The AL east is going to come down to 2 teams: the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays.

-Steve Phillips

Oh good, that means I should start saving up for the playoff tix now!

Is that the same Steve Phillips as this guy?

American League East

A lot of people reckon this is a two-team race between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, but I believe the Toronto Blue Jays are in the mix as well. The reigning champions, the Red Sox, should be too strong for them both, however, and as a result I don’t foresee the Yankees even making the play-offs. I expect Boston’s ace Josh Beckett to get himself healthy and be productive, and he is capably supported by Daisuke Matsuzaka, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester. They’re also a solid defensive team with a reliable bullpen and, while they may not be as dominant as they were last year, they’ll still take some beating.

Further down the division, the Rays (note that they’ve taken the Devil out of Tampa Bay - I’m still struggling with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim!) will be an improvement on last season’s MLB worst, but their very young pitchers will lack the consistency to secure a .500 record.

What happened to your Blue Jays Phillips?  And how did Tampa’s very young pitchers get over their appalling lack of consistency?

Just for the record, I’ll be (and actually already have been) less present here for a while.  The device I’ve been helping build and program for the last four+ years was launched into orbit a few weeks ago and I’m on a rotating shift schedule for a while (and working in a public space where blogging/game-following wouldn’t be humored) plus fixing bugs/adding new features/etc.  And my wife is busy at work and trying to finish writing her thesis, so I’m on chase-after-the-two-year-old duty when not working.  And we’re having our second child in three weeks.  And my job is evaporating in September so I have to go look for something else.

Brett Gardner has been called up.

(via River Ave Blues)

I wonder who goes down?

Christian? Is the lefty streak over?

Peter Gammons with a guitar is less inspiring than Bernie Williams with a guitar.

bernie’s Dust in the Wind was cheeseball but gammons’ guitar playing and spittley vocals make me lose my appetite.

While the competition gets tougher, I’m just happy to see the other teams all playing AL teams again.

Getting the Tigers away from the NL teams is key.

I love this guy.  He’s so funny.

AL West

Winners: Seattle Mariners

Hey rilkefan...congratulations!  I think.

Hey rilkefan...congratulations!  I think.

Seconded.

I hope the reports of Horne having a dead arm do not presage a more serious problem, because I think he could be needed in a few weeks if/when Rasner/Giese/Ponson regress to their respective norms.

I’m also hopeful that Gardner can add something to the offense, and that Melky uses the promotion as motivation to find some capacity for a renewed focus in what has often become a Cano-like impatience at the plate, which is a problem because he isn’t nearly as talented as Cano.

Congratulations rilkefan, although you will be missed.

Congrats Rilke.

I hate Oliver Perez. Should be interesting to see Texas, this is the first time they’ve had a real pulse in ages.

Congratulations, rilkefan!

Thanks all.