2020 Predictions By Division: AL East

No, nobody knows quite when the 2020 MLB season will get underway. The league has stated that a mid-May start, at the earliest, is possible, but the unpredictable nature of the Covid-19 virus puts this in jeopardy. Truth be told, we may not see the regular season start until June.

But I've always done my predictions by division in March since my first full year of blogging in 2018, and this tradition is one that I'd like to continue. I also don't envision much changing between now and Opening Day.

It's things like this, analyzing each team in Baseball, organizing cards, that's going to get sports fans through this time of uncertainty.

Of course, the MLB season being delayed is far from our biggest program, but for fans who look forward to the season starting around this time of year, we need to find something to take our mind off of things.

Hopefully, the predictions by division can get me into that type of mindset while also preparing for Opening Day, whenever that may be.

Moving onto the main content of the post, the AL East division has the most significance for me, yet I've never predicted the final results correctly.

Following a disappointing finish for the Red Sox, a resilient Yankees team, and an offseason of improvement for the Blue Jays, I'm fairly certain that anything can happen.

1st Place: New York Yankees

In 2018, following their offseason acquisition of reigning NL MVP Award winner Giancarlo Stanton, I chose the New York Yankees to win the AL East division. The rest, as we know, is history; the Red Sox surged to 108 regular-season wins and, eventually, a World Series championship.

This year, after the Yankees added Gerrit Cole to the tune of $324 million, it stands to reason that New York will capture the division title for the second consecutive season. However, I'd much rather have a different outcome occur than for me to be right.

Still, the delayed start will allow guys like Stanton and Judge to become fully healthy by Opening Day, though the loss of Luis Severino to Tommy John surgery will definitely hinder their rotation.

But as we saw last season, injuries can't really keep the Yankees down. It didn't happen in 2019, and it likely won't in 2020 either.

2nd Place: Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox finished third last year with David Price and Mookie Betts, so it seems a little ridiculous to elevate them to second following the most irritating offseason I've ever experienced as a fan (and that's saying something).

However, I'm trying to remain hopeful that the World Series hangover was the cause of Boston's lackluster 2019 season, and that everyone can come back and stay healthy in 2020 (I'm talking to you, Chris Sale).

Devers, Bogaerts, and Martinez are laying the foundation of both the Red Sox's lineup and future while Michael Chavis and Bobby Dalbec are a couple of young sluggers that I'm eager to watch.

If E-Rod is lights out like he was last year and Sale comes back strong, there may be, if nothing else, a Wild Card berth in Boston's near future.

3rd Place: Tampa Bay Rays

At this point, the Rays might've been able to win a World Series if not for the organization's many, many poor moves. It's impossible to get into all of them, but trading Tommy Pham for Hunter Renfroe and a prospect ranks as one of the worst.

The Rays won 96 games last season almost despite the front office, but my rationale is that, at some point, the terrible moves are going to catch up with Tampa Bay, and their luck will run out.

They do have one of the youngest teams as well as one of the lowest payrolls in all of Baseball, but for whatever reason, Tampa's always been a seller, not a buyer, at the trade deadline.

Simply put, the organization doesn't seem determined to find success, and if you're not actively doing everything possible to win, it's not going to happen, not with all the talented teams competing for that World Series trophy.

4th Place: Toronto Blue Jays

I don't think anyone's disputing the fact that the Blue Jays are going to become a genuine playoff contender at some point in the next few seasons, but I just don't see it happening in 2020.

Despite offseason acquisitions that include NL Cy Young runner-up Hyun-Jin Ryu, the Blue Jays are too young to make a real push this season. Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Cavan Biggio, and Bo Bichette have laid the foundation for a very successful future, but they don't have a very deep roster as of now.

In a year or so, the Blue Jays might be making new moves, or new prospects could make their way to the MLB, but the team is a little too inexperienced to surge to the top of the AL East quite yet.

5th Place: Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles have finished in fifth place from 2017-2019 with the latter 2 seasons being absolute disasters for a team that as recently as 4 years ago was contending for and actually made the playoffs.

While no team can stay terrible forever, it's going to take a while for the Orioles to rise from 5th place and make some strides toward moving up in the division. Adley Rutschman won't be making his MLB debut for a few seasons, but he's a reminder, if nothing else, of hope for Orioles fans.

Truth be told, I don't know a whole lot about this team or its players, but I do know that anything besides a 5th place finish is highly unlikely.

Series 1 + A Little Extra Card Show Recap #27

I realize that I've yet to share my highlights from the 2 blaster boxes of 2020 Topps Series 1 that I ripped last week aside from overviewing my first pack of the year.

Rest assured, I'll get to Series 1 as soon as I can, but I purchased my 3rd and likely final blaster box at the card show on Sunday, so I'm currently debating how I want to go about recapping the cards that I pulled.

Speaking of Sunday's show, I decided to attend for a variety of reasons, the first being to talk to dealers and other attendees about the Mookie Betts trade which, as of yesterday, was revised and completed.

I also wanted to check out what 2020 Topps Series 1 is like at a much larger scale which I was able to do by looking at all the different inserts and hits, though the vendor had already sold a reasonable number of his cards.

Lastly, as long as I was there, I figured that I'd pick up a few singles, some of which are from Series 1, others are not. This type of card show recap post lines up with how I've been collecting over the past few months: retail/some hobby boxes along with smaller purchases at the card show.

One of the most exciting things about the new card collecting season is that the big-name rookies from last year's products, most notably, for me anyway, being Fernando Tatis Jr, are now veterans, meaning their cards are less expensive.

Some dealers are still charging more for these guys' cards because of their All-Star rookie status, but that'll only continue on for so much longer. As soon as the new rookie class begins playing come March and April, the price point for Tatis Jr and other 2nd-year players' cards will be even fairer.

Finding cards for my Boston Red Sox PCs, particularly those of active players, has become a routine part of virtually all of my trips to the baseball card show, and last Sunday's was no exception. 

Even though I only picked out 2 cards, I believe it's crucial to continue adding cards, especially inserts and parallels, to the player collections of guys like Betts, Bogaerts, Devers, and Benintendi.

Both of the cards above are non-numbered base refractors, one from '19 Chrome and the other from '17 Best. Despite the heart-shattering trade that sent Mookie and Price to LA, I'll never stop buying Betts' cards, even if he doesn't come back to Boston this offseason.

From all the box breaks and recap posts from 2020 Series 1 that I've seen on YouTube and Twitter, the 1985 relics stood out to me as affordable yet, at the same time, spectacular cards. The dealer at the show had 2 of them left from his hobby case, one Kris Bryant base and a Manny Machado #/199.

The cards were the same price, but clearly, Bryant was the obvious choice for me. Even though I haven't had a problem or much to do with Machado since he left for San Diego, Bryant's still a member of the Chicago Cubs, my 2nd favorite team, though his future with the organization remains unclear.

The reason why I didn't grab both of the '85 Topps relics is that, for the same amount of money, I went for this Eduardo Rodriguez on-card autograph from 2013 Bowman Sterling instead.

While injuries plagued Chris Sale, David Price, and Nathan Eovaldi throughout the 2019 season, E-Rod emerged as the ace of the Boston staff. The 26-year old finished 6th in the AL Cy Young Award voting with an ERA of 3.81 and 213 strikeouts.

So now, I have 3 blasters of 2020 Topps Series 1, all of which treated me well, to recap. I'll likely turn them into a 2-parter during which I overview my thoughts on the set and, of course, get to my top pulls.

After that, it's only a couple of weeks before Heritage is released, then Gypsy Queen, and before we know it, it'll be opening day for all 30 teams, and the Red Sox will take the field without Mookie Betts.

I don't know if I'm going to be okay when that happens. 

My First Look at 2019 A&G

As Topps has increased the number of products that they release each year, I realize that I have a slight problem when it comes to these new releases. I often get super attached to these sets when they come out and buy a lot of cards, only to move onto the next set a month or so later.

No matter the product, it seems like a given set captivates my interest for a short time before I turn my attention to another new and exciting set. This cycle was apparent throughout 2017 and 2018, and it's something I'm trying to avoid in 2019.

At this point, I've acknowledged my favorite Baseball card releases as well as the ones that I'd like to avoid. Now, all that's left to do is follow through and purchase packs from sets that I love rather than the brand new set that I'm not going to be collecting a month from now.

In no particular order, my 5 favorite Baseball card sets include Topps Heritage, Bowman's Best, Topps Chrome, Panini Chronicles, and Topps Allen & Ginter which was just released on July 17th.

Each and every one of those products has an extensive range of base cards, inserts, and parallels as well as the possibility to deliver incredible value. Those 2 traits are, in my opinion, essential to any stellar release. 

Last year, I was fortunate enough to open 2 of these fabulous products (A&G and Chrome) at The National, something I'd like to do again in 2019. Even though I'm not as fond of the Allen & Ginter set design this time around, the oddball inserts, in particular, make this set a standout year after year.

Although I'm leaving for Chicago next Tuesday, I wanted to see this year's A&G cards in person so that I can decide whether I want to buy more of this set at The National or not. 

I wasn't a huge fan of the base set when I saw the cards online, so we'll see if anything changes following this hobby pack break.

#8 Reggie Jackson

While the color splashes in the background have become synonymous with the Allen & Ginter set, I'll admit that I like this year's design way more than I originally thought I would. If nothing else, the traditional background works for Reggie Jackson's card.

It's going to take some getting used to, but I was pleasantly surprised with how fond I am of this year's design. 2017 and 2018 were both terrific as far as the base set was concerned, so I'll have to open a little more 2019 A&G to formulate an opinion.

Plus, I'm ecstatic that Topps chose to feature Mr. October as a member of the California Angels instead of the teams that we always see him on (Oakland and New York).

#208 Dawel Lugo mini

From the breaks that I've seen of 2019 Allen & Ginter, the minis are often the 2nd card in the pack, something I don't believe we've seen before. Not that it's a big deal or anything, but we've grown used to finding them in the middle along with an insert or hit.

Per usual, you get 1 mini per pack of Allen & Ginter, and mine happens to be Dawel Lugo of the Detroit Tigers. At this point, my only major complaint about the set design is that it doesn't say the player's position on the front or even the back of the card.

I keep up with Baseball, but only to a certain extent. If Topps doesn't tell me what Dawel Lugo's position is, who knows when I'll actually find out?

#105 Todd Helton

I know that some collectors don't enjoy seeing recently-retired players appear in sets like A&G and Stadium Club, but I don't have a problem with Todd Helton making the checklist. In fact, I'm elated to see Mr. Rockie get some love from Topps.

I'm using Helton's card to point out the card backs, something that's stayed consistent with the Allen & Ginter set throughout the brand's 10+ year history. This time around, they're shaded with a faint yellow to give them more of a vintage feel than we've seen in the past few years.

Come to think of it, the 2019 A&G design is the most authentic reproduction of the original Allen & Ginter cards than we've seen in some time, so I must applaud Topps in that respect.

#186 Wade Boggs

Whether I end up building this set or not, the fact that 3 of the first 4 cards that I pull are players I collect is awesome. Even though he's featured in sets like A&G and Archives almost every year, I never get tired of pulling Wade Boggs cards, even when he's shown as a member of the Yankees.

The closer I look at this year's design, the fonder I'm becoming of the set as a whole. Granted, the base set isn't perfect, and I still prefer the cards from 2018, but Topps did a nice job with A&G, as they always do, in 2019.

#367 Masahiro Tanaka

Don't be fooled, this year's A&G checklist is still 350 cards. For some unknown reason, Topps didn't print any cards from 301-351. Instead, the SPs start at #351 and end at #400. I cannot fathom a reason for doing this, so I'll assume it was completely unintentional.

In addition to being downright weird, this card numbering affects collectors like Night Owl who are trying to build A&G mini frankensets. Although I haven't tracked down minis in a while, I'm also building one of these, and Topps' poor numbering is going to limit my ability to expand the frankenset this year.

#BSS-4 Baseball Star Signs Mookie Betts

I couldn't ask for much more than 3 base cards of players I collect, an SP, and a Mookie Betts insert through the first 6 cards of my initial pack of 2019 Topps Allen & Ginter. The craziness of this product even finds its way into the Baseball inserts, because what other product has Baseball players' astrological signs?

Like myself, Mookie Betts is a Libra and the back of the card talks about how Libra's love trying new things. Clearly, this attitude worked for Betts in 2018, by far the best season of his young career.

Apparently, these are also available as box toppers, and I'm dying to see what those would look like.

#284 Roy Halladay

This was a very bittersweet card to pull, especially in light of Halladay's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday along with his wife Brandy's emotional speech. 

Rightfully so, Doc doesn't have a logo on his HOF cap. It wouldn't be right to choose between the 2 teams, Blue Jays and Phillies, that he played for and that he had a tremendous impact on. I'm just glad that he earned his well-deserved spot in Cooperstown.

RIP Doc

#204 Cionel Perez

The last card of the pack may not be as stellar as the ones that came before it, but all 8 cards helped establish Allen & Ginter as an incredible product once again in 2019. It would be foolish of me to deny myself the opportunity to purchase more A&G when I arrive at The National.

It's far from a perfect set, but there's so much to like about Allen & Ginter no matter what you collect. Whether you want dogs, planes, or just regular Baseball cards, A&G has something for everyone.