Way-Too-Early 2024 MLB Playoff Predictions | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

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Without much in the way of reliable starting pitching, it would be fair to assume the Red Sox aren't going to win the AL East. But all five teams in the division have gotten off to at least respectable starts, and four of them have realistic playoff aspirations.

The Blue Jays and Rays feel more like wild-card contenders, meaning the division will likely come down to the Orioles and Yankees.

The Yankees are off to the best start of the five teams in the AL East. On one hand, that's really impressive considering they've done it without reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole. On the other hand, it's still not clear if and when Cole will return this season. Elbows are tricky like that.

Juan Soto and Aaron Judge are as good of a one-two punch as there is in the sport, but Anthony Volpe and Oswaldo Cabrera have had unsustainably fast starts. Manager Aaron Boone also still isn't sure what the team will get from Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and, eventually, DJ LeMahieu over the course of the full season.

Rob Friedman @PitchingNinja

Corbin Burnes, Vicious 98mph Two Seamer. 😤 <a href="https://t.co/l9awG2Ml56">pic.twitter.com/l9awG2Ml56</a>

Baltimore won the division a year ago with 101 victories and is even more talented than a year ago. While the Orioles are without closer Felix Bautista this season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, they acquired Corbin Burnes and Craig Kimbrel in the offseason. Both have looked good early on for the O's. MLB's No. 1 overall prospect Jackson Holliday recently graduated to the MLB level, joining a lineup for manager Brandon Hyde that almost has too many talented young players.

If Baltimore gets Kyle Bradish and/or John Means back pitching at a high level in 2024, it is going to be a scary team when the postseason rolls around. Also, general manager Mike Elias has built a farm system so loaded with talent that the Orioles will have the opportunity to add an impact arm—be it in the starting rotation, bullpen or both—in advance of the July 30 trade deadline.

The Orioles should not only win the AL East, but they likely will earn a first-round postseason bye for the second year in a row. Expect the Yankees to be a wild-card representative.

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