AL EAST: What Am I Missing?

I read posts and comments on r/baseball and other major sites regarding this years race for the AL East and I can't quite understand what info I'm missing or if the fans of opposing teams are just salty. What did the Yankees and Red Sox really do to put themselves so much further ahead than the O's and Rays? I get that we are always going to be underrated, but I really don't feel as though any team in the east is out of the race.

If i try to be unbiased and look at the 5 teams in this division I'd find it very very difficult to pin any team as a front runner, but for whatever reason Yankee and Sox fans think they've got some magic formula going that'll give them more wins.

I'm sorry for this rant of a shitpost but is anyone else feeling frustrated with stuff like this?