Winners and losers from spring training 2018
As spring training comes to an end, it’s time to assess who the real winners and losers are as Opening Day approaches.
Breathe baseball fans, the start of the 2018 season is finally among us.
With the slow but significant offseason finally behind us, this upcoming season has the potential to be one of the more exciting years we’ve had in quite some time.
Many notable players swapped teams and brewed the perfect recipe for a frenzy in many of the divisions in baseball.
However, before we look forward to this season, let’s take a look back at what transpired this spring.
Winner: Toronto Blue Jays
It’s no secret that the American League East is now a two-man race, a race that doesn’t include the Toronto Blue Jays.
It wasn’t the present talent of the Jays that makes them winners; it’s what their future studs put on display this spring.
Top prospects Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette showcased their talents loud and clear to everyone in baseball. While the sample sizes are a bit small, Guerrero gathered six hits in 11 at-bats, and Bichette went 3/9 with a home run.
Blue Jays fans don’t have much to be excited for this year. However, they can look forward to what the future has in store for them.
Loser: New York Mets
It seems like only yesterday that the Mets shocked the world by winning the National League, and moving on to the fall classic.
Only yesterday is a very different day than today.
The young starting pitching that was supposed to carry the Mets for years is almost depleted. The “five aces” as they were once referred as is now down to two aces.
Steven Matz, Matt Harvey, and especially Zach Wheeler struggled mightily to put together a productive spring training.
Matz posted a 6.30 ERA, Harvey showed no signs of returning to his former self, and Wheeler did not even make the roster.
On top of all struggles, their young pitchers had, their newly acquired veteran left-hander Jason Vargas will start the season on the DL.
The DL was a familiar place for many Mets players last year, hopefully, that doesn’t happen again.