With Opening day coming this weekend, Sports World News is kicking off our MLB 2014 season preview starting and todays edition is the American League East. Hands down the best division in baseball could be won by four of the five teams. The Red Sox are the defending champs thus the favorite in my eye. Where do the teams end up?
1. Tampa Bay Rays (92-70): The Rays have a great season in them for 2014. The bats are always consistent, headed up by Evan Longoria. The rotation is what will get the Rays to the postseason and beyond. David Price is still in town and with Matt Moore and Alex Cobb they could win a World series. The Rays continue to be a shining example of how you can compete in the MLB with a great farm system and great role pieces instead of opening up the checkbook like another team in this division.
2. New York Yankees (90-72): The Yankees reloaded and reloaded big. Out goes Mariano Rivera, Curtis Granderson, Alex Rodriguez and in comes Carlos Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury, Masahiro Tanaka, Brian McCann and Brian Roberts to get the Bronx Bomber’s back to the playoffs. CC Sabathia is coming off a miserable year and velocity issues continue to plague him, but he is still the ace in New York until Michael Pineda proves otherwise. Mark Texeria and Derek Jeter are back from injury and look to contribute at high levels again. The Yankees bought up a lot of talent for 2014 and look to have a deep playoff run for Jeter’s last season
3. Boston Red Sox (88-74): The reigning champs have kept it all together for the most part. The big lose coming in the form of Jacoby Ellsbury and Stephen Drew (who could return). Xander Bogaerts will open the season at shortstop and would love if the Sox decide to bring back Drew. Jackie Bradley Jr and Grady Sizemore could platoon centerfield to fill the void, but look for Bradley to have it to himself at some point. David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Shane Victorino are all returning and will contribute at a high level. The rotation took a hit with Ryan Dempster deciding to take a year off, but Jon Lester, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz and Jake Peavy are as good as it gets.
4. Baltimore Orioles (81-81): The O’s finally went over $100 million for total payroll with the signing of Nelson Cruz. Cruz is a great bat for the five spot, but cant run or field. The O’s lineup is still solid and hopes that Manny Machado will be ready for Opening Day are still high, but look for him in the first few weeks. Adding Ubaldo Jimenez is a move that the O’s had to make to help a thin rotation, but with his declines Jimenez won’t be the ace the O’s hope he is. Baltimore has been a nice story, but the division is too strong for them this year.
5. Toronto Blue Jays (73-89): Injuries just destroyed this team in 2013. Jose Reyes and Jose Bautista were among the dozen Jay players who missed a significant amount of time. The teams is very injury prone so a repeat of 2013 isn't completely out of the question, unfortunately. The rotation could be something special, but with R.A. Dickey being your ace you wont go far. Plenty of prospects will make their way up to Toronto to make a bid, but the Jays just want to get something out of Brandon Morrow.
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