The New York Yankees have been anointed the odds-on favorites to win the World Series and the best team in baseball, but they have to watch out for these five challengers.
No team in Major League Baseball has been hotter than the New York Yankees the past three weeks. The Bronx Bombers have won 17 of their last 19 games and 19 of their last 22. The widespread panic about the team after its 9-9 start is a thing of the past.
Since they began their run, the Yankees have been an absolute wagon. They have pulled ahead of the Boston Red Sox (who had their own 17-2 start to the year) and have gotten Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez hot. The Yankees have the best offense in the AL, and Stanton and Sanchez are still performing well below the height of their powers.
The Yankees are quickly driving up their odds to win the World Series, to the point that they have nearly eclipsed the defending champions from Houston. Their offense is still on track to be historically good, as is their bullpen, which should set all sorts of strikeout records. On paper, the Yankees are just impossibly good and do not appear to have an Achilles heel. Their biggest question is the starting rotation, but how much that matters with a group of relievers getting over half their outs via the K remains to be seen.
We are fast approaching the point where it is no longer premature to anoint the Yankees the World Series favorites, but these five teams will still have plenty to say about it all year.
5. Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers were mostly viewed like a pesky younger brother begging for attention this winter after they traded for Christian Yelich and signed Lorenzo Cain to build a formidable outfield. The Chicago Cubs made bigger headlines by signing Yu Darvish and the St. Louis Cardinals acquired the better Miami Marlins outfielder in Marcell Ozuna. The Brewers were given a nice pat on the head, had their success in 2017 written off, and were picked by most to finish third in a tough division.
It has not gone that way at all.
The Brewers are in first place with a small lead while the Cubs, who have spotted them a few games once again. Milwaukee is a year older and wiser, and will not let the lead evaporate a second time.
Milwaukee’s offense still doesn’t draw enough walks and strikes out a ton, but Yelich and Cain have provided stability to counter all the young guns. The Brew Crew rotation has been good but nothing to write home about (same as the Yankees). It’s the bullpen that will give teams fits in October. Josh Hader has 50 strikeouts in 25 innings, Jeremy Jeffress has a 0.40 ERA through 22 games, Matt Albers has been great and Corey Knebel, who struck out 14.9 per nine last year is getting healthy. To top it off, Freddy Peralta struck out 13 in 5.2 innings of relief in his MLB debut.