I hope that you have found the last six days of team previews interesting. Today we will be reviewing Rotohelp's picks for American League season-end standings. We'd planed to present all of our predictions for the playoffs, the World Series and end-of-year awards today, but after a grueling week of team reviews we decided to stretch this out over the first few days of the season.

Undoubtedly, reality will likely vary from several of our forecasts. Almost every roster varied from the 25-man Opening Day rosters that we had anticipated only a few days ago. While determining the 25th man to break camp is sometimes quite tricky, there we were projecting less than a week into the future and here we will be attempting to forecast 7 months into the future. Injuries and trades will likely change the landscape of the league dramatically throughout the course of the season. However after much gazing into our crystal computer screens we've come to our conclusions, so without further adieu, here is the first installment of Rotohelp's 2002 Predictions.

American League East
1. New York Yankees, 99-63: The dynasty continues. The Yankees were a good team going into the off-season and they definitely improved in several places. They've gone from at best an average first baseman to arguably the best first baseman in the game. Alfonso Soriano should improve at 2B and every other spot on offense should be as least as good as last season. The same goes for the rotation, and the bullpen has been beefed up with Steve Karsay and the overflow from the fifth starter competition. While there are a few injury concerns, they should easily be able to cover even two or three major injuries with their current depth and probable trades.

2. Boston Red Sox, 90-72: The addition of Johnny Damon, a healthy Nomar, Varitek, and Manny upgrade the offense. Third base needs improvement, but they are at least average at most other positions. Henderson could be a very nice addition, as could Tony Clark. Pedro should be able to last at least as long as he did last season, if not for the full year. Lowe in the rotation could be a problem, but Urbina should be a strong closer. Their pitching will need to hold together, and they will have to avoid injuries to the offense.

3. Toronto, 79-83: I like this team a lot. The youth provides them with huge offensive upside. However, there will likely be growing pains and they have a tough schedule. Escobar will need to stay healthy as the closer, and they can't afford additional injuries to the rotation.

4. Baltimore Orioles, 67-95: Their offense has not really improved and is plagued with injuries and injury-prone players. Their pitching has depth and potential but also considerable downside, especially with poor run support.

5. Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 60-102: Tampa Bay has some promising pitching, but little depth and a poor offense leave them vulnerable to extended slumps.

American League Central
1. Chicago White Sox, 85-77: Magglio Ordonez should have a great year. The White Sox have very good offensive depth and enough pitching to regain and maintain a hold on top of the Central.

2. Minnesota Twins, 83-79: A good but not great team, they need career years or a quality trade to grab the division pennant. Their future appears very bright with several top offensive prospects in the wings, but they can be competitive now.

3. Cleveland Indians, 81-81: The offense took a big hit over the off-season even with a potential career year from Lawton, the production of Alomar and Gonzalez will be sorely missed. They have considerable upside in the rotation if overwork does not send pitchers to the DL, and the bullpen is filled from top to bottom with mostly young yet capable relievers.

4. Detroit Tigers, 67-95: Their entire offense is injury prone and most of it has little upside even when healthy. It will offer little run support to a pitching staff with some promise but considerable overwork concerns.

5. Kansas City Royals, 65-97: The offense has some upside, and finishing Sweeney's extension is a plus, but their pitching staff is composed of mostly young throwers without much upside.

American League West
1. Oakland Athletics, 98-64: They can cover for the loss of Jason Giambi with their strong bench and good seasons by Jeremy Giambi and Carlos Pena. The pitching staff should be even better than last season provided everyone stays healthy. This is another team with good depth.

2. Seattle Mariners, 95-67: They benefited from several career years last season and will fall back as the players return to form. The rotation took a hit this off-season, but they improved the bullpen. They are very susceptible to injury as they have no quality prospects above AA at most positions.

3. Texas Rangers, 87-75: The offense is stacked even higher than last season, with adequate depth and a front office willing to make trades to attempt to fill holes. Their bullpen has taken a hit with Zimmerman's injury, but they acquired tremendous depth in the off-season. There are weaknesses in the bottom of the rotation, but there they also have good organizational depth.

4. Anaheim Angels, 84-78: In any other division, this team would finish much higher. They have a good rotation, an acceptable bullpen with good replacement depth, and an improved offense. However, an injury or two to the offense could leave the starters struggling for run support.

Seattle at New York: The Seattle pitchers can't hold the Yankees offense down as New York's aces should be able to dominate this series, easily completing it in less than five games.

Chicago at Oakland: Chicago only has one top starter at best, and Oakland can throw three to four aces at the White Sox. Maybe they can manage one win this time, but Oakland should relatively breeze to the LCS.

Oakland at New York: The Battle of the Giambis will turn on the depth of Oakland's hard-throwing starters and bullpen. Defensive plays like that from Derek Jeter in last year's playoffs only happen once every few years, and even with their great free agent additions, New York will finally fail to reach the Series.

2002 American League Champion: Oakland Athletics.