Elizabeth Muirhead ’20
Assistant Sports Editor
In most cities across the United States, it’s still too cold to start thinking about baseball. But by the end of March, teams will embark on a six month long, hot, competitive season.
But for now, the pros are staying warm in Florida and Arizona to complete their spring training.
Spring training is a set of preseason games that provide teams with opportunities to practice in low-stake scrimmages. It’s a chance to test out their batting lineups, to see how pitchers fare against certain teams and gauge their opponents’ skills.
For fans, it’s a chance to see how their team looks and how they stack up.
Will they sit at the top of the heap or fall short? During the regular season, Major League Baseball is organized into two leagues: the American League and the National League. Within those leagues, there are three divisions: East, Central, and West. Within each division, there are five teams. For example, the Red Sox and the Yankees are both in the American League East, which is why they play each other so often and what keeps their rivalry strong.
Spring training, however, is set up a little differently. There are two leagues: The Grapefruit league and the Cactus league, which are based in Florida and Arizona respectively.
So which teams are rising to the top of the pile in each league?
According to mlb.com, as of Feb. 25, the Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, and New York Yankees, who are all in the Grapefruit league, haven’t lost any games yet.
Last season, Houston won the World Series, while Boston and New York both sat in first and second place of AL East. The results from their games reflect the skill and composure that these teams carried with them last season.
Meanwhile, the Cactus league results have been more unexpected. The Oakland Athletics and the Kansas City Royals are the only two teams in the league who haven’t lost a game yet.
Last year, Kansas City finished in the middle of the AL Central and Oakland finished at the bottom of the AL West. Maybe they’ll be more serious contenders in the upcoming season, or maybe they’ll burn out fast and fall to the bottom of the pack for mediocre finishes.
This Thursday, the Red Sox will play the Astros. And on Saturday, the Red Sox will take on their longtime rivals, the Yankees.
Since none of these teams have lost yet, these games are the key in setting the tone for the summer and will help to fortify the frontrunners for the 2018 season.
