MLB New York Yankees

Where Will the New York Yankees Finish in the AL East?

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By @ogab_3

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Greg M. Cooper – USA Today Sports

Few things are certain in this life. We can only accept so much as fact. However, one thing that I think we can all agree on as fact is that the American League East is loaded this year in the MLB. Gone are the days (or much of the last 15 years), where it would be a two-horse race between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Instead the division is wide open, with the Yankees looking like one of the weaker teams in the division. This got me to wondering, what might the standings look like at the end of the season?

The two teams that everyone seems to be touting from this division, mainly off of the strength of their offseason, are the Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays. The Red Sox have been the baseball equivalent of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, seemingly having entirely different teams and outcomes from year to year. This year, after gaining Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez, Rick Porcello and pretty much any other baseball player you could name, it seems obvious that they’re going to contend for the top of this division and far beyond. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays added to a team that’s been getting closer by picking up Josh Donaldson in a still unfathomable trade with the Oakland Athletics. They also added Russell Martin and Michael Saunders. If they can find the pitching and everyone stays healthy, they have a great shot at competing as well.

The team being left out of a lot of these talks is the Baltimore Orioles. This has probably had something to do with their offseason, where they got rid of big pieces Andrew Miller, Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz, and proved that owner Peter Angelos does indeed love to toy with the emotions of Orioles fans. And yet, this was still the team that won the division crown last year, and they should be considered contenders until proven otherwise.

This leaves the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. On paper, these certainly look like the worst two teams in the division. they have major holes at multiple positions, something that a contender simply can’t have. However, of the two, it looks as though the Rays are weaker. This is partially due to the offseason fire sale that just occurred. They’ve lost manager Joe Maddon, along with Wil Myers, Sean Rodriguez, Jeremy Hellickson, Matt Joyce and Ryan Hanigan, along with losing David Price during the season to the Detroit Tigers.

This means if these standings play out, (which is obviously extremely subjective and almost certainly won’t hold exactly true), the Yankees would finish in fourth place. That seems about right for the roster they’ve constructed up to this point. To give some context to the idea that they could finish fourth, the last time that happened was in 1992, when they finished fourth out of seven teams. Again, this is a decent Yankees team that is starting to infuse some youth into the roster. But the simple fact is, they have a ton of question marks in the rotation, at second base, in the outfield and one named Alex Rodriguez. So it will be very interesting to see how they respond to a lot of overhaul and a very competitive division that will give them constant tests.

Owen Gabbey is a baseball writer who also contributes for the NFL for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ogab_3, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google. 

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