No Clear Team to Beat in AL - Yankees

Yankees:

Strengths - Offense, closer and setup, front end of rotation, defense
Weaknesses - Middle relief, starting pitching
Neutral - Bench

Offense - This is clearly the defining attribute of this Yankee team. There isn't even really a bad thing to say about it. They have the likely unanimous AL MVP in Alex Rodriguez and his inhuman numbers, Jeter has had another good season at the plate, Giambi is having another good season, Cano is good as always, Damon is having another solid season, Posada is having one of the best seasons of his career, and Abreu has come on well since starting very slowly. There is virtually no hole in the lineup. The one arguement you could make against the offense is that they don't have a lot of speed, but Jeter, Damon, A-Rod, and Melky are all capable of stealing a base if they need to. They grind out at bats, they don't strike out a whole lot, they hit for good average and power and have decent enough speed to get by. This is definitely what will carry them in the postseason.

Defense - They finished 7th in baseball this season in fielding percentage. A-Rod has apparently been cleansed of the defensive woes that plagued him last season and all their OF's have average or above range. Jeter is a solid shortstop, though he is vastly overrated defensively by a lot of people but I'm not getting into that, and Cano is also very solid. Posada calls a good game and is capable of throwing out most baserunners. Depending on who they DH 1B could be a problem if they decide to run Giambi out there night in and night out it could cost them some runs, but they have the offense to make up for it. Same as the others, this shouldn't hurt them a whole lot.

Pitching - This is very clearly the downfall of this Yankee team. After Pettitte and Wang they have basically no rotation. Clemens is unreliable at his age and its all rookies after that and starting rookies in playoff games, especially on the road in a place like Boston, Cleveland or LA, the crowd and pressure will probably really get to them and affect them a lot. Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera are a great 1-2 punch at the back of the BP, but the problem is getting to them with a lead. Farnsworth has been completely awful this season and has proven he isn't suited to anything better than mop up duty in a place like New York, Vizcaino has been as unreliable as Farnsworth. The only other reliever that you may be able to count on is Bruney, especially after they traded Proctor away at the deadline. This is definitely going to be what will hold the Yankees back in the playoffs. Pitching wins in the playoffs and they don't have a lot of it, I think this will definitely cost them a few wins, and probably winning or losing a series.

Overall - The offense is capable of putting 7 runs on the board on any given night, but the pitching is so bad that they could just as easily give up 10. I don't think they will make it very far because of how poor the pitching is.

AL playoff picks then I'll do the same thing for the NL, after this Colorado game so I know who to do it on.