It’s a high fly ball to deep center field, it’s at the warning track, and it’s gone. A homerun, and they take the lead. As this is happening, you have that urge of excitement as you’re jumping up and down as your team wins and is moving onto the world series.
It’s a feeling like no other. Sitting down or standing up and dedicating hours on hours just to watch the sport you love is special. Some watch it for a while, others don’t. But it’s just a different feeling that you get when your favorite team is playing, and you get to watch them play. Although this is very true, there are many headlines to talk about going into this 2024 season as it is approaching very shortly. The predictions, and the headlines will be a big factor with going into this year’s season. And at the end of it all, everyone will be able to see which team will be crowned at the end of the season.
Headlines
Starting off, on March 20, 2024, the MLB season will swing back into action with the Seoul Series taking place. For those who don’t know this, At 6:05 AM ET, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, will be taking place on an amazing stage in the capital of South Korea. Stars will be emerging on their new teams as Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers), and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers), the two stars from Japan, will be showcased in South Korea on March 20th 2as they make their debuts for the club that they got accumulated in this past free agency. While other players, such as Manny Machado (San Diego) and Fernando Tatis jr (San Diego), also get to shine as this NL west rivalry is taking place. Although this is true, the MLB “Opening Day” with all the teams playing will be taking place on March 28, 2024. There are very many players that will be watched going into this season. Some examples of this could be Ronald Acuna jr. The phenom star out of Venezuela just came off of a 40 home run, 70 stolen base season. The first player to accomplish this. While Freddie Freeman is coming off a historic season, recording 55 doubles in last year’s 2023 season. These players are certainly on the lookout for success in this upcoming season.
Contenders
Going into this season, there are many contenders that have a big sense of potential going into this year’s season. Here are the teams with the best of odds of winning the world series, going into the season.
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Atlanta Braves
- Houston Astros
The reason for why these three teams have such a high shot of winning it all is the depth that they have. With Dodgers acquiring Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, and Tyler Glasnow they are clear contenders. The Atlanta Braves were the one seed last year with Ronald Acuna Jr having a 40 HR, 70 SB season, but they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in the divisional round of the playoffs. And the Astros won the world series in 2022 as they seem to always be contenders for winning it all.
These teams have certainly proven themselves to have the best potential going into this season, but teams who are definitely in the picture this season are the Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles. These three teams also have a lot of potential to make it deep into the postseason. It will be interesting to witness who will be crowned at the end of the season.
Free Agent Frenzy
To continue, in the offseason, MLB players are put into free agency when they are not considered on a team and they are welcome to be on any other team. But the problem with this is that they can’t just go on a team without there being money given to them to go on their new team, or they can sign with their team in an extension with the team that they just played on before they went into free agency. But there is one team that shined over all of the rest. And that is the reason why they are the favorite to win the world series this season. That team is the Los Angeles Dodgers, who spent upwards of a billion dollars on just 3 players this season. Those players are Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, and Tyler Glasnow. The phenom Japan star Yoshinobu Yamamoto received a 12 year, 325 million deal, and was absolutely dominating in Japan as he was striking out hitters left and right. But the other resilient star, Shohei Ohtani, the two way pitcher and hitter product received a 10 year, 700 million dollar deal. Although this is true, he will be receiving 2 million dollars a year for the first couple of years in hopes of the Dodgers going for the world series run in the next coming years as quickly as possible, while Glasnow received a 5 year, 136.5 million dollar deal. This total ends up to be a rough estimated product of 1161.5 billion dollars. Clearly there are other teams that surely succeeded in free agency but the Dodgers clearly shined the most and it will certainly be fascinating to see how they do this season.
To conclude, it is clear that there has been a lot going on this offseason in the MLB, and this year will truly be amazing for many reasons. The season kicks off internationally, there are many clear contenders but obviously for many facts to support, the Los Angeles Dodgers will be the team to beat. But stay tuned in, because on March 20, 2024, the season kicks off.
