Who's playing (AL)?

I'm glad you asked.

No, really, I am.

The AL Classic division consists of:

1939 New York Yankees: perhaps the greatest team of the greatest Yankees dynasty, 1939 saw Lou Gehrig's last game, but also saw Joe DiMaggio win the MVP award and lead the team to their 4th straight World Series victory.

1970 Baltimore Orioles: Another World Series winner, these Orioles avenged the previous years' loss to the Mets, winning 108 games, sweeping the Twins in the playoffs, and crushing Cincinnati in the series. All this while using one of the least intimidating sets of logos/mascots in sports.

1912 Boston Red Sox: My vote for best Red Sox team in history, winners of the World Series over New York thanks in part to the most famous error in World Series history before karmic payback gave a different New York team a victory over the Sox via the current most famous error... Led by Tris Speaker and Joe Wood.

1940 Detroit Tigers: When the Yankees weren't winning pennants in the 30s and 40s, the Tigers took up the slack. From 1934-1945, New York or Detroit led the league every year but one. This team lost the World Series in 7 to the Reds , despite the heroics of MVP Hank Greenberg.

1922 St. Louis Browns: The who? The team that became the Orioles spent 50+ years in mostly-obscurity in St. Louis. They were the one team that broke the Yankees/Tigers pennant stranglehold I mentioned, ironically enough it was their only pennant in St. Louis. I've always had a soft spot for this team. The 1922 version nearly knocked off Babe Ruth and the Yankees, but fell just short .

1930 Philadephia Athletics: Another World Series winner, the last one the Athletics had in Philly. Part of the dynasty that felled the Murderer's Row Yankees, the A's have some supporters for being the best team in history .

1925 Washington Nationals: The year after they won the only World Series in DC history, the Nats won even more games. Unfortunately, they lost the series in hair-tearing fashion. And yes, they were officially the Nationals, even though they were in the American League and everyone called them the Senators. That's as opposed to the team officially called the Senators, and the current Nationals.

1919 Chicago White Sox: You may have heard of this team.

And once again, this is really pretty long. I'll continue in my next post...