With a long offseason now over, Opening Day has finally arrived in Major League Baseball and teams from coast to coast are starting off with hope in 2013, including the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, who get to start their American League East rivalry very early in the year.
The Yankees may miss the playoffs this season for the first time in a number of years and the Red Sox are in year two of a rebuilding project under a new manager after firing Bobby Valentine. The Yankees need their pitching to be a strength this season as Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson all will miss significant time with injuries.
The team is one of the oldest in baseball and so is their pitching staff, which has CC Sabathia at the top with Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda and Mariano Rivera behind him. Ichiro Suzuki is an aging star, while Brett Gardner is coming off of an injury-plagued 2012 campaign. The team needs strong pitching at the top and solid production from names like Kevin Youkillis and Vernon Wells.
The Red Sox will have some issues themselves after a rough 2012 season and David Ortiz already is showing signs of injury trouble. The Seattle Mariners could be a surprise team in the American League West, if only because they have assured themselves of keeping Felix Hernandez for most of the next decade for $175 million.
The team brought in a number of new players in Michael Morse, Kendrys Morales and Raul Ibanez while also moving in the fences at Safeco Field. The organization has a number of talented young pitchers in the pipeline along with talent that's developing in Dustin Ackley, Justin Smoak and Michael Saunders. The team designated Casper Wells for Jason Bay on the Opening Day roster, meaning the veteran outfielder will make the team after signing a one-year contract.
The Mariners open the season against the Oakland Athletics, who surprised everyone by winning the American League West last year and should challenge again this time around. Bay had a solid spring for the Mariners and hit two home runs with six RBIs while hitting over .320. Bay struggled after signing a four-year, $66 million contract with the Mets in 2010 and dealt with injuries and poor play during that time. He hit just 26 home runs during his time with the team and suffered rib injuries and a number of concussions while playing in less than 300 games.
The Mariners outfield will be crowded this season with Morse, Saunders , Franklin Gutierrez and Raul Ibanez, but Bay expects to get a decent amount of playing time as manager Eric Wedge likes to use his bench players.
The Giants will be looking to repeat while the Washington Nationals could be the best team in all of baseball after making the playoffs for the first time last year. The team will have a full season from Stephen Strasburg and also added Dan Haren to the rotation in the offseason. The Royals are trying to capitalize on all their young talent after making a big trade move for James Shields from the Rays, giving up uber-prospect Wil Myers in the process.
The Royals also added Miguel Tejada at shortstop to their opening roster, giving the former MVP another chance in the major leagues after not playing since 2011 with the Giants. Last year he was with the Orioles and their Triple-A minor league team before being released in June.
