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For years, the American League East has been the league’s toughest division to win. The big spenders in New York and Boston gobble up free agents left and right. The Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles find plucky ways to stay competitive without spending a boatload. Throw the Toronto Blue Jays back into the mix. A sleeping giant appears to have been awakened north of the border, and the Blue Jays were back in the playoffs for the first time since 1993 after a flurry of trade deadline moves. There has been a different champion in this division each of the past four years, and since 2006, only the 2011 and 2012 Yankees have repeated. Though this division has lost some of its luster due to the slump of the Red Sox, the American League East is still one of the most interesting divisions in baseball, behind only the National League Central.
There are more than enough offseason storylines to fuel the Hot Stove for the AL East. Here is each team’s biggest need entering the winter of 2016.
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