American League Division Winner Predictions for 2025

It's the offseason. The feeling when there's no baseball. However, on the bright side, Spring Training is less than two months away. Just because it's the offseason, it doesn't mean that we can't look ahead to 2025. I'll talk about not only who would win each division, but my thoughts on each selection. We're going to start with the American League first.

AL East Winner: Baltimore Orioles

After a less than stellar performance by the New York Yankees in the World Series, I see the Orioles claiming the division crown. Sure, they finished with a 91-71 record and made it to the Wild Card round before being eliminated, but there's so much talent with the likes of Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, and Jackson Holliday. In case you're not familiar with the latter player, you might know his father, Matt Holliday. He played for three teams, with one of them being the St. Louis Cardinals, where he won a World Series title against my beloved Rangers in 2011. Being the oldest son and child of a World Series champion can be a bit intimidating, but I'm looking forward to seeing what next season will bring for Jackson. Also, I have to give a shout out to Cedric Mullins. He made some spectacular catches this season, including an outstanding one on Jackie Robinson Day. If anyone deserves a Gold Glove, it's him, if he hasn't won one already.

AL Central Winner: Cleveland Guardians

First and foremost, I extend my congratulations to Stephen Vogt for winning American League Manager of the Year. In his first year as skipper of the Guardians, he led this team to a division title, defeating the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS, and reaching the ALCS before falling to the Yankees. Since the departure of Terry Francona, who was the manager of the then Cleveland Indians for a decade, I'm glad that Vogt is getting the recognition he deserves. As much as I want to choose the Detroit Tigers to win the division, the Guardians have the upper hand again when it comes to winning the division again. You can't go wrong with players like José Ramírez, Steven Kwan, and even two of the biggest stars that stood out in the ALCS: Jhonkensy Noel (affectionately nicknamed Big Christmas) and David Fry.

AL West Winner: Texas Rangers

2023 was a magical year for the Rangers, winning their first ever World Series title, something that they were one out away from doing back in 2011 against the St. Louis Cardinals. They were expected to repeat as champions, but unfortunately, it didn't go according to plan. To be fair, it's hard to repeat and it hasn't been done in over 25 years. Also, the majority of the roster was dealing with injuries at the time. Over the last month and a half, I've seen many people on Facebook calling the Rangers "one-hit wonders." In my last story about them, which you can read down below, I strongly disagreed with that label being used on my team. I was like, "Did you not watch the 2023 World Series?" It was their first championship in franchise history, and you call them one-hit wonders? It's almost saying that they'll never win another championship again. Maybe not next year, but in the next few years. So, you can't say never. Like I also said in the previous story, the Rangers won't be the first to not repeat as champions and they won't be the last. There have been plenty of teams in MLB who have failed to repeat after winning it all the previous year. So cut the Rangers a bit of slack.

The last time the Rangers won the American League West was back in 2016. They have seven division titles altogether. The other years were 1996, 1998, 1999, 2010, 2011, and 2015. Plus, they only have two Wild Card berths in both 2012 and 2023.

I feel like the Astros' reign of winning the division for multiple years will come to an end next season. If you've read any of my previous stories about the Astros, I despise them a lot. I still do to this day. Mainly because of the cheating scandal that occurred in 2017. They'll always be cheaters to me and I'll never forgive them for cheating the Dodgers out of a World Series title. They never took any personal responsibility for what they did and their apologies were weak. Plus, they cheated their own fans of an experience. I still maintain that their 2017 title and rings should be stripped away. Plus, and bonuses they received should be paid back. Besides, they didn't earn those. They won those under false pretenses. They'll always have the Cheater label attached to them forever, whether a player who was on the team between 2017-2022 has since been traded to other teams or retired, I'll never acknowledge them as World Series Champions or World Series MVPs. AJ Hinch, who was the manager of the Astros and is now the current skipper for the Detroit Tigers, I'll never acknowledge him as a World Series winning manager. Just like the players that are currently with or were previously with the Astros, your past will follow you forever.

Regarding the Los Angeles Angels, even though they recently signed catcher Travis d'Arnaud and pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, the biggest question is will Mike Trout stay healthy for the majority of the 2025 season? I'm holding my breath, because it seems like he's so injury prone. Players get hurt all the time, but as long as Trout keeps getting injured, I don't see the Angels making a serious run to the playoffs, let alone, a Wild Card spot. I saw something the other day from someone saying that they'll win the AL West. The first priority, in order for that to happen, is for Mike Trout to stay as healthy as possible. That's been a huge concern among baseball fans for years. In the case of d'Arnaud and Kikuchi, these two recent acquisitions might help the Angels win some games. The Angels haven't been to the playoffs since 2014 and haven't won a World Series title since 2002.

Mike Trout, on the other hand, has been in the league since July 2011. He was drafted out of high school in the first round of the 2009 MLB Draft, but didn't make his big-league debut until two years later. 2025 will be his 15th season overall. Mike is currently 33 years old as of this writing. I know that 33 is a young age, but if I were him and most Angels fans won't like what I'm about to say, but for the sake of his own health and career, Mike should consider retirement. I know that he loves this game very much. He's an outstanding player and one of the few players I know can make spectacular catches. I'll never take away all the accolades he has received in his career. He might even become a future Hall of Famer someday, but I believe for the sake of his own health and the Angels, Mike should think about retiring. Again, I know he loves baseball, but the injuries are something that he should take into consideration. We shall see how the 2025 season will fare for him and the Angels under Ron Washington, who will be entering his second year as manager.

In the next part, I'll be revealing my 2025 National League division winner picks and sharing my opinions about each one.

Which AL teams do you think will win their respective divisions? Sound off in the comments and be sure to generously send me a one-off tip at the end of this story. It'll help creators like me to keep writing stories on Vocal. Plus, please subscribe to my page on here and follow me on social media.

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