By Jon Jansen | Last updated 3/28/24
April and May baseball certainly isn’t as important as the grind of the summer months with playoff races heating up, but that doesn’t mean early-season games don’t matter.
In 2023, the Seattle Mariners could not overcome their early struggles and the St. Louis Cardinals’ poor start set the tone for a disappointing season.
Here are five teams that must avoid slow starts in 2024.
Seattle Mariners
Last season, the Mariners weren’t in a horrible spot at the end of the first half, but it was enough of a hole to leave them out of the playoffs by the end of the season.
Part of the slow start was due to Julio Rodriguez, their star center fielder, not getting his season off the ground until after the All-Star break.
In 2023, Rodriguez’s OPS jumped from .721 in the first half to .941 in the second. If second-half Rodriguez shows up for a full season, he will surely be in MVP discussions by the end of it.
That kind of production and the additions of veteran bats such as Jorge Polanco, an infielder, and Mitch Garver, a catcher, will make this a potent lineup.
Seattle boasts a strong starting rotation and solid pitching overall (3.74 ERA in 2023, third best in majors) to keep the team competitive in a tough division — if they avoid a slow start.
New York Yankees
The AL East was a gauntlet last season, with only the Red Sox finishing below .500, and it’s likely to be the same in 2024. The Yankees have spent the money to compete, but the team is plagued with injuries.
The Yankees will start the season without reigning AL Cy Young winner and ace Gerrit Cole (UCL injury), who could be placed on the 60-day injured list. New York doesn’t have enough pitching depth or a lineup to survive with front-line players missing an extended period.
If healthy, the Yankees boast some of the best star power in the majors, including outfielders Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. However, in a tough division with Baltimore, Toronto and Tampa Bay, a rough early stretch could be crippling.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies have started slowly the past two seasons, but they still made the playoffs and even advanced to the World Series in 2022 as a wild card. However, in a division with Atlanta, which has won over 100 games in the past two seasons, Philadelphia has a lot to overcome to win the NL East.
For the Phillies to have any chance for a division title, they must reverse their trend of slow starts. It helps to have 1B/DH/OF Bryce Harper healthy to start the season after missing the first month of last season due to Tommy John surgery.
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Last August, the Phillies boasted a collective .907 OPS while holding teams to a .707 OPS. That type of production has not materialized early in the past two seasons. If Philadelphia starts slowly again, it will be looking up in the standings again at the Braves.
St. Louis Cardinals
The 2023 campaign got off to such a bad start for the Cardinals that 1B Paul Goldschmidt and 3B Nolan Arenado were rumored to be available at the trade deadline.
The Cardinals ended up being big sellers then, but their two top bats remained for possibly another go at a playoff run in 2024.
According to DraftKings Sportsbook as of Thursday, the Cardinals’ odds to win the NL Central are at +190, behind only the Chicago Cubs (+185).
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The future of the Cardinals’ two top players, especially Goldschmidt, could be determined by how the team starts.
Texas Rangers
The defending World Series champion Rangers enter the season with a target on their backs. Are they equipped to handle that?
The sportsbooks don’t believe Texas’s success is sustainable. The Rangers’ 2024 win total opened at 90.5 and has since dropped to 88.5. (In the two seasons before their World Series title, the Rangers lost 102 games and 94 games.)
Only two teams have repeated as champions over the past 45 years, the last being the Yankees in 2000.
The Rangers spent money in the offseason on improvements, including the addition of free-agent starter Michael Lorenzen, but a slow start could damage their chances in the tough AL West.