Note: As we did with the NL, candidates listed are every team (all four!) in the three previous polls who did not win the poll but still garnered at least 10 percent of the vote (at this writing).

I don't think any of those teams will win the NL wild card.  My guess is the Yankees take the one in the AL though.

I remember a similar voting pattern last year... we avoided voting overwhelmingly for the Jays in the division, but couldn't resist the temptation with the Wild Card.  Hopefully we have better luck this time around!

This is a two horse race between NYY and CLE.  I think Cleveland will get it, but New York usually finds a way in to the post season.

New York has the depth to overcome any of their rotation flaming out - Wang, Mussina, Pettite, Kennedy, Hughes - and Joba likely going to the bullpen, and probably called back to the rotation should any of these guys falter.  Not to mention Igawa (who is still a pretty decent pitcher) lurking in the background.  The only way the Jays beat the Yankees is through an unparalleled collapse - everything has to go wrong with these 3 young pitchers and at least one of their rotation vets has to fall apart (looking at you Andy). 

Anyways, if the Jays don't do it this year, then it is all over for at least the next 3 seasons for them, because those young studs with a couple more notches in their belts are going to be untouchable.  The Jays have *nothing* in the next few years rivaling those guys who are going to come up and make that kind of impact.

Well, I think Cleveland will win their division and the Yankees will win the wild card.  Boring.

I see the yankee's missing the playoffs this year. Wang is the only reliable starter they have. Mussina and Pettite are on their decline. Rivera(39) had an era over 3.00 for the first time since 1995(his rookie season), is that a blip, or a sign of things to come? Their young pitchers have not proved anything to me, I dont care how highly they are rated and how much the yankees organization talks them up, they are still unproven. The best prospects dont always turn out to be the best players. 

Posada (37) is in my opinion never going to come close to hitting .338 again, and well probalby have to be moved to DH in the near future.

Jeter(34) is not going to be able to play an effective shortstop forever. His best days may be behind him.

No doubt the yankees will have a good offence again this year, but there are alot of question marks on the staff, and going forward I definatly see this as a team in Decline. They may struggle to make the playoffs the next few years. Although money could change that.

The Jays don't need the high end impact pitching over the next 3 years because they already have it. Halladay is locked up, and McGowan is easily a #2 guy. If Marcum can continue to post numbers the way he did last year, that is definatly #3 or #4 material. Brett Cecil is on his way as well, and who knows how good he can be?  Add a free agent or two, and thats still a top of the line rotation.

McGowan is easily a #2 guy

Let's let McGowan pitch a whole season in the majors before we anoint him as easily anything.

I agree with your comments on caution for the Yankees this season, but they completely disappear when looking at the Jays.  Saying that you don't care how highly regarded Chamberlain and Hughes are and then two paragraphs later touting Cecil as being on his way to being a member of a top of the line rotation is a bit unfair to the Yanks.

The Yankees certainly have better youth than us right now, but it's a little extreme to pencil the Yankees in for a decade of Cy Youngs and World Series rings.  They're young pitchers - failing is what young pitchers do.  And the best of their three is very likely going to end up as a closer, besides.

I'd love to have what New York has right now, and there's a good chance that we have a stretch of fourth place finishes ahead of us, but those kids aren't aces yet.

I think the Yanks are a pretty great team -- especially the offence. Tho as has been stated I think we can expect a little decline there with the 33+ crowd. The rotation might be good and those young guys -- particularly Chamberlain seem pretty great. Still, I'm gonna go with the Jays this time cause I see the yanks bullpen being a total disaster, (especially if Chamberlain moves to the rotation as one would expect) the young guys acting a bit like young guys and the jays hitting to be better than 07 and the pitching being pretty darn great 1-12. Big year from League, McGowan, Halladay, Burnett and everyone else holds things steady. And I know this will leave me discredited by many but I, for one, see an important role filled beautifully by the newly invigorated Gustavo Chacin sometime mid-year or earlier. As for Cleveland, they're super tough too -- but I see big declines for Carmona, Sabathia and weakness too at the end of the rotation.

The Yankees played their 56th game on June 5 last year at the Cell. Of those first 56 games, 30 were started by real live major-league pitchers (including Mike Mussina), and 26 were started by the following Immortals:

"Opening Day Starter" Carl Pavano 2
Kei Igawa 5
Darrell Rasner 6
Matt DeSalvo 5
Jeff Karstens 2
Chase Wright 2
Tyler Clippard 4

And they still made the playoffs. I guess they won't have the Rocket's intangibles to bail them out this time, but if they need bailing out it'll be because someone shot out of the gates and not because they started 25-31. My head says the Yanks, my heart says the Jays, and my inner riverboat gambler says the GOOD GUYS abuse the Twins and Royals all year long, and shock one of the Central powerhouses to finish in second. You can put it on the boooooard.... yes! OK, probably not.

Its my hope the Yanks pitching implodes and they lose the AL East arms race with our beloved Jays taking the Wild Card. (I'd love the division but yeah...)