Pretty late on this but the best division in baseball always deserves it's own thread.

Opening Day for the O's was delightful. Trumbomb in extras to beat the jays.

Is token gonna check in on how Tanaka did on Opening Day in lovely Tampa?

Also my division predictions are:


Red Sox
O's
Yanks
Jays
Rays


I feel like the Red Sox will have to try really hard not to win 90+ games but the Price thing might make it interesting.

Otherwise I think the O's can squeeze into a WC and then you never know what can happen.

O's
Jays
BOS
Yanks
Rays

I could see O's start off strong through the All-Star break but starting pitching injuries may plague them again

Sox are locked in a 0 - 0 tie game in the top of the 12th against the Pirates!

Burning up both bullpens is probably not with either team had in mind in the second game of the season.

Sox win with a walk off 3 run hr by Sandy Leon!

Bundy dominant over Jays...good sign.

My eternally wrong predictions:

BOS
TOR
BAL
NYY
TB

Should be a good season and the strongest division in baseball yet again. Sox are off to a good start.

yanks choke...Seth bomb seals it!

Half of the Sox starting team and bullpen is down with the flu! I've seen stuff like that before. However what happened today is unprecedented.

The NESN broadcast team consisting of Dave O'Brien and Jerry Remy were in Detroit for today's game. Midway through the broadcast, O'Brien had to leave due to flu symptoms. The NESN home office had Tom Caron, who does the post game from the studio, hook up remotely from a control room in Boston to complete the play by play with Remy who was at the ballpark in Detroit! They showed him and one of his technical engineers in this small room with a TV monitor and a laptop watching the game and calling it. Jerry was in the park doing the color. Somehow they were able to synch the entire thing so it didn't even have a voice delay with the feed!

I was quite impressed!

Oh, the Sox dropped two in a row as half the team is not even cleared to travel.

corleoneAg99 said:

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yanks choke...Seth bomb seals it!

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yanks choke again...good little weekend so far.

corleoneAg99 said:

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corleoneAg99 said:

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yanks choke...Seth bomb seals it!

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yanks choke again...good little weekend so far.

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LMAO!!!!!

Sox rally today as JBJ and Joe Kelly had to go back to the hotel due to the flu. Hanley also didn't make the trip. Leon is clutch so far. I'd start him over Vasquez every day.

Bennitendi is an absolute stud. Only 4 games in but looking like a ROTY candidate.

You almost have to laugh. Managing in those situations must just be insane.

Dr. Watson said:

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You almost have to laugh. Managing in those situations must just be insane.

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During the broadcast, the Sox broadcasters mentioned that a few seasons ago, the Giants dealt with a spate of the flu. It darn near crippled their season. The problem is that it affects in waves. When one group is starting to recover a new grew is infected and it keeps lingering for what could be a month before it clears out. And just because a player is no longer getting the direct effects (vomiting, diarreah, respritory issues etc) the loss of physical stamina, strength and endurance may take up to 10 days to completely return.

So you have 75% of your roster and management staff still affected by it for what could be a 30 day swing! It is hard to stay competitive under that scenario.

I'm hopeful that they can tread water long enough until it is done with them!

Os beat canadia again. When Wade Miley handles your lineup things ain't going great for ya but I'll take it!

Britton already 5 for 5.

Toronto, so bad

Jays are soft this year. Managment whiffed on edwing and misplayed the market on some guys. Gonna be a long year

Still here. Always tempering my expectations for the Rays, but they're above .500 through the first AL East gauntlet.

A couple of rookies, a couple of reserves. I might be on the way to cautiously optimistic.

Nice!

Everyone has checked in except the fake yankee fans.

corleoneAg99 said:

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Nice!

Everyone has checked in except the fake yankee fans.

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Not a fake fan, but Token got accepted to Dartmouth for graduate business school! They'll let anyone in!

Jk obviously - congrats Token! Helluva achievement!

Great. I jinxed Britton.

Say Chowdah said:

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corleoneAg99 said:

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Nice!

Everyone has checked in except the fake yankee fans.

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Not a fake fan, but Token got accepted to Dartmouth for graduate business school! They'll let anyone in!

Jk obviously - congrats Token! Helluva achievement!

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He should have picked up the Duke cap but that's okay.

Going to the game tomorrow!

11:05 start as it is Patriot's Day and the Boston Marathon. I'm thinking the SB Champion Patriots will show at the game as well!

Sox beat the Rays 4 - 3!

AK - this you?

Quote:

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Brad Ausmus: Tigers fielders to blame after being confused by fan

Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus didn't feel the need to shout. He's hopeful his players "got it" after being fooled by a Tampa Bay Rays fan on Wednesday.

Two seemingly harmless fly balls fell for hits in the first three innings of the Rays' 8-7 victory as Tigers center fielder JaCoby Jones, right fielder Tyler Collins and second baseman Ian Kinsler were confused by the shouts from the Tropicana Field stands.

The source of the Tigers' confusion wasn't miscommunication between the fielders. If anything, it was overcommunication on the part of a fan in the Tropicana Field stands yelling "I got it!"

"It's fair game, if you're a fan. I'm not the blaming [the] fan or anything. He's within his rights to do that. We have to make the adjustment," Ausmus told reporters Thursday, according to mlive.com.

Since outfielders have the right to call off infielders on fly balls, Kinsler assumed his teammates were doing so Wednesday night and backed off.

"I just got out of the way," Kinsler said, according to mlive.com.

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http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19202416/detroit-tigers-manager-brad-ausmus-says-fair-game-fans-try-confuse-fielders

Sox have been in a cold streak, in the runs scoring dept, as of late.

Then again, Dylan Bundy is good.

Sox again struggle with crossing the plate. Exhausting.

I feel like this is a bad start for Gausman

He's been bad. Boston was due. It happens.

Just might have to wear it today. Os have been good so far so no complaints.

Pedroia-Machado drama carry over the whole year?

I doubt it. Showalter is a professional. If it was Tampa Bay circa 2006, you could guarantee it would be all season. I don't think the O's play that way and they have the next move.

Well I stand corrected.

Bundy hit Betts in game one and then Chris Sale threw behind Machado last night.

Sale's may have been a two part purpose pitch:

1) To show that he had the other players' backs
2) Fire up the Sox hitters

The Sox hadn't hit for Sale yet. That fired them up and they beat the O's 5-2 tonight.

Interestingly - Pedro Martinez said that he would have drilled Machado after the slide. No if ands and butts.

Quote:

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"If I was pitching, I was going to drill Machado, as much as I love him," Martinez said Friday before participating in a roundtable luncheon benefiting the Red Sox Foundation and the Foundation To Be Named Later. "The only thing I would have done differently was probably [throw] the ball a little bit lower. But everything else was the nature of baseball."

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Also, I just got word that the first shot that Hanley hit last night, finally just landed.

Yeah but it probably landed before Mannys from Monday.

Still it's been interesting. No comment on the best baseball fans in MLB and their treatment of AJ?

Boston gonna Boston.