AL East
1. Yankees
2. Rays*
3. Red Sox
4. Blue Jays
5. Orioles

AL Central
1. White Sox
2. Twins
3. Tigers
4. Royals
5. Indians

AL West
1. Mariners
2. Rangers
3. Angels
4. A's
(*=Wild Card)

Division Analysis

AL East:

We Covered the Yankees a few weeks ago, so I will talk about some other teams in the AL East. The Tampa Bay Rays failed to make the playoffs last year, after going all the way to the World Series in 2008. In 2010 the Rays will make their second trip ever to the playoffs. They have one of the best young offenses in baseball that combines speed, power, and hitters who can get on base. Carl Crawford is in the final year of his contract with the Rays and will put up career numbers in both the home-run and stolen base column. I also expect Evan Longoria to have an MVP type season for the Rays. For the first time the Rays have a legitimate closer in Rafael Soriano, which is something they have not ever had. Having a solid 9th inning guy will help the Rays immensely. The Boston Red Sox improved their pitching staff by adding John Lackey. They added Mike Cameron, Marco Scutaro, and Andrian Beltre to their lineup. I can't say those three are going to improve their lineup much. For a team that loves to use the ideas that Bill James touts, they have Bill James on staff as a consultant, Mike Cameron is the only player that fits his ideologies. Marco Scutaro is coming off a career year, and at the age of 34 you have to question if he can put up numbers close to that. Adrian Beltre is a guy who has never lived up to his potential after going off for 48 home runs in 2004, his walk year. Plus the only news Beltre has made on the baseball diamond in the past few years involved a baseball and him not wearing a cup.

AL Central:

The White sox have the best staff in the AL central with Jake Peavy and Mark Buehrle at the top. The only question is, can Jake Peavy dominate American League pitching the way he did in the National League? That remains to be seen, as he only had three chances to pitch in the AL last year. In those three chances he did win all three starts, but against the Royals and Tigers. The White Sox also improved their lineup by adding Juan Pierre, Mark Teahen, and Andruw Jones. Andruw Jones is a player to watch, he is playing in a hitters ballpark and has solid protection in the lineup. I can see Andruw having a bounce back year and return to his 2006 form, when he slugged 41 homeruns. The Twins too improved their offense adding J.J. Hardy, the O-Dog, Orlando Hudson, and Jim Thome. Defensively they could be the best in baseball. However where they lack is the pitching staff, where their ace is Carl Pavano. Yankees fans know him well. The lack of pitching experience they have will be a problem, but their hitting and defense will make up for it. Just not enough to make the playoffs. The Tigers have potential, but again like the Twins their pitching is suspect. Justin Verlander and his new $80 million contract top the rotation. After that their are a lot of red flags. Sophomore Rick Porcello had a good rookie year, but I think he will have a rocky second year. The Tigers traded their second best pitcher last season, Edwin Jackson, for Max Scherzer from the Diamondbacks. Scherzer hasn't proved much in his short career and struggled last year in his first full season in the majors. The switch from the NL to the AL also makes me question how he will perform. Jeremy Bonderman and Armando Galarraga round out the rest of the rotation. Their offense lost Curtis Granderson, but got Johnny Damon back in return. Aside from Damon, the only other solid producer for the Tigers would be Miguel Cabrera. The rest of the lineup has a lot of questions. Can Brandon Inge recreate his career year last year? Will Magglio Ordonez find his power stroke again this season? We will find out soon enough.

AL West:

The Mariners are the most improved team in baseball. They added one of the best pitchers in baseball, Cliff Lee and paired him with another ace pitcher in Felix Hernandez. The rest of the rotation has Ian Snell as the #3, Erik Bedard at #4, and Ryan Rowland Smith in the #5 slot. Their rotation can compete with any team on a given night. Not only did they improve their rotation, they also strengthened their lineup adding Chone Figgins, Casey Kotchman, and Milton Bradley. Figgins and Ichiro at the top of that lineup will create problems for for opposing pitchers. While their lineup is not a powerful one, they can get on base. With the lineup they have and the pitching staff, the Mariners are looking at their first playoff appearance since 2001 when they lost to the Yankees. The Rangers have one of the best offenses in baseball, a combination of speed, power, and players that get on base. All of which makes a lethal combination. They added Angel cast off Vladimir Guerrero to DH for them. Vlad last season looked like he was on his last leg, no pun intended. But being able to hit in Texas will see a boost in his power numbers, and thats all the Rangers need him to do for them. The Rangers also added Rich Harden who has pitched in the AL West before and will provide a solid presence in the Rangers pitching rotation. After Harden though there is nothing really solid. The Rangers staff pitched well last year, but can they do it again remains to be seen. Their offense can carry them to second place, but probably won't be able to carry them to a playoff birth. The Angels were the second best team in baseball last season, this season don't expect the same results. Their pitching staff took a hit with the loss of John Lackey. They added Joel Pineiro who I do not expect to come anywhere close to what he did with St. Louis last year. Jered Weaver and Joe Saunders are both solid pitchers that can be expected to produce for the Angels, but the other two members of the rotation Scott Kazmir and Ervin Santana are question marks. Ervin Santana had a great season in 2008 after a horrible 2007 season, and then regressed again last season. Scott Kazmir also had a bad year last season, so bad the Rays traded him to Angels mid way through the year. But the question with Kazmir is if he can return to form, or will his poor playoff performance weigh on him.

MVP: Evan Longoria

CY Young: Cliff Lee

Rookie of the Year: Brian Matusz

Manager of the Year: Don Wakamatsu

Come Back Player of the Year: Andruw Jones

Stay tuned for our Nation League preview coming soon.

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