The current standings in the American League East are as follows: Tampa Bay Rays in first followed by the Boston Red Sox, the Toronto Blue Jays, and finally the last place New York Yankees. The Rays are in first by one and a half games over the Red Sox, nine and a half over the Blue Jays, and 10 games over the Yankees.

The Rays will not stay in first place for long because of the very tough schedule ahead of them. They play the Red Sox six more times, the Yankees three and the Minnesota Twins four. Also, they are very inexperienced and have never been in a pennant race before. Tampa has 14 away games and seven home left in September, so that could cause a little trouble for the young Rays. They still have two major injuries.  Left fielder Carl Crawford and third baseman Evan Longoria are both all-stars. These are huge losses to their team.

The Red Sox should win every series the rest of the season. Dustin Pedroia is having an MVP season batting .330 leading the American League in batting average. Also Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Sean Casey came back from injuries on Friday, which is going to be a huge lift. One major reason that the Sox are going to win the division is that the pitching is doing really well. Matsuzaka and Lester are the Red Sox leading pitchers with combined records of 29-7. The bullpen is anchored with Okie Dokie and Papelbon, the Irish dancer.  Papelbon is one of the top three closers in all of baseball. The Red Sox also have the best home record in all of baseball 48-19.

The Yankees are not going to make the playoffs. Their pitching is way too inconsistent and they also have a key injury that has effected them. Staring catcher Jorge Posada is out for the season.  The Yanks have lost his great bat from the lineup and they miss him very much. Also, they are leaving a lot of men in on base and failing to drive in the runners. They are lacking clutch hitting this season since their big play makers Jeter and A-Rod are struggling at the plate with runners on base.