AL East Poll

[BuckFoston]

How do you guys think the AL East is going to fair this year? I figure that the Yankees will win it again....I am not being a homer but if somebody can prove me wrong I don't see how the Red Sox can pull ahead of them.... This is how I think the AL East will end up this year....

1.Yankees
2.RedSox
3.Blue Jays
4.Orioles
5.Devil Rays

I would not be suprised though if the Orioles drop to 5 and the Rays go to 4... I also wouldn't be suprised if the RedSox and Blue Jays switch positions either....

[Hammer]

obviously gonna be a biased poll, considering where it is... and thusly i expect the yankees to win the division, because i too am biased. but to be fair, your average boston fan im sure believes boston will win, and perhaps even your average toronto fan thinks toronto will win... toronto is close enough to keep that within the realm of possibility.

and ill tell you how boston can beat the yankees... schilling pitches somewhat like he used to, matsuzaka is half as good as they expect him to be, beckett limits his homers allowed from 8 million to like 20, papelbon makes the transition to starter solidly and pineiro is a solid to above average closer. it may sound like alot, but really its all within reason i think... its not asking any of them to win the cy young, just to be solid. naturally... if pavano or igawa are semicapable, or hughes is what we think hes going to be, or humberto comes up and shocks, obviously things could go the other way even with all of that. and if we get clemens... well then i think we have the advantage in starters as well... but with pavano and igawa, they easily have a better rotation. asking pineiro to be good is easily the biggest stretch im asking in that scenario.

[DravenX]

I would like to see either the Jay, Orioles or Devil Rays get the division only to different teams in October.

[browntown653]

I'm very scared about Boston this year. I have to pick the Yankees but I might not be too surprised if the Sawx come through. Only time will tell.

[Kingdom]

Gotta go with the team that's had an iron fist wrapped around the division forever, almost. I don't like NYY, but until someone bumps them off in the division, you have to go with them.

[brewersfan19]

1. Yankees
2. Blue Jays
3. Red Sox
4. Devil Rays
5. Orioles

Keys for all the teams in this division, especial the top 3: Health and pitching. I feel that the top 3 team could psooibly interchange their positions. Whoever's pitching comes out to be the best, has the best shot!

[mntwinsfan]

Boston wins the division hands down. They went out and got pitching they recieved a guy in Drew, when healthy 30 homers and 120 plus rbis. In no way with the suckees win it.

[nyjunc]

obviously gonna be a biased poll, considering where it is... and thusly i expect the yankees to win the division, because i too am biased. but to be fair, your average boston fan im sure believes boston will win, and perhaps even your average toronto fan thinks toronto will win... toronto is close enough to keep that within the realm of possibility.

and ill tell you how boston can beat the yankees... schilling pitches somewhat like he used to, matsuzaka is half as good as they expect him to be, beckett limits his homers allowed from 8 million to like 20, papelbon makes the transition to starter solidly and pineiro is a solid to above average closer. it may sound like alot, but really its all within reason i think... its not asking any of them to win the cy young, just to be solid. naturally... if pavano or igawa are semicapable, or hughes is what we think hes going to be, or humberto comes up and shocks, obviously things could go the other way even with all of that. and if we get clemens... well then i think we have the advantage in starters as well... but with pavano and igawa, they easily have a better rotation. asking pineiro to be good is easily the biggest stretch im asking in that scenario.

I have to actualyl see Boston pass us before I can start thionking about picking them. We hear the same stuff every year and they always finish behind us, much like Atlantna in the NL East. I picked them in 2nd a couple of times and then said I would never do it again until they lost.

Boston has the POTENTIAL for a great staff but every single one of their starters has question marks and they don't have a closer. If the ?s come up positive they can beat us but it's alot to ask for everything to come up positive.

[Hammer]

potentially, on paper agreed, i shouldve made mention thats what i meant. on paper, bostons rotation is really nice... especially if lester comes back from cancer, which i dont know if thats in the cards or not, honestly. still, yes, i agree... they have 5 starters in their rotation, and each has a question mark. the youth in their bullpen is a question mark, pineiro is a question mark, timlin isnt anything special when you know what youre getting from him... and our bullpen is deep deep deep, if joe decides to not just overwork proctor, and i dont think as it is we have as many question marks in the rotation... i dont question wang at all, i only question moose in the playoffs, i question andys loyalty but not his ability on the field.

nonetheless, if they get some of the question marks answered, i dont feel like you can overlook boston considering over the last couple years, we've split with them. we may be dominating them in the standings, but when we play them on the field, theres no dominance from either side. if anything, i have a tendency more to overlook toronto, who did indeed finish 2nd last year.

[Hammer]

Boston wins the division hands down. They went out and got pitching they recieved a guy in Drew, when healthy 30 homers and 120 plus rbis. In no way with the suckees win it.

hes only broken 30 homers and 100 rbis once in his career, and not in the same season to boot. he was signed to that HIDEOUS contract to play defense and take a walk... if he hits homers its because fenway is a bandbox. his season average for a 162 game season is only like 25 homers and like 85 rbis, but hes gonna draw 90 walks and play near gold glove defense... hes gonna be another piece, but hes not gonna be the only reason they overtake the yankees.

[catman]

Here's the way I see the division coming out:
Toronto
Boston
NYY
Tampa Bay
Baltimore
I like what the Jays have done this off-season and they have all the pieces in place to make quite a run for the Series.

[browntown653]

Boston wins the division hands down. They went out and got pitching they recieved a guy in Drew, when healthy 30 homers and 120 plus rbis. In no way with the suckees win it.

I'm really going to listen to a guy who's probably never picked the Yankees to win the division in his life? And who thinks Drew is gonna hit 30 HRs and 120 RBIs?

[browntown653]

Here's the way I see the division coming out:
Toronto
Boston
NYY
Tampa Bay
Baltimore
I like what the Jays have done this off-season and they have all the pieces in place to make quite a run for the Series.

Interesting view. It does seem people are always intrigued by what the Blue Jays do in the offseason, as am I. However, they just never seem to scare anybody tremendously in the regular season. We'll see how it plays out.