Derek Jeter and the Yankees look to defend their AL East crown.
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AL EAST

New York Yankees

2009 Record: 103-59 (1st place)

2009 Recap: 2009 marked the end of the championship drought in New York, as manager Joe Girardi steered his team to a World Series victory. The Yankees began the season with Alex Rodriguez surrounded by controversy after he was exposed as a steroid user, had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip and started the season on the disabled list. Lucky for the Yankees, they happened to sign three of the biggest names in the offseason in ace pitcher C.C. Sabathia, his wingman A.J. Burnett, and slugging first baseman Mark Teixeira.
    
The Yankees started slow and found themselves looking up at the Red Sox in the standings until July. Chien-Ming Wang got hurt and Joba Chamberlain didn't pitch as well as expected, leaving the team with a tired, worn down bullpen. Toward the middle of the season, the Yanks suddenly came alive and managed an incredible amount of walk-off victories (accompanied by a pie in the face to the party responsible for scoring the run) to make up games in the standings.
    
The Yankees raced ahead of the Red Sox to win the division, and survived the American League side of the playoffs to reach the World Series, where they eventually beat the Philadelphia Phillies, leaving the team in an Empire State of Mind as they won their 27th championship.

Key Additions:
-OF Curtis Granderson
-RHP Javier Vazquez
-DH Nick Johnson
-OF Marcus Thames

Key Losses:
-OF Melky Cabrera
-LHP Phil Coke
-OF Johnny Damon
-OF Austin Jackson
-RHP Ian Kennedy
-OF Hideki Matsui
-C Jose Molina
-RHP Chien-Ming Wang

2010 Prediction: First place.

The team let free agents Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon walk at the end of the season, and traded Melky Cabrera to the Braves, prompting many to ask how they will replace that clutch production. What is frequently overlooked is that the team got Curtis Granderson, Nick Johnson and Javier Vazquez in return. Johnson slates in perfectly at the No. 2 spot in the lineup. He has a high on-base percentage and should be able to replace the production lost by the departure of Matsui. While he may not boast as much power as Damon, Granderson's defense will save a few runs that Damon cost the team last season, making him an apt replacement.

The Yankees enter the season younger and better defensively than they were last season.  Most significantly, they managed to steal a workhorse starter in Vazquez from the Braves.

Some point to Vazquez's last performance in pinstripes in 2004, when he faltered after the All-Star break and gave up a backbreaking grand slam to Damon in that fateful Game 7 of the ALCS, as evidence that he can't handle New York. What critics forget is that Vazquez pitched like an All-Star for the first half of that season and managed to finish fourth in the National League Cy Young voting last season. He is clearly a capable starter.

The one question mark this team has is health. Their core of Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada needs to continue to outrun Father Time if the Yankees hope to return to the World Series.

Boston Red Sox

2009 Record: 95-67 (2nd place)

2009 Recap: The Red Sox got off to a good start and led the division for much of last season. Unfortunately for Sox fans, David "Big Papi" Ortiz turned into a big baby, leaving the team with a huge void on offense. Starter Daisuke Matsuzaka also failed to perform as expected. Dice-K wound up on the disabled list after making just two starts.

Boston managed to get through these struggles by making major moves at the trade deadline, getting catcher Victor Martinez from the Cleveland Indians and Casey Kotchman from the Braves. The Red Sox managed to pull through and win the AL Wild Card, but got knocked out by a superior Los Angeles Angels ballclub in the divisional round.

Key Additions:
-3B Adrian Beltre
-OF Mike Cameron
-OF Jeremy Hermida
-RHP John Lackey
-SS Marco Scutaro

Key Losses:
-OF Rocco Baldelli
-OF Jason Bay
-RHP Paul Byrd
-SS Alex Gonzalez
-INF Nick Green
-RHP Takashi Saito
-LHP Billy Wagner

2010 Prediction: Second place.

The Sox are poised to make a run this season after signing free agent John Lackey -- who joins Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Clay Buchholz and Tim Wakefield in an excellent starting rotation. Yes, that is six names. No, the team won't use a six-man staff. But it does speak to the depth of their rotation.

Boston's defense is also greatly improved with the additions of Marco Scutaro and Mike Cameron.

The one question surrounding this ballclub is whether or not they can score enough runs to support their starting pitching. The Sox focused on pitching and defense this offseason. These qualities do win ballgames, but skeptics seem to think it will be at the expense of the offense.

What critics forget is that the Red Sox have catcher Victor Martinez to provide offense for a full season this year. If Papi can rediscover his swing and Beltre rebounds from a down year, the Sox will be just fine and will threaten the Yankees at the top of the division.

Tampa Bay Rays

2009 Record: 84-78 (3rd place)

2009 Recap: The Rays suffered a letdown in 2009. After making it all the way to the World Series in 2008, they didn't even make the playoffs last season. They seemed to be worn down after going farther into the postseason than they ever had before.

Tampa Bay's rotation did a decent job starting games, but the bullpen had a tendency to blow games late. The Rays' relief staff combined for 22 blown saves last season.

The team's speedy young roster was as electric as ever on defense, which definitely helped the pitchers prevent runs, but they didn't provide the offense necessary to stay with the pace set by the Yankees and Red Sox.

Key Additions:
-1B Hank Blalock
-C Kelly Shoppach
-RHP Rafael Soriano

Key Losses:
-2B Akinori Iwamura
-RHP Troy Percival
-RHP Russ Springer
-C Gregg Zaun

2010 Prediction: Third Place.

The Rays should improve this season. They have a strong young pitching staff of David Price, Matt Garza, James Shields, Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis, and they added Rafael Soriano to bolster the bullpen. Evan Longoria leads the way on offense, and B.J. Upton and Pat Burrell will probably rebound. Those bats, combined with Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena, should be enough to keep the team in games.

The Rays also has one of the best young infields in the game. Unfortunately for them, unless one of the big dogs in the division suffers an injury plague or team-wide slump, there is just too much competition in the AL East for the Rays to finish higher than third.

If Tampa Bay is out of the race by the trade deadline, look for the contract situations of Pena, Soriano and Crawford to also become a distraction. All three will become potential trade targets since they enter free agency at the end of the season.

Baltimore Orioles

2009 Record: 64-98 (5th place)

2009 Recap: The Orioles got off to a good start at the beginning of the season, but quickly disappeared as usual. By the end of the season they found themselves at the bottom of pile in the AL East, which is similar to how they finished the 2008 season, and every season since 1997, really. That was the last time the team posted a winning record.

To understand why the Orioles were so terrible last season, look no farther than the starting rotation. Only one pitcher on the entire staff won 10 games last season: Jeremy Guthrie. Guthrie was easily the best pitcher on the team, yet he still had 17 losses to go along with his 10 wins. If the best starter on your staff has almost twice as many losses as he does wins, your team is going to be in trouble.

The team also suffered a power outage on offense. No player in the lineup had a batting average over .300. Nick Markakis came closest, posting a .293 batting average to go along with his team-leading 101 RBIs. The biggest home run hitter for the Orioles was Luke Scott, who finished the season with a whopping 25 dingers.

Key Additions:
-INF Garrett Atkins
-LHP Mike Gonzalez
-RHP Kevin Millwood
-INF Miguel Tejada

Key Losses:
-RHP Danys Baez
-LHP Rich Hill
-3B Melvin Mora

2010 Prediction: Fourth place.

The future looks bright for Baltimore; just not this season. For the first time in a few years the team doesn't appear to be running in sand, as they finally some good young talent on their roster. Catcher Matt Wieters was one of the most hyped young players in the league last year, and could be poised for a breakout season. The staff boasts a few good, young pitchers like Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman who will definitely benefit from having veteran starter Kevin Millwood on the roster.

Baltimore also has one of the most talented young outfields in the league with Adam Jones and Nick Markakis roaming the pastures. The Orioles are definitely on the right path. Unfortunately, they also happen to play in the toughest division in the league. Don't expect anything higher than a fourth-place finish from them.

Toronto Blue Jays

2009 Record: 75-87 (4th place)

2009 Recap: Remember when the Blue Jays were leading the division at the beginning of the season? That ended quickly, turning the biggest story of the season into whether or not the team would trade ace Roy Halladay by the trade deadline. The Blue Jays ended up keeping him, but it still wasn't enough to notch a winning record.

One of the reasons for the team's poor performance was the fact that the Blue Jays play a huge chunk of games against the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays. A bigger reason? Aside from Halladay, the roster lacked anything truly frightening. Halladay is a tremendous pitcher, but even Batman needs a Robin. And the Blue Jays didn't even have an Alfred.  

Key Additions:
-C John Buck
-LHP Dana Eveland
-RHP Kevin Gregg
-SS Alex Gonzalez
-C Jose Molina
-RHP Brandon Morrow

Key Losses:
-C Rod Barajas
-RHP Roy Halladay
-RHP Brandon League
-1B Kevin Millar
-SS Marco Scutaro

2010 Prediction: Fifth place.

The Blue Jays enters 2010 in full rebuilding mode. They traded Halladay in a three-team deal that netted pitching prospect Kyle Drabek and reliever Brandon Morrow. The Jays have some good bats on their roster - namely, homegrown stars Adam Lind and Aaron Hill - and, with the prospects they picked up in offseason trades, there is reason to like where this team is headed. Young hitters like Travis Snider are going to need time to develop at the major league level, though, so the offense doesn't look threatening this season.

The larger question is who in the world the Jays are going to put in the starting rotation. They lack a clear ace. Shaun Marcum is slated to start on Opening Day, marking the first time he has pitched in the majors since 2007.

After Halladay left the Blue Jays got their wings clipped. They will likely plummet to last place in the division this season.