All teams in the MLB do not offer the same game, there is something for everyone. Some rely only on their pitchers, others bet everything on the attack, telling themselves that whatever happens, they will always try to score one more point than their opponents. (hello Blue Jays!)others on speed, on young people, on experience, or even on dollars.
For my part, I have a special crush on two teams who play team baseball, complete, fast, almost flawless and so pleasant to watch. And all this does not date from today.
The Cleveland Guardians
The Guardians opened the season with a treacherous trip west to the Seattle Mariners and finished the series with three wins and one loss. Certainly not everything was perfect and everything never will be, but having had the chance to watch “almost” all the meetings, I must admit that I really enjoyed myself.
True to their precepts, the Guardians offer a complete baseball, lively, fast, generous, sometimes predictable, but oh so effective. Under the impetus of a Steven Kwan, leadoff hitter model to me, the Guardians are simply playing the same baseball that won them their division last season and caused a lot of trouble for the Rays and Yankees in the 2022 playoffs.
I don’t know about you, but I’m enjoying it.
Tampa Bay Rays
In a style close to that of the Guardians, the Rays appear each year as a surprise team on which one would never put a penny. Yet every year they have one foot in the series, or even both, and deliver baseball that other teams should emulate.
The most underrated team in the American League easily disposed of the Detroit Tigers (3-0 sweep) and, as usual, shined pitchers that no one dwelt on.
You have to face the facts, these Rays are solid and on the mound it’s rock. Shane McClanahan will finish in the top-3 for the Cy Young trophy, Zach Eflin has found and will no doubt find the colors he lost in Philadelphia, Jeffrey Springs is a real Swiss army knife (12 K yesterday), Drew Rasmussen and Josh Fleming are also not to be taken lightly (to say that he misses Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz).
And at worst, if it’s not going well for one of these starters, you can always go with a slew of relievers who will do the job just as well. I won’t name them all, I’ll leave it up to you to do your research yourself, just to remember the names we’re likely to hear about this season.
In the end, these two similarly styled teams would almost look like baseball that we could play with friends on the weekend. Everyone brings their strength, without any pretension and everyone knows their limits. Solidly led by two managers with high baseball IQs, the Guardians and the Rays have not finished delighting me and I hope to delight you too.
