Opening day for the MLB season was March 25, and in the past week (give or take) each team has played a handful of games. Here are the leaders in each division so far.
AL East:
Yankees: The Yankees are doing what they have always done, putting the bat on the ball. First baseman Ben Rice is currently hitting a .412 average which gives him the 12th highest average in the league, while designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is hitting .500 in this early season, earning him the second highest average. Along with this, the Yankees are the only team with two pitchers who both have two wins as Cam Schlittler and Max Fried have both been on fire thus far. Not to mention, reigning MVP in right fielder Aaron Judge has yet to make a huge impact.
AL Central:
Guardians: The Guardians are 3-3 at the time of writing this article, however, they have only played the Seattle Mariners and the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers. In a weaker AL Central, Cleveland can absolutely do damage. So far, the biggest star we have seen for them is rookie Chase DeLauter. The right fielder is showing that he belongs in the league as his four home runs on the season position him second in rankings. With his strong performances, DeLauter is currently one of the favorites for the American League’s Rookie of The Year award.
AL West:
Astros: The Houston Astros are starting their season hot after having a couple of relatively disappointing seasons. One of the keys to this is left fielder Yordan Alvarez. The three-time all star is putting on a great performance so far, as he is tied for the most hits and the most home runs by a left fielder (eight and 10, respectively). Alvarez also has the second highest batting average at his position, currently sitting at a .417. The Astros are more than a one man team, however. Hunter Brown has been one of the best starting pitchers so far, posting a 0.84 ERA through 10.2 innings.
NL East:
Marlins: Talking about strong pitching, Sandy Alcantara has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball this season. Through two starts, he has thrown 16 innings, struck out twelve batters and boasts a 0.00 ERA. On April 1, Alcantara threw a complete game shutout against the Chicago White Sox; this was both the first complete game and shutout of the season. Liam Hicks also showed great things this season as he is currently hitting .467, the highest amongst all catchers.
NL Central:
Brewers: The Milwaukee Brewers are trying to repeat as NL regular season champions and it is in large thanks to their pitching. Their ace Jacob Misiorowski has started two games for them and has only allowed three earned runs through 11 innings. The bullpen is incredibly strong as well: Aaron Ashby, Kyle Harrison and Grant Anderson have all thrown five innings in relief and all of them have an ERA of 1.80 or better.
NL West
Dodgers: There is nothing about the Dodgers that I can say that hasn’t already been said. Shohei Ohtani may be the best baseball player we have ever seen. He opened the season at -140 odds to win the NL MVP. The craziest part is, those odds aren’t ridiculously high. I do not have the words to explain how good he is at baseball. Other than Ohtani though, the Dodgers have so many big names that they are almost impossible to compete with. Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Kyle Tucker and Will Smith are all considered to be top-tier players at their positions. Along with that, the teams total pitching ERA is a 2.60, currently ranking them third only behind the Yankees and the Braves. Los Angeles looks to win their third consecutive World Series this fall and have cemented themselves as the team to beat.
