With the 2011 MLB season just around the corner, fans around the nation are making their predictions.
While everyone is busy predicting their favorites, I'll get to work on predicting my least favorites—the teams that are going to come in last place of each division in the American League.
AL EAST
This one is tricky.
With the Boston Red Sox's flurry of transactions, they certainly won't be in last.
Although the Yankees seemingly lost big this offseason, they're essentially the same team that won the World Series two seasons ago, so it won't be them either.
Now, it comes down to the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles.
I'll start with the Blue Jays. They will most likely come in third this year, behind some combination of the Red Sox and Yankees. Heck, they may even be good enough to come in second place.
That leaves the Rays and Orioles.
The Rays were a heck of a good team just a few seasons ago and have consistently been towards the top of the American League since their World Series run in 2008.
Yet, they have lost some very important pieces this offseason. The Rays said goodbye to Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Grant Balfour, Rafael Soriano and Matt Garza. It should be difficult to cope with that kind of a loss.
The Orioles, on the other hand, have made tremendous strides this offseason.
They focused mainly on enhancing the infield, rather than the pitching staff. Their infield now consists of Derrek Lee, Brian Roberts, J.J. Hardy and Mark Reynolds. This is much better than last season's opening day infield of Garret Atkins, Brian Roberts, Cesar Izturis and Miguel Tejada. Plus, Vladimir Guerrero is the new DH.
Baltimore did bring in starter Justin Duchscherer to help the young guns progress, so it's really hard not to like the Orioles.
So, with all of that being said—and I'm sure I'll be catching some heat for this—my bold prediction is the Tampa Bay Rays will finish last in the AL East this season.
AL CENTRAL
The AL Central is generally the weakest division in the American League. Even though there is always a close race for the top spot, it is almost always between two or three good teams—never any great teams.
This season figures to be much of the same.
I see the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox battling for the top spot. That leaves the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians at the bottom. Not only are both of those teams the bottom-feeders of their division, they're probably the two worst teams in the league.
So, how do you pick the worst then?
I'm not really sure to be perfectly honest, but I guess I'll have to give it a try.
Let's start with the Indians. The rotation really has no proven starter other than Fausto Carmona, and he is so inconsistent, it's even hard to call him a "proven starter." The outfield may be the only strength of this team, and that's if they all stay healthy.
Top prospect Michael Brantley figures to be the everyday left fielder, and he is one hell of an athlete. The oft-injured Grady Sizemore will be manning center field if all goes well and Shin-Soo Choo, probably the best player on the team, will be the right fielder.
The infield is a disaster.
Matt LaPorta will be at first, and he has yet to live up to the hype the Indians created when they acquired him in the CC Sabathia deal. Asdrubal Cabrera, Orlando Cabrera and Jayson Nix will man second, short and third, respectively. Highly-touted prospect Carlos Santana will be catching, and he may prove to be a bright spot for the Tribe this year.
The Royals' rotation may be even worse than Cleveland's, though.
Since shipping away Zack Greinke, the Royals have done nothing to fill the void and seem perfectly content with a rotation of Luke Hochevar, Kyle Davies, Vin Mazzaro, Jeff Francis and Sean O'Sullivan.
Luckily, they do have some bright young players who may finally shine this season.
Alex Gordon will get the chance to be the everyday left fielder, Lorenzo Cain will be given every opportunity this spring to beat out Melky Cabrera for the center field job, Mike Aviles will be at third, Alcides Escobar will be at short and Kila Ka'aihue will be at first.
Look for Escobar and Ka'aihue to contribute big this year, big enough to help the Royals win some games this season.
Between the Indians and Royals, I'm going to have to choose the Indians to come in last. Their infield is stocked with role players at best, and aside from Choo, their outfield could be a question mark.
Sorry, Cleveland, there's always next year.
AL WEST
Personally, I'm excited to watch the AL West shape up this season.
The Texas Rangers are the defending American League champs, the Oakland Athletics look like they mean business and the LA Angels have been a competitive team since Mike Scioscia became manager.
Who does that leave us with?
The Seattle Mariners, of course.
The Mariners do have arguably the best pitcher in the American League in Felix Hernandez and the best right fielder in Ichiro Suzuki, but they don't have much else.
After Hernandez, the rotation consists of Jason Vargas, Doug Fister, Erik Bedard and Micheal Pineda. Pineda is one of the M's top prospects, but I wouldn't expect much from him in his first season.
It's safe to assume the Mariners' infield will hit no more than 30 home runs this year, as Justin Smoak will provide the only power. Second base will be played by Brendan Ryan, Jack Wilson will be at short and Chone Figgins will be at third.
Jack Cust, the human strikeout machine, will be the DH, and journeyman Miguel Olivo will be catching.
The outfield (besides Ichiro) consists of Franklin Gutierrez in center and prospect Michael Saunders in left. Saunders showed some power, hitting 10 home runs in 289 at-bats last season.
It'll be a very rainy season for the Mariners this year, both literally and figuratively.
The Silver Lining in an Otherwise Grey Cloud
The only positive that may come from watching these rather bad teams this season will be seeing the young talent develop. When they all develop, we could be seeing a much different list, but they haven't yet, so the Rays, Indians and Mariners will still be in last.
It will be interesting to see if Joe Maddon, Manny Acta or Eric Wedge will be on the hot seat come July, but we'll see.
Regardless of who's bad and who's good, it'll be a very interesting 2011 baseball season.
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