Dan:

Cleveland
Detroit
Kansas City
Minnesota
Chicago

What a difference a year makes. Last March, Detroit was considered arguably the best team in baseball. Cleveland, coming off a great year, was considered just a hair behind and was seen as an October contender. And the rest of the AL Central looked like a bunch of also-rans who'd be struggling to reach .500.

Of course, Detroit and Cleveland fell off quickly, and it was the White Sox and Twins playing Game 161 to decide the division. Baseball is a funny sport.

Picking this division this year is an exercise in futility. Anybody can win it -- anybody. And anybody can finish dead last -- anybody. From top to bottom, this division is even. Every team has strengths, and each has glaring weaknesses and questions. So despite analyzing each of their rosters, picking how the AL Central would wind up came down mostly to gut feeling and guesses. And, since logic often doesn't prevail in baseball, I'd say the division has a great chance to end up like this.

Detroit has some studs in their lineup, with Cabrera and Ordonez. They have some great arms in their rotation in Verlander and Bonderman, if they can stay healthy; great potential in young arms Galaragga and Edwin Jackson, and an arm that could be good if the head gets straightened out in Dontrelle Willis. But all around, they lack depth -- in their lineup, their rotation, and their bullpen. They could have a great year, but they have so many questions, I see them coming up just shy of Cleveland.

The Indians had a down year last year, but could rebound to be very good this year. They have one of the game's best in Grady Sizemore, with a good but not great supporting cast. And its hard to say for sure what Cleveland can expect this year from Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner. Each could be great; each could struggle. Fausto Carmona is coming off a lost season. But overall I like the Indians pitching depth, which includes Cy Young winner Cliff Lee, and one-time uber-prospect Anthony Reyes, who could finally be poised to have that overdue breakout year. They also have a better bullpen than Detroit.

The rest of the division could also make a run. The Royals don't have the big names the other teams do, but they have the young talent that could make for a Tampa Bay like run. Zack Grienke could show himself as an elite talent this year. And the lineup is stacked with great prospects who have yet to live up to their potential -- guys like Alex Gordon and Billy Butler -- but could shine at any moment. And KC has a shutdown closer. But overall I don't like the depth of their rotation. Yet I think low expectations and young talent will carry them to third.

The Twins have Morneau and Mauer, and who knows if Delmon Young will finally live up to his promise. But with Mauer's health concerns and the rest of the lineup that won't scare anyone, I don't see them repeating last year's success. And their starting pitching depth isn't what it needs to be. Meanwhile, I just don't like the White Sox. They traded Javier Vazquez, dealt Nick Swisher for a bag of balls, and the rest of their team's core -- Konerko, Dye, Pierzynski, Buerlhe -- have all seen their best days come and go. Expect them to go from first to worst . . . or win it all. It's just that kind of division.

Dan:

It's that time of year when the season is just around the corner and all us baseball fans start playing Nostradamus. And, yeah, maybe the Mariners didn't win the AL West last year (not even close), and, yeah, I didn't really see the Devil Rays going all the way to the Series. But who did? The way I see it, though, is I'm so due. So I'll start my predictions with our home division, and perhaps the most exciting in baseball, the AL East.

1. Red Sox
2. Yankees
3. Devil Rays
4. Blue Jays
5. Orioles

Go ahead. Let the calls of "Homer!" begin. I can take it. But, really, can one be considered a "homer" if they're right?? I picked the Sox two years ago, and they won it all. I picked them again last year, and they were one win (despite a boatload of injuries) from going back to the Series. I'm much too vain to pick them if they are going nowhere.

How can you not like this team? They have the most depth everywhere in all of baseball. And depth is what wins championships. They already had a very good bullpen, and with additions like Saito and Ramirez -- plus their herd of awesome young pitching prospects -- they now have a great bullpen. You have to like Ellsbury leading off after a full year under his belt. And JD Drew and Rocco Baldelli are both gigantic injury risks, but if you put the two of them together, that platoon could be a hell of a rightfielder.

Sure, they have questions. Among them: How will Lester's arm recover after last year's heavy load? Which Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka will we get? Will Papi and Lowell bounce back? But even if they have injuries, they have such depth in their lineup they can weather the storm. And their starting pitching is the deepest in all of baseball.

Sure, the Yankees added Sabathia and Burnett to their rotation, and they get back a healthy Wang (giggle, giggle), but they still have more questions and less depth than the Sox. Sabathia has a lot of innings on that arm from the last two seasons. Will Burnett be able to make more than 20 starts (lot o' doubt, here)? How will they handle not having A-Rod to start the season, and what will they get out of him when he returns. And take a look at that lineup -- outside of Teixeira, they have a lot of aging, declining vets (Damon, Matsui, Jeter, Posada), whiffers (Nick "The Whiffer" Swisher), and underperformers (Cano and Cabrera). And, with that bullpen, how do they expect to get to Rivera, who could get old anytime now. With all of this, I wonder why I didn't pick them to finish third.

But there's just something about the Rays this season I don't like. On paper, they are awesome. They have a deep lineup of young superstars. And they have a deep starting rotation that was incredible last season, and will at some point get even better when they add David Price. Given all of that, they should finish ahead of the Yanks, and be neck-and-neck with the Sox.

It won't happen.

Their rotation is stocked with young guys all of whom never before have endured the workload they endured last season. You have to think more than one arm is likely to take a step back, at least for this year. Their bullpen was somehow strong last year, but I still don't like it. And history isn't on their side. How many teams have we seen come out of nowhere to make a huge splash one season, only to be mediocre the next. The Indians in 2005-06. The Tigers of 2006-07. The White Sox of 2005-06. The Indians of 2007-08. The Rockies of 2007-08. It is just such a common occurence for a team to take a step back, safe money has to be on the Rays doing the same.

But then again, I could be wrong. It has happened once or twice before.

(More predictions to come soon.)