After a three-game sweep over the previously sizzling Boston Red Sox, the Rangers are now 20-11 and atop the American League West. Today we’ll look at how they’re getting it done and what this means for the 21 weeks of baseball still ahead.
The St. Louis Cardinals keep churning out wins with a machine-like efficiency. The franchise with two World Series titles in the past eight years to go with another NLCS appearance last season, is off to the best record in the National League, with an 18-11 mark coming into Saturday’s games. TheSportsNotebook’s MLB coverage will look at what they’re doing well and where the potential pitfalls might come from.
The Boston Red Sox have been the toast of baseball in the first four weeks of the season, rolling to an 18-8 record and the best record in the majors. After a soap opera year of 2012, a new manager and a new attitude have produced some new results. In today’s American League MLB coverage we’ll look at how the Red Sox have been doing it, speculate on their long-term chances and take a brief look at the rest of the AL.
Last year the Phils were one of the game’s big disappointments. Expectations weren’t as high this year, but this was still supposed to be a contender. What the problem is and whether it’s going to turnaround is our topic on in today’s National League MLB coverage.
The American League Central is still like a packed horse race, as the teams jostle for position, but no one has done better jostling thus far than the new-look Kansas City Royals. Coming into Saturday, the Royals are 11-8 and lead the heavily favored Detroit Tigers by a game. After years of being a trendy preseason pick and then immediately flaming out when games started for real, there’s hope for the Royals. Just how much is our topic for today’s American League MLB coverage…
The Los Angeles Dodgers were hit with another significant injury, when starting pitcher Zack Greinke broke his collarbone in the highly publicized brawl with San Diego’s Carlos Quentin earlier this week. Greinke will be out until at least the end of May and into June. He joins 3B/SS Hanley Ramirez on the disabled list. The Dodgers have picked up a lot of big names since the All-Star break of 2012, and Greinke and Ramirez are most definitely among them. In an NL West expected to be competitive and living up to that reputation in the first couple weeks, can the Dodgers keep going without them?
These are dangerous times to be a sports star in the city of Los Angeles. The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant goes down for the year. The Dodgers’ Zack Greinke breaks his collarbone. And the Angels’ Jered Weaver is out until May with arm problems. It’s the latter that will be our focus in American League MLB coverage, because Weaver’s injury is just the most serious thing to happen to the Halos in an April that, for the second straight year, has seen everything go wrong. What’s going on in Anaheim?
Are the Dodgers and Angels set to create an All-LA World Series and end the sports malaise that disappointing showings by the Lakers and USC football (not to mention last year’s stretch failings from the two baseball teams) have created? TheSportsNotebook’s MLB coverage continues spring training with a look at the two monied favorites from the City of Angels.
I won’t say that the city of Philadelphia is having the roughest stretch of any American sports city—as long as Cleveland and Kansas City exist, that’s a tough honor to claim. But Philadelphia fans can, at the very least, credibly claim to be the most victimized by high expectations of late. This was a city that was supposed to compete for a World Series and Super Bowl in 2012, and expected to have good teams across the board. Instead, their teams tanked. It’s in that context that TheSportsNotebook is going to start its MLB coverage—we’re going to take a look at the Phillies chances for 2013 in light of what this city’s fans have endured.