AL East Preview: Who Will Go The Distance?

We the MLB betting starts. many people will be looking at an AL East preview to see who could potentially be in the 2010 World Series. The betting services websites have the New York Yankees as the favorites to win the division in 2010 with the Boston Red Sox a close second. With the baseball betting odds in place, it is time to take a look at the AL East and see who could be playing in October for the world championship.

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox have a bit of a power outage and a closing pitcher problem. With Jason Bay gone and David Ortiz a shell of his former self, there is concern in Red Sox Nation that the team will not be able to tame the Green Monster in 2010. Right now the only DH officially listed on the Red Sox roster is Ortiz, but that does not mean that Sox will not bring in some power before the season starts. The starting rotation in Boston is solid and probably the best in baseball. If Jonathan Papelbon can relax a little and get back to his World Series form, then the Red Sox will be the team to beat in 2010.

New York Yankees

The Yankees came so close to creating a pitching machine when they added Javier Vazquez to CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte, but the bullpen will let them down this season. The Yankees will once again lean on Mariano Rivera to close out their games and the rest of the American League has finally figured Riviera out. He had great numbers last year as the Yankees rolled to a World Series, but his arm is getting older. Once you get past the three aforementioned starters, the Yankee rotation can get suspect. With Matsui and Damon being gone, the Yankee offense will suffer and the Yankees may not be the powerhouse they were last season.

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays started quick last season thanks to some great early season pitching and clutch hitting, but their quick start faded and they dropped out of the playoff race. There has been some tinkering with the starting rotation, and this is still a very young team. Look for improvement from Tampa, but they still miss the playoffs in 2010.

Baltimore Orioles

This has got to start looking familiar to the fans of the Baltimore Orioles. Every year the team starts off like a shot, only to fade away in July to land in the basement of the AL East. With very few significant changes being made in Baltimore so far for 2010, the only thing keeping the Orioles out of the basement again will be the Toronto Blue Jays.

Toronto Blue Jays

Last year the Blue Jays started strong and had the lead in the AL East for a little while. But over time it became apparent that their strength was their pitching, and specifically the pitching of Roy Halladay. Now with Halladay gone, there is nothing to prop the Blue Jays up. This will be a very disappointing year for the Blue Jays and their fans are about to find out just how important Halladay really was to their team.