A review of the fast starts in the American League is hard to do, what with the distracting sounds of Red Sox fans defenestrating themselves throughout the country. If there’s anything to take away from the first three or four games of the season -- and there usually isn’t -- it’s that an Orioles/Royals ALCS would be awesome. Seriously, imagine how fantastic it would be to watch Chris Tillman pitching to Alex Gordon in October as Fox executives bang their heads against a wall. Beautiful.
The First To Three Wins In The American League
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Now imagine a hyper-intelligent mastodon thawing out from a glacier and teaching the world how to get along. Also beautiful. Also as likely. But the first week of the season is for dreaming big, and here is why the teams who made it to three wins before everyone else can feel good about their team. Four out of the six teams in first place at this time last year did go on to win their division, after all. Science!
Why the fast start hints at something promising
The transformation of the Orioles’ lineup this offseason was pretty danged impressive. The team went to the Nordstrom’s Rack of baseball, picking up Derrek Lee, Mark Reynolds, Vladimir Guerrero, and J.J. Hardy for a fair price, overlooking the irregularities and cosmetic quirks that made them available at a discount. While it’s not a great lineup, Baltimore did an outstanding job of acquiring help that wouldn’t delay any rebuilding efforts, but should still help the team improve in 2011.
Why the wins could be a mirage
Oh, that AL East. The Orioles are up against three legitimate contenders in an unbalanced schedule, and the Blue Jays are a team that could contend in some of the other divisions around baseball if they were given the chance. It’s a rough draw, and even if the Orioles make dramatic on-field improvements this season, they could be obscured by the rough competition they face. And if Brian Matusz is hurt for an extended period of time, any hopes of an unlikely surge will be even more unrealistic.
Why the fast start hints at something promising
They’re the Yankees. They win a lot of games. This has gone on for a couple of decades now. But this year the questions with the rotation make the Yankees a little different, a little less invincible. The solid start from Ivan Nova, though, has to relax a few folks, and even though A.J. Burnett couldn’t make it past the fifth inning of his first start, it must have been nice for Yankees fans to see him strike out five and only walk one.
Why the wins could be a mirage
The Case of Phil Hughes’s Declining Velocity is an unwelcome mystery novel for the Yankees to curl up with at the start of the season. Everyone is focused on if the back-end of the Yankees’ rotation can hold up -- no one has dared to think what could happen if the front two don’t perform as well as expected. If C.C. Sabathia gets off to his traditional slow start, you might be able to see the smoke from the looting from as far as Delaware.
Why the fast start hints at something promising
This might be a taste of 2013, which could be a prospect-filled and nourishing climb out of the decade-spanning doldrums. For now, it’s just a fluky start against a struggling Angels team, but it has to feel good for Royals fans. The promise, then, is that this is a stepping-stone season -- a season in which the Royals figure out who is going to be invited onto the contending-team escape pod, and who is going to be left behind with the scorched earth. And if they can win a few games in the meantime, great.
Why the wins could be a mirage
Call me crazy, but that Melky Cabrera/Jeff Francoeur combo in the outfield doesn’t fill me with a ton of confidence. Nor do about 23/25ths of the rest of the players on the roster. Just hope that the Mayans were wrong, Royals fans.
Why the fast start hints at something promising
Even though the Boston Red Sox have already won the 2011 and 2012 pennants, there’s that oh-so-quaint chance that the Rangers, who actually won the thing last year, could surprise a few folks. Seriously, though, with all of the attention focused on the departure of Cliff Lee, it’s worth noting that Adrian Beltre is a fantastic upgrade, at least in the short-term. The Rangers have a very good team, and their demolition of the Red Sox should make Texas fans pretty ecstatic about their start to the season.
Why the wins could be a mirage
With the loss of Lee and the injury to Tommy Hunter, the Rangers look an awful lot like the Reds as far as rotation depth. Alexi Ogando, Matt Harrison, and Derek Holland are going to throw a lot of innings in Arlington, and there’s a decent chance that the results won’t be able to catch up with the obvious talent right away.
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