At the time this is being written, most if not all teams have had all pitchers and catchers report to spring training, meaning that we are now in the 2023 MLB Season. In the coming days, we will run through outlooks, predictions, and analyze each teams chance of making the postseason, and winning the World Series. We will also each teams future, taking a look into each organizations depth and farm systems.

Here are the Vegas odds to win the AL East, according to BetMGM sportsbook:

For the most part, the odds are fairly accurate, but the Vegas numbers do not reflect how close of a race this talented division can be.

We’ll be grading these teams out of 60 points. 6 categories graded out of 10. Those topics are:

• Lineup
• Position Player depth
• Rotation
• Bullpen
• Overall Pitching Depth
• Farm System

Here are our projections, with win totals and each teams outlook:

Division Winner: New York Yankees; 102-60

Everyones clear-cut division winner, the New York Yankees are expected to be back atop the AL East, but it very well could be less of a cakewalk this season.

The Bronx Bombers enter this year, after having a quiet, but successful offseason, extending the franchise cornerstone OF Aaron Judge, signing the starting pitcher they’ve wanted since his days as a White Sox starter in Carlos Rodon, and signing a strong veteran clubhouse presence in bringing back reliever Tommy Kahnle for his 3rd stint with the Yankees.

However, one might fairly argue that they did not add anything to the streaky offense, who had no answer for the Astros in the ALCS, and the Guardians for a good portion of the ALDS. Although it is a fair assumption to make, the Yankees should have a surplus of in-house reinforcements that can be deployed early on. The long anticipated debut of top prospect Anthony Volpe is near, as some people inside the Yankees front office have said that Volpe has an outside chance of being the starter on opening day. His hitting was exceptional in both of his seasons as a professional baseball player, posting a .249 BA with a .342 OBP, and .802 OPS with a very exceptional .460 Slugging. Although it was a regression from his .294/.423/1.027 from 2021, it could still turn out to be well enough to win a job as the yankees opening day SS if he plays well enough. Volpe might have a chance, but to win the job, he will have to outrun Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and another top SS prospect in Oswald Peraza.

Oswald Peraza, who is the safest option to start out at SS, had a solid first stint as a big leaguer, posting a .306/.404/.832 in 16 games as a Yankee. He has an exceptional glove, showing off some flashy glove work, which would give him a clear edge over IKF. The yankees plan all along the last few years was to have Peraza come up now, and the Yankees are now ready to execute. They have had confidence since he started as a pro at age 17, and the hope is to pair him up with Volpe in the infield sooner rather then later.

As for the other lineup hole in LF, its expected to be some sort of rotation between Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Cabrera, and maybe some of Rafael Ortega. GM Brian Cashman will certainly look to trade Hicks to shed some of his 7 year $70MM contract that runs through 2026, where he has a club option, taking him through his age 36 season.

On the pitching side, they have a top 3 rotation in the MLB, even after losing Frankie Montas to a shoulder injury. The staff of Cole, Rodon, Severino, Cortes, and German/Schmidt is going to be scary good. The depth in the minor leagues is slightly shorter however, now having to lean on prospects Matt Krook, and Jhony Brito if anyone from the top 6 goes down, unless they are able to get Luis Gil back, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Frankie Montas trade was detrimental to the yankees depth, as they traded away 3 Top pitching prospects in Luis Medina, J.P. Sears, and Ken Waldichuk.

The bullpen should once again, not be a concern for the Yankees, as they have should have no issue closing out games, with Clay Holmes, Wandy Peralta, and Jonathan Loaisiga as high leverage guys. Tommy Kahnle and Michael King both returning give them even more options, as closing out games should not be an issue on most days.

Full Rankings for the New York Yankees:

• Lineup: 8.9/10
• Position Player depth: 8/10
• Rotation: 9.3/10
• Bullpen: 10/10
• Overall Pitching Depth: 7/10
• Farm System: 8.7/10

TOTAL: 51.9/60

2nd Wild Card: Toronto Blue Jays; 93-69

After coming off a disappointing 2022 season, The Blue Jays are hoping to have a happy ending to the metaphorical movie that Vladimir Guerrero Jr has in mind. The Jays have had an interesting offseason, losing Ross Stripling, Lourdes Gurriel, and Teoscar Hernandez, but they made some solid acquisitions in both their lineup and pitching core. They added some solid bullpen pieces by picking up Erik Swanson and Chad Green (out for 2023 w/Tommy John rehab), who should help to pick up their lackluster bullpen. Chris Bassitt was acquired to become a rotation upgrade from Ross Stripling, who signed with the Giants. As for their lineup moves, they made up for the loss of Gurriel and Hernandez by acquiring Daulton Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier, and Brandon Belt.

The Jays lineup is definitely their strength. They have multiple players such as Santiago Espinal, Cavan Biggio, and Whit Merrifield that can play multiple positions. Their versatile roster can cover anywhere if a player takes a rest day or hits the IL. There is two hitting related topics to look out for in spring training. One being the performance of Cavan Biggio. He has struggled mightily in 2021 and 2022, posting 2 sub .700 OPS seasons, and sub .240 seasons, without reaching a WAR above 1.0. This could very well be Biggio’s last chance to prove his worth as a Jay, as he will most likely be in a platoon role. Theres also a chance the power hitting Blue Jays #2 prospect Orvelis Martinez wins a roster spot in the Major Leagues right out the gates. He could possibly split time in a limited role with Matt Chapman at 3B. Theres multiple other position player prospects the Jays have that are expected to be MLB ready at some point in the season, such as Otto Lopez, Addison Barger, Spencer Horwitz, and Leo Jimenez. There is a good chance that at least one of these top prospects can be flipped for pitching upgrades as well if needed.

One other point of emphasis to look out for this season is the performance of Jose Berrios and Yusei Kikuchi. Since joining Toronto, he has struggled to be as consistent as he was in his all star years, posting a 4.24 ERA, and a WHIP of 1.325, with 9.8 Hits per 9 innings in 44 games as a Blue Jay. He has 6 years remaining on his 7 year, $131MM contract with Toronto. He has time, but he has to be apart of the front end of the rotation come October. As for Kikuchi, he has been nothing short of a dissapointment in the Majors. With a 1.5 WHIP and ERA of 5.19 in 2022, he will be the #5 starter. That means his job is to just keep the Jays in games. Hopefully the Left hander can show some sorts of improvement, as he enter year 2 of his 3 Year, $36MM deal with Toronto.

As previously mentioned, the Blue Jays have the potential to be scary good. If they can have a successful trade deadline, and acquire good pitching, mostly bullpen help, they have a solid shot to be in play to win the AL East.

Full Rankings for the Toronto Blue Jays:

• Lineup: 9.4/10
• Position Player Depth: 10/10
• Rotation: 7.6/10
• bullpen: 6.3/10
• Overall Pitching Depth: 6.5/10
• Farm System: 8.8/10

TOTAL: 48.6/60

Missing Postseason: Tampa Bay Rays; 84-78

The pesky ol’ Rays. With the way they replenish and develop pitching, it never seems like they are truly out of a race. As expected, they will certainly be in the middle of the pack. As usual, they didn’t do anything too much during the offseason. They parted ways with Kevin Kiermaier, David Peralta, Mike Zunino, Ryan Yarborough, and Corey Kluber. Their only offseason addition was adding Zach Eflin to a 3 year deal.

A starting rotation of McClanahan, Baz, Glasnow, Chirinos, and Patiño will definitely keep them in games. Those are 5 young, quality arms that Tampa Bay will presumably have for a while. Top prospect Taj Bradley is also an MLB ready prospect, that could take the 5th rotation spot away from Patiño, if he has a strong spring training. The Rays bullpen is almost an exact copy of the one from last year, led by Andrew Kittredge, Jeffrey Springs, and Jason Adam. Nothing new has come out of the bullpen

The lineup will also be almost exactly the same as it was at around September of last year. However Wander Franco will return at SS, where Rays production from that position was very weak offensively with Taylor Walls filling in. For the exception of Bradley and 2B/SS prospect Curtis Mead, theres no impactful prospects close to breaking into the major leagues as of right now.

It seems as if for now, the rays will have to be content with ‘middle of the pack’ results. This team is definitely one of the hardest to grade, since they can be a prime example of a ‘middle of the pack’ team that has a chance at a 3rd WC spot.

Full Rankings for the Tampa Bay Rays

• Lineup: 7.4/10
• Position Player depth: 7.9/10
• Rotation: 9/10
• Bullpen: 7.5/10
• Overall Pitching Depth: 8/10
• Farm System: 8/10

TOTAL: 47.8/60

Missing Postseason: Boston Red Sox; 79-83

This one should be interesting. If you’re a Red Sox fan, you definitely have not enjoyed this winter. We made an article analyzing Chaim Bloom, the Red Sox chaotic offseason, and diving deep into the vision behind what transpired *Linked Here*, this will just be a quick hitter to summarize what they’ve done.

Their most notable losses were Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, Rich Hill, Eric Hosmer, and Tommy Pham. Trevor Story will also be out for most of the season with a UCL injury. They countered by signing Masataka Yoshida to a massive 5 year deal, Justin Turner for 2 years, Adam Duvall for 1 year, and Kenley Jansen for 2 years.

The rotation will be (undetermined order): Sale, Kluber, Paxton, Pivetta, Bello, and possibly Whitlock. The first 3 players are all older players with extremely bad injury history , we went over them in the *Chaim Blooms vision* article. Its ugly. Bello was a top prospect last year who went 2-8 with a 4.71 ERA and a 1.779 WHIP and 11 hits per 9 innings. He’s going to have MLB reps and Boston will try their best to develop him. The one other MLB ready pitcher they have is Bryan Mata, a right hander who has an elite level sinker/slider combination. He is expected to have MLB contributions as well throughout the year.

Considering all that happened, the lineup is still not too horrible . It lacks more star power, but a top 3 of Yoshida, Devers, and Turner could hold down, with a young Triston Casas developing as a possible young Power bat.

Besides the 2 Aforementioned pitchers, they don’t have many other prospects arriving this year. However, Marcelo Mayer and Nick Yorke will arrive in the future and both have the potential to be exciting. This might end up just being a gap year for Boston, as they should be expected to be at, or below .500 win percentage.

Full Ranking For the Boston Red Sox:

• Lineup: 7.8/10
• Position Player depth: 8/10
• Rotation: 6.5/10
• Bullpen: 6.5/10
• Overall Pitching Depth: 7/10
• Farm System: 8.3/10

TOTAL: 44.1/60

Missing Postseason: Baltimore Orioles; 79-83

The Orioles, after making strides in 2021, made some minor improvements this season, to keep themselves in the air. They added Kyle Gibson, Mychal Givens, James McCann, Adam Frazier, and Cole Irvin, while the only notable subtraction was Jordan Lyles. Their moves likely won’t be enough to make the postseason, but they are making good improvements to get themselves out of the rebuild stage.

Throughout the season, the Orioles will slowly start to deploy some of their youngest and best pitching prospects, such as Grayson Rodriguez, DL Hall, and Seth Johnson. Grayson Rodriguez should be one the first to arrive, bringing his electric 101 MPH fastball and deceptive changeup to the Orioles rotation, along with DL Hall who already got big league reps, but struggled allowing 9 runs in 11 games. Johnson, who brings a two pitch fastball/slider combo is expected to get some work in the MLB at some point this season later on.

As for hitters, Gunnar Henderson will be back, who brought a .260 BA wth a .348 OBP and .788 OPS. The Orioles love his athleticism and see him as part of the future, with Adely Rutschman back for year 2 as well.

If you are an Orioles fan, it is time to get excited. You’re prospects are developing and there is even more to come. If they over perform, the Orioles can and should be conservative buyers. Its the dawn of a new era for Baltimore baseball.

Full Rankings for Baltimore Orioles

• Lineup: 7.9/10
• Position Player depth: 8/10
• Rotation: 7/10
• Bullpen: 7.8/10
• Overall Pitching Depth: 8.1/10
• Farm System: 9/10

TOTAL: 47.8/60