1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Baltimore Orioles

The injury to Curt Schilling makes this only slightly less of a sure thing in my eyes. Boston still has the better 1-2 punch with Becket and Dice-K getting the nod over Wang and Pettittie and it's honestly not even that close. Both teams are loaded with top notch young pitching talent, and the Yankees get a slight edge here by having three guys (Chamberlain, Hughes and Kennedy) to Boston's two (Buchholtz and Lester) though I'm less convinced of the readiness of the Yankee's trio, outside of Joba. The bullpen is where the Red Sox pitching staff really distinguishes itself, with better relievers as you compare slot by slot pretty much down the line. The lineups are both going to hit for a lot of power, take a lot of walks and score a lot of runs. Defense is another area of separation, with the Red Sox infusing some skilled young defenders while the Yankees continue to age and get worse. For the Yankees to catch the Sox, they will have to get amazing performances from the young trio of starters and the Sox will have to falter.

The Blue Jays acquisitions over the off-season showed that they are looking to ride pitching and defense into contention. They have a solid rotation, though probably not as good as last year. The pen should also be pretty good. Scott Rolen, if healthy, is a defensive upgrade at third. The lineup will also be solid, though they have some holes up the middle offensively. Ultimately, they're just not good enough to make that leap into the top two in the division. The Rays already have one of the best young cores in the major leagues, with Scot Kazmir and James Shields in the rotation and BJ. Upton and Carl Crawford in the lineup. Carlos Pena was a revelation last year, and Matt Garza figures to give them a solid third starter now. They have also improved the defense up the middle. But what really stands out is that their farm system is still the best in the game. They have a trio of young starters led by David Price who are nearing the majors and a potentially great left side of the infield ready to break in this year. If the Rays played in any division but the AL East, they would be looking at a potential dynasty. As it is, they'll need every bit of that talent just to compete in the division....in a few years.

The Baltimore Orioles are a mess, and that's coming from a person who greatly admired and followed the team a decade ago. They have a few interesting pieces for the future in Nick Markakis, Adam Jones and Matt Wieters. But the depth of the system, especially the pitching doesn't bode well for the next few years. With the Yanks, Sox and Rays all having a ton of talent for the next few years, it's hard to see Baltimore climbing back to relevance any time soon.