New York Yankees

Dayn Perry's World Series Formula

The Yanks need health from A.J. Burnett, a quick return from Alex Rodriguez, as many ABs as possible for Nick Swisher (he should be the starting right fielder), a rebound season from Robinson Cano, and met expectations from CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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Los Angeles Ange... Win a weak division, keep the rotation healthy (especially Ervin Santana), and get adequate production from the infield. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Houston Astros They'll need some serious surprises in the rotation, a better team defense than can be reasonably expected, and perhaps a transfer to the Big 12. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)
Oakland Athletic... Matt Holliday must hit now that he's outside of Coors, Justin Duchscherer must stay healthy (and Eric Chavez ... and Mark Ellis), and Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson must arrive in time to contribute in the second half. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Toronto Blue Jay... Adam Lind and Travis Snider start hitting immediately and hitting for power, Aaron Hill hits as he did two years ago, and the rotation behind Roy Halladay — a rotation devastated by injuries and A.J. Burnett's departure — defies expectations. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Atlanta Braves Chipper Jones needs to play 140 games or more, Jeff Francouer needs to be much better than he was in 2008, Tommy Hanson needs to arrive sooner rather than later, Garret Anderson needs to be platooned religiously, and the club as a whole needs to improve (drastically) upon its 11-30 record in one-run games. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Milwaukee Brewer... Yovani Gallardo must take over as staff ace (and stay off the DL), Rickie Weeks must have that breakout season that's thus far eluded him, the bullpen must be better than anticipated, and Ryan Braun must prove he's over the rib injury that hurt his numbers in September and knocked him out of the WBC. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
St. Louis Cardin... St. Louis needs Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel to repeat their power performances from a year ago, Chris Carpenter to stay healthy, Skip Schumaker to field his new position, someone to step up and be a reliable fifth starter, and Albert Pujols to continue knocking the snot out of the ball. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Chicago Cubs Milton Bradley needs to give them 130 games or so, Rich Harden needs to be healthy for the postseason, Geovany Soto needs to avoid the sophomore slump, and Kosuke Fukudome needs to do a much better job of making adjustments at the plate. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Arizona Diamondb... Those young bats need to approach their potential, and Max Scherzer needs to prove he's ready. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Los Angeles Dodg... Clayton Kershaw must take the next step, Chad Billingsley must handle a No. 1 starter's workload, Manny Ramirez must avoid steep decline, and then they'll need to dig up a fifth starter. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
San Francisco Gi... Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain must meet expectations, Randy Johnson must stave off age-related decline, Jonathan Sanchez must realize his potential, Edgar Renteria needs to bounce back offensively, and more generally the Giants must take advantage of a weakish division. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Cleveland Indian... Cliff Lee needs to approximate his success from last season, Grady Sizemore must play like an MVP, Travis Hafner needs to stem his decline, and Kelly Shoppach must get more ABs behind the plate. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
Seattle Mariners For the M's to pull off a minor miracle, the Angels must tumble by 20 wins or so (not impossible considering their modest run differential from a year ago), Felix Hernandez must take the next step toward greatness, Erik Bedard must stay healthy, Ken Griffey Jr. must be platooned, and Jeff Clement needs to find some playing time. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Florida Marlins Jeremy Hermida and Cameron Maybin need to improve offensively, the team defense has to be better than it was in 2008, and Anibal Sanchez needs to rediscover his 2006 form. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
New York Mets New York needs health from Johan Santana, consistency from Oliver Perez, and a little defense from Danny Murphy. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Washington Natio... Um, wow ... Besides having everyone else in the division disappear into the ether, the Nats need miracles in the rotation, health for Nick Johnson and Ryan Zimmerman, and somehow the ability to pitch around a terrible outfield defense. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
Baltimore Oriole... Baltimore needs Matt Wieters to live up to his potential, Nick Markakis to continue his skills growth, Aubrey Huff to repeat his 2008 performance, Felix Pie to rediscover his promise, Adam Jones to take the next step, and the rotation to be far better than any reasonable expectation. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
San Diego Padres Please abandon, just for a moment, your sense of credulity: Brian Giles must summon one more good season, Jake Peavy must never miss a start, Chris Young must prove his spring implosion meant nothing, Chase Headley must hit as he did in the minors, someone must step up at shortstop, and Kevin Kouzmanoff must add 40 or more points of OBP to his 2008 numbers. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)
Philadelphia Phi... The reigning champs need Cole Hamels to show no ill effects from his heavy workload last season, Brett Myers to find consistency, Brad Lidge to come close to his success of last season, and Raul Ibanez to face lefties only when it doesn't matter. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Pittsburgh Pirat... Pirates — The Pirates are gunning for a record 17th-straight losing season, but for them to win the World Series instead it would take: more offense than anticipated from the outfield corners, better pitching in the rotation than anticipated, realized potential from Andy LaRoche, better defense from Nate McLouth, and a general and staggering collapse throughout the rest of the division. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)
Texas Rangers Josh Hamilton must stay healthy, Ian Kinsler must have another season like his 2008, Brandon McCarthy must post a better-than-league-average ERA, and the organization must realize that Elvis Andrus is not ready to hit major-league pitching. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Tampa Bay Rays B.J. Upton needs to take the next step toward stardom, Evan Longoria must put his playoff struggles behind him, David Price must adapt to starting detail at the highest level, Matt Joyce must flash power, and Carl Crawford must rebound at the plate. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Boston Red Sox This one's easy: stay generally healthy in the rotation. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Cincinnati Reds Improve upon that 31-50 road record, have Johnny Cueto live up to the hype, get a repeat performance out of Edinson Volquez, have Aaron Harang pitch as he did from 2005-07, realize Willy Taveras is not a major-league regular, and hope that Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, and Edwin Encarnacion continue to develop. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Colorado Rockies What follows is almost certainly not a grammatically sound sentence: Troy Tulowitzki — be healthy and effective — Chris Iannetta — hit like your minor-league profile suggests you can — Carlos Gonzalez — take the Great Leap Forward — Ryan Spilborghs and Brad Hawke — have career seasons with the glove — Clint Barmes — out-perform the projections — Greg Smith — don't pitch as badly as your peripherals suggest you should. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Kansas City Roya... Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, and Mike Aviles must all continue to develop; Joakim Soria must continue to dominate; Zack Greinke must stay healthy and effective (ditto for Gil Meche); Trey Hillman must find ABs for that huge pile of DHs on the roster (but not at the expense of Butler); and then they'll need to get lucky as hell once the short series of October roll around. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
Detroit Tigers Dontrelle Willis must contribute something to the rotation — something close to his 2006 stat line would be optimal — and Jeremy Bonderman needs to harness his stuff and take the next step; Brandon Inge needs to rediscover his stroke, and someone needs to step up and close games. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
Minnesota Twins Get Joe Mauer's back healthy, keep Joe Crede healthy, and don't regress when it comes to batting with RISP. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Chicago White So... If the Sox are to make back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in franchise history, then Carlos Quentin must repeat his numbers from a year ago, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye must not decline too much, someone must seize the center-field job, Josh Fields must show some pop, and Gavin Floyd must post another sub-4.00 ERA. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
New York Yankees The Yanks need health from A.J. Burnett, a quick return from Alex Rodriguez, as many ABs as possible for Nick Swisher (he should be the starting right fielder), a rebound season from Robinson Cano, and met expectations from CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)