2014 Crystal Ball Time

As spring training keeps rolling towards its end, let's review the AL East for 2014. We start by going back to the results for 2013. Red Sox 97-65, Rays 92-71, O's 85-77, Yankees 85-77, Blue Jays 74-88. Red Sox lost Ells & Saltie, but picked up AJ & Grady along with a few other pieces to go along with lots of young talent from the minors. Rays still have pitching led by David Price. O's lost closer Jim Johnson, but added Nelson Cruz. Yankees went free-agent happy by signing Ells, Beltran, McCann & Tanaka to offset the losses of Rivera, A-Rod, Granderson & Pettitte. Blue Jays made no big moves & they hope their signings from last year perform better in 2014. The baseball "wisdom" last year was that 88 wins could take the division with Boston & New York predicted to finish in last & Toronto in first. We all know how that turned out! What do you think for 2014? I'll go on record as follows: Boston 92 wins, Tampa Bay 90 wins, New York 90 wins, Baltimore 88 wins, Toronto 86 wins. I see a little more balance, but the Sox are returning too many playoff vets not to take the AL East for a 2nd year in a row. That's my crystal ball for 2014.