Real Sports Talk with E-Money

The last week of the previews might end up being the most controversial, as most of you are Boston Red Sox fans. Needless to say, I am not here to make any friends, as I will raise some hell. The New York Yankees won the AL East last season, while the Tampa Bay Rays capitalized on the Sox's late season dismantle. Toronto ended up with a .500 record (81-81) while the Baltimore Orioles have finished last in this division since 2008. Next week's edition will have my World Series champion, as well as the regular season awards.

1.New York Yankees- The big thing for this team will be to make sure that the veterans (Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira) get rest throughout the regular season. Curtis Granderson was a nice surprise last season, as he had 41 dingers, while Robinson Cano had arguably his best season as a pro last year. C.C. Sabathia will have some help this year, as Andy Pettitte comes out of retirement, while Michael Pineda (who will be out until mid-May) comes from the Seattle Mariners.

2.Boston Red Sox- This team was picked to win everything last season, but ultimately chocked at the end of last season. This team is mainly the same as last year's team, so why should they be as bad as most New Englanders think they will be? Adrian Gonzalez might have been the AL-MVP had this team made the playoffs, and Jacoby Ellsbury is one of the top-5 centerfielders in the MLB. Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey look to show that they are worth all the money that was thrown at them (in Lackey and Beckett's cases), while Lester looks to have a Cy Young type season.

3.Tornoto Blue Jays- This team is picked to be the second wild-card team by many "experts", but this division is so difficult that it will be tough for them to do so. Jose Bautista is an animal (43 home runs, 103 RBIs, .302 batting average last season), and Adam Lind had another strong season at the plate. Brandon Morrow and Ricky Romero had a great season statically for the Jays last season (26 combined wins, 381 strikeouts combined), but they need some more depth in their starting rotation to compete with the top two teams this year.

4. Tampa Bay Rays- Yes, they swept the Yanks to start the season off; yes, they made the playoffs last season, but something tells me that this team will greatly struggle in the second half of the season. Only one player for the Rays that had more than four at-bats in the regular season had greater then a .300 average, and that was Casey Kotchman, who is now in Cleveland. David Price didn't have as good of a season last year compared to 2010 (13 losses, .77 higher ERA), and the offense might struggle to put up as many runs this season with Kotchman and Johnny Damon not in Tampa any more.

5. Baltimore Orioles- Despite a strong start to the season, I have to remind all Orioles fans (not that I can really think of any) that the MLB regular season is a marathon, not a sprint. Baltimore doesn't have any big names on their roster (which isn't a bad thing), but their roster isn't that different from last season, in which they went 69-93. Adam Jones might be the lone bright spot on this roster (25 home runs and 83 RBIs last season), while Jim Johnson looks to close out the wins (that might be few and far between) that the Orioles get (2.67 ERA last season).

In other irrelevant (though I find interesting) sports news:

-There is no point to talk about the NHL, as the first round preview is in this edition as well.

-Huge win for the New York Knicks on Sunday against the Chicago Bulls.

-The Tim Tebow effect is amazing. Tebow drew about 15,000 people to a church service (in Austin,Texas) on Easter Sunday. Imagine if he could throw like Tom Brady?

-I like how they allow fans to choose the Madden cover. This game is obviously ultimately for the fans, and we should see who we want on the cover (I want Calvin Johnson to be on the cover, but Cam Newton will get it).

-Nice to see Bubba Watson claim a green jacket at the Maters this past weekend.

-My pick to win the race in Texas is Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Non-sports information of the week

-There is no "time to rant" this week, as no one pissed me off. Must have been because no one was in Plymouth this weekend.

-Less then five weeks remain in this semester. To quote Kanye "That $h!t cray"

-Mac Miller for Spring Fling? Really, Plymouth? I'd rather have Nickelback, and for the record, it was great seeing how many people flipped when they saw the Crock.

-Till next week, I'm outta