Since Cito Gaston took over again as manager...

[etaoin22]

The Blue Jays roster still is a glass far less than half full, with big-money disappointments, top players on the DL, and a less-than-certain starting rotation, but taking into consideration that Halladay is possibly the best starter in baseball and that some other players are being allowed or being made to believe in themselves, here is the American League East since Cito took over, basically about a third-of-a-season of games:

1 - Tampa Bay Rays --- 34-20
2 - Toronto Blue Jays --- 31-22
3 - Boston Red Sox --- 27-27
4 - New York Yankees --- 27-27
5 - Baltimore Orioles --- 22-30.

Since the first two games under Gaston were losses (and the yuk-yuk types were saying -- doesn't matter who is managing when you have a crap team...), 11 games above .500. I would have felt this impossible, but I now could be convinced about wild card chances.

[danielh41]

The Blue Jays roster still is a glass far less than half full, with big-money disappointments, top players on the DL, and a less-than-certain starting rotation, but taking into consideration that Halladay is possibly the best starter in baseball and that some other players are being allowed or being made to believe in themselves, here is the American League East since Cito took over, basically about a third-of-a-season of games:

1 - Tampa Bay Rays --- 34-20
2 - Toronto Blue Jays --- 31-22
3 - Boston Red Sox --- 27-27
4 - New York Yankees --- 27-27
5 - Baltimore Orioles --- 22-30.

Since the first two games under Gaston were losses (and the yuk-yuk types were saying -- doesn't matter who is managing when you have a crap team...), 11 games above .500. I would have felt this impossible, but I now could be convinced about wild card chances.

I would love to see both the Red Sox and the Yankees shut out of the playoffs, and not just because the Red Sox beat my Rockies in the World Series last year. Baseball really needs to do something about the money inequities, but until it does, I will root for the huge spending teams to lose and the smaller market teams to do well. So needless to say, I am really pulling for the Rays to win this division.

[macrae1234]

Halladay is possibly the best starter in baseball

Next to Brandon Webb