. The bullpen will have to look for another shutdown season from Brandon Workman, as well as strong years from Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier and company.
The Blue Jays are a team to watch in 2020. They are filled with young, hungry kids who are ready to play. Vlad Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Rowdy Tellez, Danny Jensen. Their lack of experience is the one thing going against them, but anything is possible as today’s stars seem to be getting younger and younger. The pitching staff has improved thanks to the addition of the NL ERA leader from last year Hyun-Jin Ryu. LIke Cole with the Yanks, Ryu will step in and become the ace in Toronto. Rounding out that rotation will be Tanner Roark, Matt Shoemaker, Chase Anderson and Ryan Borucki. The one other big arm the Blue Jays have for them is their closer Ken Giles, who converted 23 saves in 24 opportunities last year and pitched to a 1.87 ERA.
Lastly, see what I did there, we have the dreadful Baltimore Orioles. I don’t have much to say about them other than they are, once again, expected to be the worst team in the league. Baltimore fans do have some good players to watch. Guys like Trey Mancini, Austin Hays and Anthony Santander. They also do have Rookie of the Year finalist John Means at the top of their rotation, who hopes to build off his very good rookie season of 2019. As far as their win-loss record looks, I can’t see how it can be much better than their 54-108 record of last year. They will finish at the bottom of the division once again.
