2006 American League Baseball Preview

AL East

1- New York Yankees (y)
2- Boston Red Sox
3- Toronto Blue Jays
4- Baltimore Orioles
5- Tampa Bay Devil Rays

AL Central

1- Chicago White Sox (y)
2- Cleveland Indians (x)
3- Minnesota Twins
4- Detroit Tigers
5- Kansas City Royals

AL West

1- Oakland Athletics (y)
2- Los Angeles Angels
3- Texas Rangers
4- Seattle Mariners

(y)= division winner
(x)= wild card

ALCS: Chicago White Sox over New York Yankees

MVP: Travis Hafner, Cleveland
Cy Young: Johan Santana, Minnesota
Rookie of Year: Brian Anderson, Chicago
Manager of Year: Ken Macha, Oakland

--------------------------------------------------

In the AL East, the never-ending rivalry between the Yanks and Bosox continues . . . The Bombers hope the pick-up of Johnny Damon will push their lineup to new heights, but the starting pitching remains a major concern. The Red Sox added Josh Beckett to their rotational mix, but it's going to take a healthy Curt Schilling for them to make another post-season run. Meanwhile, Toronto is hoping its big bucks spree on A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan will lift the Jays up a notch in the divisional race. Baltimore and Tampa Bay will keep the faithful believing until mid-May, at the latest.

The Central will be dominated by last year's powerhouses again. The Chisox reloaded with the additions of Javier Vazquez and Jim Thome and it's hard to imagine them falling off all that much with such a loaded pitching staff. In fact, I think the White Sox are so good, I'll take them to beat the odds and repeat as World Champs. Elsewhere, Cleveland will make the playoffs this year (mark my words) if the pitching rises up to meet the performance level of Travis Hafner, Jhonny Peralta and the rest of their big bats. The Twins will try to play small ball again, but you have to wonder how much longer Ron Gardenhire can pull rabbits out of hats. Detroit hopes Jim Leyland can steady its ship, but the Tigers have too many holes (particularly defensively) to be post-season bound. And the Royals? Fuhgeddaboutit, Kansas City! You have nothing.

In the West, it's Oakland's time to rise to the top. With a young pitching staff that gained a lot of experience last year and a defensive club that looks leak proof, skipper Ken Macha should be able to take his club back to October. The Angels of Southern California (isn't that the easy way to say it?) will be formidable once again, but Vladimir Guerrero cannot do it all by himself. I see them falling back a bit this year with Texas and Seattle both competitive early, but slipping out of the mix by mid-season.

-JAB