MLB 2015: Four Semi-Pertinent Questions During the Dog Days of Spring Training

The six-month, 162-game baseball season will be here soon enough — April 5 to be exact. That means we’ve got to grind through the dog days of Spring Training, leaving some time to ask a couple of very, very important questions before the Cubs and Cardinals meet in a couple weeks under the lights at Wrigley.

Are the Orioles getting enough respect?

Buck Showalter gives off the image of a man rooted in steady habits and routine, which suits the Orioles going into 2015. Everybody else in the AL East underwent major changes in the winter, while the Orioles are essentially the same team that won the 96 games and the division by 12 games. Baltimore didn’t re-sign Nelson Cruz, so it’s not going to lead the league in home runs again — although at Camden you can’t count the Orioles out. They also let Nick Markakis sign with Atlanta, replacing him with an assortment of Travis Snider, David Lough and Jimmy Paredes.

In turn, all the preseason buzz is being gobbled up by the Blue Jays or the new-look Red Sox, but perhaps the Orioles are still in the best position to win the division? Change isn’t always necessarily needed. Baltimore gets Manny Machado back and, at some point, Matt Wieters, if he’s ever healthy. Figure Chris Davis bats slightly better than the .196 he posted before his Adderall suspension and perhaps the Orioles are still a threat.

Baltimore didn’t win 96 games last year via smoke, mirrors and Steve Pearce alone. Another excellent all-around season for the consistently overlooked Adam Jones along with a strong, unheralded bullpen made a difference right up until an ALCS sweep at the hands of the Royals. The closer the season looks on the horizon, the better the Orioles chances look, if only since they have far less questions and hypotheticals than everyone else in the division.

Who the hell is going to win the AL West?

Someone, obviously. The cream will rise to the top after 162 games, as it always does. Thanks to the addition of Cruz’s home runs and the potential of starting pitcher Taijuan Walker, the Mariners are getting a lot of buzz to make the franchise’s first postseason since 2001 — a year Bret Boone drove in 141 runs. In 2014 the Mariners won 87 games and missed out on the Wild Card by one game.

Let’s take a pause about the division real quick.

In 2013, the first year the American League West featured the Astros, both Texas and Oakland topped 90 wins thanks in no small part to 19 games vs. Houston, which went an incredible 51-111 that season. Last year, Los Angeles won a league-best 98 games, while Oakland made the Wild Card at 88. Meanwhile Texas was a league-worst 67-95 while Houston went 70-92.

Houston is improved. Texas lost Yu Darvish for the year to arm surgery, which doesn’t bode well given the team’s injury crisis in 2014, but the Rangers still roll out a solid lineup that shouldn’t lead the league in losses again.

The point here is the AL West is going to be very even and without a true punching bag team, it might not produce more than one playoff team, saying nothing of whatever backslide happens to the Angels or whatever the radically overhauled Athletics look like come April. Seattle might look the best on paper in March, but assuming Robinon Cano & Co. make a radical leap forward in terms of wins doesn’t seem as sure a thing as Los Angeles sliding back to the pack.

Are the pace of game rules going to matter?

Prediction: in April we are going to see a deluge of stories about players complaining about the rules MLB adopted over the winter in an attempt to make baseball hip and fast and cool and whatnot for all the kids. David Ortiz will grumble (even more) about it and then probably hit a home run which you’ll need a sun dial to time his trot around the bases. Sounds like fun, right?

My best guess, the impact of the batter’s box stepping in/out will be minimal. More practical is the speed of game rules that apply to television, with the pitcher instructed to start the inning right as broadcasters come back from break. Those are tangible seconds that add up over the course of nine innings and 162 games.

Will baseball survive without a Yankee farewell tour in 2015?

Probably.