The AL East: Good, Great, and Best of All

Up till last year The AL East was a two horse race: The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox would take turns heading up the division, battling it out through the year for the top spot, with the other invariably taking the AL wild card.

This year is rather different.

Sure, the Red Sox are still atop the division this morning, but two teams are only one game back.

And neither of them are the Yankees. 

Sure, I hear you say "But it's only the start of May, this isn't going to last." But I disagree.

I see more than enough signs that show, this year, is no two horse race.

It's not all improvements from the recent outsiders either. Some of this is due to trials and tribulations, most notably of which is with the Yankess.

The Roger Clemens debacle is documented more than enough than to require me to describe it to you here, but what I will say is that it's not helping the Yankees one bit, in fact I would reason to bet it's hanging over them like a pall.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, that's not the end of their issues (although they all wish it were). Their starting pitching has been far from stellar with only Chien-Ming Wang showing any kind of form. Part of this is due to what their division rivals the Rays suffered from in 2007: Inconsistent young pitchers.

However the Yankees are the Yankees, and will not be kept down for long (they're currently 14-15, three games back) 

The Yankees two saving graces are thus: They have one of the most powerful offences in baseball today, with power hitters coming out their ears (in fact, there are so many they've run out of places to put them all)

Oh yeah, and when you play them, it's not a nine inning game.

It's seven.

Thank Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera for that one. 

The Red Sox, on the other hand, have no such pitching woes.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, Josh Beckett, and Clay Buchholz form what is quite possibly the most solid starting rotation in all of the Major Leagues. However, despite this, they have allowed 130 runs up to this point, third in the American League behind New York (133) and Detroit (148).

The offence though, is firing on all cylinders, even with David Ortiz's early slump, having batted in 136 runs, again third in the American League, this time behind Los Angeles (140) and Detroit (142).

Look for the run differential of the Sox to grow with time—for now it is a mere +6, but not far from now I expect it to reach far grander proportions.

The Baltimore Orioles have been the surprise so far, holding the lead in the division for 15 days—with all indications in the off-season that 2008 was all about rebuilding. 

I would wager there are more than a few teams wondering..exactly how a rebuilding season starts off with a winning April, one game back of the division lead.

The Orioles numbers may not be as impressive as the others in the AL East, but they've made what they've done count—they are 7-2 in games decided by only one run, and 1-0 in their only extra innings game (1 game pending).

That and their pitching is also rather good. This was a surprise to many (yours truly included) after trading away Eric Bedard, but they managed to get it all together and have a strong rotation and excellent bullpen.

However, trouble may loom for the O's as they have yet to face the Red Sox and have played the Yankees only once (taking the series 2-1). Also, after today's conclusion versus the Tampa Bay Rays they travel to Los Angeles to take on the AL West Leading Angels.

It will be in this stretch that Baltimore either proves themselves as contenders, or, pretenders, but keep in mind:

They didn't lead the division for over two weeks by chance.

And finally Tampa Bay (Let's face it, Toronto aren't much of anything right now bar Roy Halladay).

I know there are people out there that thought the idea of the Rays becoming competitive was all smoke.

Bad news folks.

They're here.

With yet another solid rotation that is soon to welcome back the 2007 AL strike out king Scott Kazmir and an offence that has always been the plus point of the team, the all new all improved 2008 Rays are for real.

The biggest improvement for the Rays undoubtedly has been it's pitching, with the bullpen going from a Major League worst to a Major League best over the off-season, and the starting rotation being defined by the young talent that struggled so much in 2007, most notably Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson.

And there's more to come on that front too: Jeff Niemann pitched twice in the absence of Matt Garza and showed what he is capable of, and the world has yet to be introduced to David Price, one of the most touted prospects in baseball.

So what does all this mean?

The AL East is good.

Really Good. 

In all it's safe to say that there is more talent in this one division than any other in the American League.

And it's going to be great fun to watch, because now, it's not only Red Sox—Yankees match ups that matter in the deciding of the division.

It's all of them.