MLB season preview: Toronto geared up for a big season

Baseball tips, best bets and analysis for the start of the new MLB season in America.

Best bets

Toronto Blue Jays to win American League East
2pts 15-8 BoyleSports

Toronto Blue Jays to win American League
1pt 5-1 Betfred

Milwaukee Brewers to win National League Central
2pts 8-11 Boylesports

Milwaukee Brewers to win National League
1pt 8-1 Boylesports

Preview

After weeks of protracted negotiations between the league and the players' union, the 2022 Major League Baseball season will start a little later than planned this year.

There are still the regulation 162 games to be played, although the playoffs will have a different look to them. The October field will now feature 12 teams - six from the American League and six from the National League - with three division winners and three Wild Card teams from each.

The top two division winners will progress straight to the Division Series and the other four teams in each league will play a best-of-three series. There will no longer be play-in games to decide playoff spots, which will now be determined through tiebreakers.

American League preview

Toronto have been knocking on the door for a couple of years and they look ready to step up and mount a strong challenge for the American League East on their way to taking the American League.

The Blue Jays finished third in the AL East two years ago and fourth last year. They registered a respectable 91 wins last season and were unlucky to miss out on a playoff position. They have done some good business in the off-season and look to have improved.

They will have no problem scoring a lot of runs. They have one of the best players in the league in Vlad Guerrero jnr, who is just about the best power hitter in the league, with 48 home runs last term and making a strong challenge for the MVP.

The pitching, while not as good as the slugging, is still pretty strong too, with a rock-solid front three in the starting rotation in Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman and Hyin-jin Ryu, all of whom are expected to have earned run averages of close to 3.00 this year.

National League preview

The LA Dodgers are once again favourites in the National League, but their line-up arguably looks a bit weaker than last year, and given that they were knocked out of last year’s Championship Series by Atlanta, better value lies elsewhere.

At a bigger price it is worth taking a chance on the Milwaukee Brewers. The NL Central is not particularly strong, with only the St Louis Cardinals looking like credible challengers.

The Brewers' strength is their pitching. The men from Wisconsin have three top-class starters in Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta, who are as good a front three in a rotation as you will find.

Their bullpen is also excellent, and Josh Hader is an elite closer who will rack up lots of saves.

They topped their division by five wins last year and look good for a repeat success, which can send them into the playoffs with a chance of going all the way.

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