Okay, an attempt at justifying my MLB record predictions. We start in the AL. Here goes.

AL East:

Okay, well we know this much - the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays are the class of the AL East, and very possibly the best three teams in baseball. All three have gotten better over the offseason.

The Yankees, who as we all know, didn't make thep layoffs for the first time since the strike in 1994, took advantage of contracts coming off the books (Giambi, Mussina) and picked up arguably the two best pitchers on the market, CC Sabathia (who was inarguably the best pitcher on the market) and AJ Burnett and the best hitter on the market in Mark Teixeira. That adds up to a hell of a lot of new wins, and their rotation and lineup are extremely strong. The only problems are a lack of a center fielder - Brett Gardner is pretty weak, most likely, but in the middle of the stacked lineup, likely something they can with live, and really, injuries - A-Rod out for a couple of months will hurt, and, while injuries can wreck any team's season, particularly AJ Burnett has been hurt, and some of the Yankees position players are older and have been injured in years past - Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada. Some are worried about bullpen outside of Mariano Rivera, but while it may not be the best in baseball I don't think it will lose them too many games. I would have given them more than 93 wins, except that they play in this beast of a division.

The Red Sox of course I put ahead of them, because I think their core is more solid and they have less potential injury issues (mainly Beckett, though he's been mostly healthy during his time in Boston and JD Drew). They will likely suffer some downward regression from Kevin Youkilis, but Josh Beckett's ERA should be way down, as his peripherals were solid last year, and they have the deepest potential pool for reserve starting pitchers in case of injury. The Red Sox made smart low risk acquisitions of Brad Penny, Rocco Baldelli and John Smoltz. They will need Lester to at least come close to repeating last years performance, as it may be tough for him to top it, and hopefully to get some production out of their shortstop position, be it from Juilo Lugo or Jed Lowrie. That said, I still think they're the strongest team in the AL East, and in the majors.

The Rays have done nothing but improve over last year's team, albeit less dramatically than the Yankees. Pat Burrell was a nice acquisition at DH, and they should be the beneficiaries of a at least nearly full season of David Price, and the realistic potential for an improved season (not that he was bad last year, but with more power) from BJ Upton. I have them on the outside looking in, but it's definitely a crapshoot.

It's hard to think of a way the Blue Jays will not fall back from last year. Sure, they underperformed their Pytagorean record dramatically, but they're losing over 450 innings from their excellent pitching staff with AJ Burnett gone to the Yanks, and Shawn Marcum and Dusty McGowan injured. Their offense should be a little improved with full years from youngsters Adam Lind and Travis Snider, but it's tough to see them contending in this loaded division.

The Orioles actually have hope - which for them is a great thing, but I don't see it translating to wins just yet. They have a great chance at putting together a decent offense - Nick Markakis has become a legitimate star, and Adam Jones could be that as well. Oh, and they have the best offensive prospect in baseball in catcher Matt Weiters, who baseball prospectus is predicting to somehow be one of the best hitters in baseball this year. That said, their pitching is nowhere to be found, and their starting pitching is all extremely questionable outside of Jeremy Guthrie. They have two big pitching prospects waiting in the wings in Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz, but they probably won't have much impact until 2010.