By Mickey Donovan Posted May 29, 2013
In April, I wrote an article with my predictions for the 2013 MLB season without having a lot of knowledge about the teams this year. As the 2013 MLB regular season is underway, teams start to rise and fall. There are no obvious World Series champions. But there are teams that are rising to the top and teams with much potential fall to the bottom.
National League Central: The red-hot St. Louis Cardinals have been dominating all of their competitors with a record of 20-11 within the first couple of months of the regular season. Key players such as Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina are the reasons why the Cardinals are in first place in the National League Central Division. The Cardinal’s pitching coach, Chris Maloney, has also developed a very dominant pitching staff.
National League West: Once again the Giants are leading the West. Their record is 19-12. One of the reasons why the Giants are leading their division is because of their home record, 11-4. Away, the Giants are not so strong with a record of 8-8. Although the pitching staff has not been as dominant as it was the past few years, they can still definitely pick up wins when they need to.
National League East: The Braves have one of the best hitters in all of baseball right now, Justin Upton. Upton has an impressive 12 home runs already. He is on track to have a very good season. The Braves currently stand in first place in the division with a record of 18-12.
American League East: Everybody is pulling for the Yankees to win the division but most of the starting crew for the Yankees are injured. Since the Yankees are weak this year, the Boston Red Sox are off to have a successful season. The Red Sox are currently standing with a record of 20-11. The Yankees will manage a way to pull ahead of the Red Sox even without their star shortstop Derek Jeter.
American League Central: Justin Verlander is one the most dominant pitchers in the American League having an ERA of 1.55 and a record of 4-2. The Tigers pitching staff is far from having an unsuccessful season. Also, key offensive players such as Miguel Cabrera help the Tigers. The Tigers will make it into the playoffs, but not any further than that.
American League West: With the disappointment of last season, the Angels are going to do whatever they can to have a winning season. In the last article, the Angels were my top pick for the AL West. I was wrong, very wrong. The Angels are competing with the Astros for last place. Currently, the Angels’ record is 20-11. One of the reasons I picked the Angels in the first place is because of the new star rookie Mike Trout. I will not deny, he is still having a very successful season at the plate. But other new players that the Angels picked up in the off-season such as Josh Hamilton are very short of having a successful season. Even with the three most powerful hitters in the division in their lineup, they can’t seem to get it together and bring a World Series championship back to Southern California.
