Good news for the other top tier of contending teams, as the Red Sox and Indians don’t appear likely to be making improvements going into 2020- in fact, they likely will both be worse off from a personnel perspective than they were in 2019, when they both missed the postseason. L.A.’s pitching depth makes them favorites in the NL, as they currently have Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda, and Julio Urias slated as their top-four starters. In addition, but less stinging, they are also losing Rich Hill- who is good when he pitches, but perpetually injured- and Alex Wood. One of whom, Ryu, posted Cy Young numbers last year. is losing three competent, if not all-star starters. In the National League, the Dodgers are again favored to make it to the World Series, though much like the Astros, they have some holes to fill in their rotation. Still, it’s a major loss for Houston, as everyone in the rotation has to move up a spot now. What the Astros really need in 2020 is another strong and healthy performance by Justin Verlander, whose consistent fastball speed seemingly defies the aging curve. The question now is who replaces the myriad of innings Cole threw, both in the regular season and the playoffs. The Astros did not appear to make a strong run at Cole, so it seemed apparent they would lose their star pitcher.
While there are plenty of starting pitchers available, after Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dallas Keuchel, the talent drops off precipitously. The Astros loss is the Yankees gain, and the Cole signing leaves Houston with an ace-sized hole at the front-end of their rotation. With the Red Sox and Indians on austerity plans heading into 2020, it’s the Yankees and Astros who are unsurprisingly favored to duel it out and battle for the American League pennant. The Yankees acquiring Gerrit Cole changes the balance of power in the American League from the AL champs to New York.
Here’s a look at the field of contenders, and how Las Vegas is currently thinking about their World Series odds after some major free agent chips are off the board. With the December free agent market as hot as it was, several teams have already drastically improved their World Series odds, while some perennial contenders still have work to do to get back to the level of talent they had in 2019. With about 100 days of the offseason left until Opening Day, teams continue to assess who they’ve lost and where their weaknesses and needs are heading into the Christmas holiday.