The Column To Be Named Later: Birds Of A Feather

Just how good was the American League East in 2010? The New York Yankees and their $213 million payroll had to settle for second place, and the third place Boston Red Sox would have finished a spot higher in three of the other divisions—and that was just what their backups and still-green minor leaguers were able to accomplish filling in for the actual team that spent most of the season on the disabled list. Three of the top four (and four of the top seven) teams in Jay Jaffe's final Hit List of 2010 hailed from the AL East, and the second-best record of the last two months by any team in the AL came from the last-place Baltimore Orioles, who went 34-23 under new manager Buck Showalter.

Baseball Prospectus