The AL East, as it always does, is looking very strong. The defending World Series Champion New York Yankees keep a good pool of talent to try and repeat, a feat nobody has accomplished since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000.
The Boston Red Sox are still looking good to try to knock off the Yankees. Tampa Bay, just two seasons removed from their first ever World Series appearance, remain in contention with young leaders who are not even in their prime yet. Uh oh, even the Orioles are looking drastically better than their previously last place team. However, the Blue Jays lost their ace Roy Halladay and are pretty much rebuilding.
Now, here are my predictions for the AL East.
First: New York Yankees (98-64)
I'm expecting to see the Yankees once again dominate. Even though they lost Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, and Melky Cabrera, they still are the Yankees, and Hank Steinbrenner always has plenty of money for a winning team. Although wins won't come as easy as they did last year, they still should be able to walk away with the AL East Crown.
Second: Boston Red Sox (94-68)
What a surprise, the Yanks and Sox are one-two in the division. The Sox made some good additions this offseason, getting Marco Scutaro, John Lackey, Mike Cameron, and Adrian Beltre. They need all the talent they can get in what is widely known as the toughest division is baseball.
Third: Tampa Bay Ray (83-79)
Tampa Bay continues to hang with the big boys this season. They still have the MLB 2K10 cover athlete Evan Longoria, and the highly anticipated David Price. Carl Crawford should steal another million bases, and Pat Burell should have a better year this time around.
Fourth: Baltimore Orioles (79-83)
Yes, the Orioles are finally getting back to their winning ways this year. Even though I think they will still have that losing season streak extended, look for a drastic improvement this year.
They have added Kevin Millwood, Miguel Tejada, Mike Gonzalez, and Garret Atkins. Even though they lost Melvin Mora, a beloved player at Camden Yards, the future is very bright for this ball club, with upcoming stars like Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, and Matt Wieters.
Fifth: Toronto Blue Jays (59-103)
You're probably looking at my prediction for the Blue Jays and going "Yikes!" But take a closer look. They are playing in the AL East, which is getting tougher year by year. They lost arguably the best pitcher in baseball in Roy Halladay. They also lost another great pitcher in AJ Burnett.
They do not get much run support, as Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells didn't meet expectations last year. The good news is that they can rely on relief pitchers to try and save them from that terrible record I predict them to have.
Hope you all enjoy this, please leave any questions or comments and I will try to get to read them. Let's play ball!
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com
- Login to post comments