You know the Red Sox did something right this offseason when three New York Times writers picked them to win the AL East over their beloved Yankees.
Each of the three writers even picked a Red Sox player to win a major award.
Despite the Yankees finishing ahead of the Red Sox last season, adding Rafael Soriano to complement Mariano Rivera, and the continued emergence of Robinson Cano into one of the league's best hitters, both Yankees experts and fans recognize that they're the underdogs.
"I think that they will probably end up with the wild card," 27-year-old Ross Spielfogel told The New York Times during the Yankees' 6-3 victory on Opening Day. "I don’t think they will win the division. There's probably a 50-50 shot they make it all the way. The Red Sox are going to be tough to contend with."
But, there are also others who don't mind the "underdogs" title.
"Well, it's nice to be the underdogs because everybody always complains Yankee fans are like rooting for U.S. Steel," said Vincent Milano, leader of the Bleacher Creatures. "You think we always have it easy. So it's nice to have a little bit of a challenge."
"We're always underdogs because everybody has Boston on top of us," Joe Murphy told the Times.
However, there are still confident Yankees fans out there.
"I think we're the same as always: win the American League East, go on to the World Series," 33-year-old Percy Dinozo said.
The Yankees still are a great team, with a well-rounded offense, a lights-out bullpen, and ace CC Sabathia, but they do have reasons for pessimism after the additions of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez to the already loaded Boston Red Sox.
