Contributed Photo / Chris Chow
Baseball players.
It’s been a long wait for Major League Baseball fans, but baseball season is just around the corner.
After fans saw an entertaining 2023 year, the MLB is hoping for another this coming season. Winter is finally over, and spring training has finally started, which began on Feb. 22.
The Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers are currently the top-performing teams through Spring Training so far, with the two squads holding 15-3 and 13-4 records, respectively.
As always, all over Canada and the MLB fanbase, all eyes are on the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays have one of the most exciting young cores in the entire league and have had great regular season performances over the past four years, making the play-offs three times in that span.
However, the Jays have been swept every time they’ve qualified for the play-offs in that time frame and have failed to win a play-off game since 2016.
“[I expect] more disappointment this year,” said Nolan Straus, a local baseball fan and supporter of the Toronto Blue Jays. “Another wild card exit or even no play-offs awaits us.”
The Jays made some moves however in the MLB off-season in an attempt to get over their play-off disappointments.
“The Blue Jays had very prevalent issues with their lineup last year and chose to stay dormant in the off-season, only bringing in Justin Turner and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who are far from solutions to the team’s major power issues,” added Straus about the Jays’ off-season moves.
With the season underway at the end of the month, many MLB experts are giving their predictions for the 2024 World Series.
After a 2023 season that was capped off with the Texas Rangers winning the World Series over the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games, the 2024 edition is sure to be great once again.
Will Leitch on MLB.com has the Atlanta Braves, LA Dodgers and Texas Rangers, in that order, as his favourites for this year’s World Series. While CBS Sports has given the Dodgers, Braves and Houston Astros, respectively, the best odds to win the World Series.
Straus has also noted the defending champions Texas Rangers as his World Series favourite.
Fans believe the MLB season will be entertaining as always and that they are sure to be treated to a great year of baseball once again.
This article was originally published in print Volume 23, Issue 8 on Thursday, April 4.
