In 2017, the Houston Astros took the top spot in baseball and surprised me. In 2018, they will look to become repeat champions for only the fifth time in baseball history. The last time a team won consecutive world series was the New York Yankees from 1998-2000. According to oddsshark.com, the Astros are the favorites to win the World Series again this year. Their team has only gotten better after adding Gerrit Cole in the offseason, and now they will have Justin Verlander for a full year. This team is poised to go on a run in 2018 that will find them putting another World Series banner up next year.

The real question now is: Who can beat them? My answer to that is the three teams below.

New York Mets

  • Best Player: Noah Syndergaard
  • Hottest New Player: Todd Frazier/Jay Bruce
  • Strength: Starting Pitching/Batting
  • Weaknesses: Middle Relief

The Mets are one of my favorites to win this year because they have great starting pitching and an All-Star lineup, according to ngbaseball.com. On the pitching side, the Mets have Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, and Matt Harvey. The Mets already had a great lineup, but putting Todd Frazier and Jay Bruce together again was a stroke of genius. These two guys can add a total of 50 home runs to the Mets lineup which mainly focused on pitching in 2017, and now in 2018 adds batting.

The Mets are poised to make a big run in 2018 as long as their middle relief pitching holds up. They have Jeurys Familia anchoring the closing spot but the only question mark I see for this team is all those pitchers in between the starters and the closer. My final take is that the Mets should have a great year this year.

Boston Red Sox

  • Best Player: David Price
  • Hottest New Player: J.D. Martinez
  • Strength: Relievers/Batting
  • Weakness: Starting Pitching

The Red Sox could have one of the best starting rotations in Major League Baseball. Chris Sale anchors the top spot, and if David Price and Rick Porcello can get back to top form then this starting rotation is primed for the spotlight.

That being said, their lineup is also stocked with talent all around. After adding J.D. Martinez in the offseason, they now have a great starting lineup that also includes Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, and Hanley Ramirez. The bullpen for the Red Sox is in solid shape as well. There is one hitch. According to NBC Sports, last year was not a great year for Price or Porcello, but if they can get back to form, this starting lineup could be one of the best in the league. The Red Sox have an all-around great team and they should give the Astros a run for their money.

Los Angeles Angels

  • Best Player: Mike Trout
  • Hottest New Player: Shohei Ohtani
  • Strength: Batting
  • Weakness: Starting Pitching

The Angels have a great two-way threat in their newly acquired bound-to-be superstar, Shohei Ohtani, who can both hit and pitch possibly better than anyone in MLB history.

Besides this new addition, they also have what many consider to be the best player in the game in Mike Trout. Add to this Justin Upton and Albert Pujols and you have one of the premiere batting lineups in the game. According to CBS Sports in a team preview, the one question mark would have to be the starting rotation. They have Garrett Richards and the previously mentioned Ohtani, as well as Tyler Skaggs, but after this, the starters are very questionable and also have a past of critical injuries. The offense may need to score a lot of runs if the starters don’t pan out. The batting this year for the Angels, in my opinion, is only second to the Houston Astros in the AL this year.

Astros best bet to win it all

Looking at the Astros team as a whole, they have so much talent that it would be hard to pick against them. As we all know, choosing a team to win it all early in a baseball season can lead to major headaches, but if you were to pick one team to win it all, you cannot go wrong in picking the Houston Astros. After all, they have already shown they are World Series worthy.
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