A look at the bullpen arms race in the AL East

When the Orioles try to produce late-game comebacks during the 2016 season, they will see some new faces on the mound in the American League East. Since the end of last season, the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays have all acquired late-inning pitchers that could turn out to be part-time, if not permanent, closers.

The build-up of American League East bullpens continues. What the Kansas City Royals started - producing a lockdown late-inning 'pen - other teams are following. This all makes the Orioles' re-signing of Darren O'Day rather important. They need to keep up with the Joneses here.

New York traded for left-hander Aroldis Chapman and now will add him to Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances to produce a devastating group. The Yankees ranked 10th in rotation ERA in the AL last year, 21st in rotation innings in the major leagues and they can now shorten games to six innings. They do face a potential suspension of Chapman over domestic violence allegations that Major League Baseball is investigating.

While there has been speculation this could lead to a Miller trade, the Yankees have said they intend to keep all three. That would make them the first team in major league history to feature three pitchers who had at least 100 strikeouts in relief the season before, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Among pitchers with 50 innings or more last season, this was the top trio in strikeouts per nine innings: Chapman at 15.74, Miller 14.59 and Betances at 14.04. Chapman threw the 62 fastest pitches last year, ranging from 102.36 mph to 103.92 mph.

On Nov. 13, Boston acquired Craig Kimbrel from San Diego for a package of four prospects. Kimbrel has 224 saves over the last five seasons, the most in the majors. And Boston has him under team control for three more seasons. Thus, the price was high for the four-time All-Star right-hander. They can add Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa to a solid late-inning relief corps.

On Friday, Toronto added Drew Storen in the Ben Revere deal with the Washington Nationals. Before the Nats acquired Jonathan Papelbon last year, Storen was 29-for-31 in save chances with an ERA of 1.73. Storen could get a late-inning boost from Roberto Osuna, who had 20 saves and a 2.58 ERA in 2015, and former Maryland Terps lefty Brett Cecil. The addition of Storen also gives Toronto some options to possibly move Osuna and/or Aaron Sanchez to their rotation.

Tampa Bay used Brad Boxberger to close last year. While he had 41 saves and made the All-Star team, he also had an ERA of 3.71 and WHIP of 1.365. That would leave him as the clear fifth-best closer in a five-team division. Hard-throwing Jake McGee can also close for the Rays and has 26 career saves and a career strikeout rate of 11.1 per nine innings.

The arms race in AL East bullpens has escalated in the last year and each team is pretty well armed. That is without the best ever, Mariano Rivera, playing anymore.

The Orioles can surely hold their own with most with the one-two punch of Zach Britton and O'Day. They can add some combo of Mychal Givens, Brad Brach and Brian Matusz to help get those last nine outs. Who knows, maybe a healthy Dylan Bundy becomes a factor in the late innings at some point and the club has always been intrigued by Mike Wright's potential to throw high 90s in the late innings. There have been reports the Orioles have talked to free agent reliever Antonio Bastardo, as well. This would make a strong 'pen already stronger and perhaps provide more trade flexibility.

If we are looking at each team's ability to navigate the seventh through ninth innings, it would be hard to rank any team but New York as best in the division. After that, I could see where some would rank the Orioles anywhere from second to fourth.

How do you see the AL East bullpens stacking up?

There's no place like home: Oriole Park at Camden Yards has been selected as the top stadium experience for the second consecutive year by Stadium Journey, a Web site and monthly magazine that rates stadium experiences in the United States and Canada.

Stadium Journey reviewed more than 2,300 stadiums in 2015, and Oriole Park was the only stadium that received a perfect score for the second year in a row. It is also the only stadium to receive a perfect score in Stadium Journey's six-year history.

The scores are determined largely through Stadium Journey correspondents rating the following at each stadium: food and beverage, atmosphere, stadium location, fans, accessibility, return on investment, and an "extras" category. Additionally, ratings of stadium experiences from Stadium Journey members are used as a tiebreaker.

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