American League East News

October 10, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Detroit Tigers players celebrate in the clubhouse after game five of the American League divisional series playoff baseball game against the Oakland Athletics at O.co Coliseum.

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Drew Hutchison warms up before the second inning of a spring training baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota, Fla., Saturday, March 1, 2014.

Preparing for another 162-game grinder in the American League East meat market, the Tampa Bay Rays are eager to prove themselves once again.

Feb 18, 2014; Port Charlotte, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price at spring training at the Charlotte Sports Park.

Everything seems to be going the Rays' way this spring, from the team's health to the way it is playing.

Although the highly touted right-hander can't patch up all of New York's issues, his immense potential and early success this March bodes well for the Yankees' postseason hopes next fall.

That's when the Cubs head north to visit the Blue Jays in the Rogers Centre, and I'd give better-than-even odds that if Jeff Samardzija has a start in that series, it will be in the blue-and-white uniform of the Blue Jays.

We all got a good chuckle out of yesterday's lovely complaint by the Marlins , who are totally a major-league franchise and shut up guys, why are you laughing? In honor of that, we here preview the next several weeks of stories that will fill up pages and gain clicks while we wait for the real season to begin.

Friday offers another full slate of Spring Training action in both the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues, featuring several high-profile pitching matchups and some notable debuts.

With Brian Roberts moving to the Bronx the Orioles will lean on Ryan Flaherty to man second base.

The defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox are not putting many games in the win column to kick off Spring Training, but what they are doing is getting ready to defend their title with many of the same faces that won it a year ago.

His address has spanned the country, playing in Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Chicago since leaving Tampa Bay after the 2010 season.

Orioles 101 provides 24/7 obsessive sports coverage of the Baltimore Orioles as a part of Sports Media 101 .

Of all the things that didn't go quite right for the 2013 Orioles , first base wasn't one of them.

Tanakamania marches on Thursday, when Masahiro Tanaka takes the mound in Clearwater for his first spring start for the Yankees against the same Phillies team he dominated last Saturday in relief.

To determine just how deep the highly heralded Tampa Bay Rays pitching staff is, one only needs to look at their No.

The biggest Boston names stayed over in Fort Myers, skipping the two-day visit to Roger Dean Stadium .

Johan Santana is hoping the Baltimore Orioles' patience with him pays off in another chance to pitch in the big leagues.

The Mets seem to have reasonable expectations for Curtis Granderson in 2014, which may not be the case among some fans and media, who see him as the 40-HR guy that played for the Yankees.

CBS Local Sports , in our " 30 Players 30 Days " spring training feature, profiles one young player from each Major League Baseball team leading up to opening day.