It’s March 31, 1996, and it is Opening Day Eve! We know that the O’s are in “playoffs or bust” mode, but who do they have to deal with to get there? In 1996, the Tampa Bay Rays are still two years away from existing, so while it has a lot of familiar faces, Baltimore’s division, the AL East, isn’t exactly what it looks like today. So let’s take a very quick run through of our most hated rivals, the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, the Toronto Blue Jays, and… the Detroit Tigers. We’ll look at them in order of how they finished in 1995.

Boston Red Sox — At the time of the strike in August 1994, the Red Sox were in 4th place in the brand new AL East, 17 games back of the Yankees and 13 back of Cleveland for the wild card. They were decidedly mid, and not much was expected of them in 1995. Well, the strike must have energized the Sox, because they shocked everyone and won the division. Their first baseman, Big Mo Vaugh, won the MVP in a rather controversial vote. (Vaughn was good, .300 avg, 39 HR, 126 RBI, 98 R, 4.3 bWAR, but by almost any metric Cleveland’s Albert Belle, .317 avg, 50 HR, 126 RBI, 121 R, 7.0 bWAR and Seattle’s Edgar Martinez, .349 avg, 29 HR, 119 RBI, 121 R, 7.1 bWAR were better. Those teams also made the playoffs, but sportswriters loved the first place BoSox so Big Mo was the guy.) In fact, Mo wasn’t even the best player on his team that year, as shortstop John Valentin led all major leaguers with 8.3 bWAR after .298 with 27 homers, 20 steals, and 102 RBI. Anyway, both Mo and Valentin are back in 1996, but coming off a division crown, the Sox aren’t going to sneak up on anyone. Their rotation is led by knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who racked up 16 wins with a sub-3 ERA a season ago, good enough for third place in AL Cy Young voting. They haven’t really done a ton to build on last season, with the top newcomers being Wil Cordero at second base and former NL MVP Kevin Mitchell, who played last season overseas in Japan because of the strike.  

New York Yankees — The Yankees come into 1996 after finishing second and earning the AL wild card in 1995. The Baltimore Sun’s baseball preview section is very bearish on the Yankees heading into the year, as evidenced by the “Where they’re going” blurb for the team. “Back into oblivion, now that owner George Steinbrenner has become fully involved. They made a handful of moves that made little sense during the off-season, and although the yankees have collected some big names, the pieces don’t fit.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 3F, March 29, 1996) There you have it, from the ink-stained pages of the Sun to God’s ears! The 1996 New York Yankees will be bad. They did spend a lot over the winter, adding slugging first baseman Tino Martinez, catcher Joe Girardi, speedy outfielder Tim Raines, and pitchers Kenny Rogers and Dwight Gooden. There’s a lot of pressure on rookie shortstop Derek Jeter, who should open the season as the starter despite a rather pedestrian 15-game major league debut late last season. Manager Joe Torre opens the season on the hot seat. In fact, the Sun’s preview lists him as the manager most likely to be fired, but that is mostly because of the temperamental and impatient Steinbrenner.

Detroit Tigers — Detroit comes into 1996 after finishing a distant fourth a year ago at 60-84. They cleaned house, bringing in a new GM (Randy Smith) and a new manager (Buddy Bell). The Sun’s preview is quite down on the Tigers, saying that they have “little talent in the majors or minors” and that “if every player performs to his potential and has a career season, the Tigers probably would finish third.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 3F, March 29, 1996) Superstar Cecil Fielder, the highest paid player in baseball, is six years removed from his incredible 51 homer season in 1990, and while he still has some pop (31 HR in 1995) he isn’t as feared a slugger as he once was. If the Tigers are as bad as people think, he might be dealt at the deadline as part of the rebuild.

Toronto Blue Jays — The back-to-back World Series titles of 1992 and 1993 seem like a distant memory after a last place 56-88 finish in 1995. There was a massive free agent exodus after the season, with superstar second baseman Roberto Alomar ending up in Baltimore. Paul Molitor, Al Leiter and Devon White are all now playing for new teams. As the championship generation fades away, there are some exciting young players coming up, most notably outfielder Shawn Green and catcher Carlos Delgado. But that’s about it. The Sun puts it bluntly, “This could be the year manager Cito Gaston is fired.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 3F, March 29, 1996)

So there you have it. With the Blue Jays in free fall, the Tigers irrelevant, the Yankees dealing with a meddling owner, and the Red Sox primed for recession, the division seems there for the taking for the Birds. The O’s still have major questions in the back half of the starting rotation and the bullpen, but their lineup is as good as anyone’s.

All the anticipation and speculation is about to come to an end, as tomorrow the games finally start counting. Play ball!

OPENING DAY!!!

Kansas City at Baltimore, 3:25 p.m.
Starting Pitchers: KC — RHP Kevin Appier, 0-0 | BAL — RHP Mike Mussina, 0-0

Welcome to a recurring segment where I find fun things in today’s (in 1996) Baltimore Sun!

Did I mention this blog is a period piece?