Forecast: American League preview

ByABC News
March 26, 2014, 1:20 PM

— -- It's Day 2 of our first ESPN MLB Forecast.

After rolling out a preview for all 15 teams in the National League as well our predictions for how each team will do this season in the Senior Circuit on Tuesday, we now turn to the American League.

For our results, we surveyed our Forecast panel on each topic.

Without further ado, let's take a close look at the league that features the defending champions.

•  Forecast: National League preview

David Schoenfield: They traded for Dexter Fowler and signed Scott Feldman, but the Astros could still be headed for a fourth straight 100-loss season and a fourth straight first overall pick in the June draft. After all, the Astros lost 111 games in 2013 and will bring back largely the same cast of characters. They probably won't lose 111 again -- they can't possibly lose 17 games they led going into the eighth inning again, can they? -- but some signs of progress would be nice. Young starters Jarred Cosart, Brett Oberholtzer and Brad Peacock will get a chance to prove themselves over a full season while outfielder George Springer and first baseman Jonathan Singleton should make it up to the big leagues at some point. Still, just finishing out of fifth place would be an achievement for this team. Then again, maybe the front office would just as much prefer that No. 1 overall pick again.

Dan Szymborski: The future's not yet the present in Houston, but after inheriting a team that was almost devoid of talent, both in the majors and minors, and short on cash, general manager Jeff Luhnow has overhauled the organization from top to bottom; Astros fans at least have some players to look forward to. Houston is still not a good team and likely to finish in the basement, but with the addition of some legitimate major league talent (Fowler) and the possibility of seeing some of the minor leaguers like Springer start graduating to the majors, they could leave triple-digit loss totals in the rearview mirror.