AL West Preview

With the MLB season just a week away let’s take a whip around each division’s standings according to yours truly!

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros will always be atop the AL West, no matter who the manager is, as long as they have their core group of players they will be in the hunt. However, the biggest problem facing the Astros this season will be their starting pitching. You can’t rely on Justin Verlander to anchor that pitching staff throughout an entire 162-game season. So someone else will need to step up. I thought that Framber Valdez would take a step up last year but he was never consistent in that role.

Photo Credit : Tom Fox/Staff Photographer

Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers were the Cinderella team last season. No one expected that they would be one of the best teams in the American League and certainly no one expected them to win the World Series. When you look at the body of work they put together, the strongest part of their game was their pitching and now it has taken a significant hit. Unless the Rangers are planning on bringing back veteran pitcher Jordan Montgomery they could be battling for the third Wild Card spot.

Seattle Mariners

If there was a team that I thought in the American League could do what the Texas Rangers did last year it was the Seattle Mariners. Unfortunately for Seattle that didn’t happen. Their lineup never came around and the pitching was too inconsistent. So the chance of the Seattle Mariners conquering the division this year without any major changes to that starting lineup is unlikely. However, I could see them still playing competitive baseball well into the season and fighting for a potential wild card spot.

Los Angeles Angels

The fantasies of watching Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout playing on the same team for years to come are over. One of the most disappointing duos that has ever been, in not just baseball history ,but sports as a whole is now over. So now that the Angels are without potentially the best player to ever play the game period and the best in a decade. They need to look elsewhere and see what they have in their farm system. Not sure why they brought in Ron Washington unless they were banking on him enticing Shohei Ohtani to stay in Anaheim, but whatever the case you hope the 71-year-old manager is in it for the long haul because that’s what the Angels are looking at.

Oakland Athletics

This franchise has been a dumpster fire and one of the most embarrassing in sports over the last couple of years. With their relocation in doubt, they continue to not bother putting a product out on the field that the fans in Oakland can be proud of. Instead, they have had to watch other teams like the Raiders and Warriors leave town to become namesakes in their respective cities and have success, the A’s continue to get absolutely robbed on trades for star players, and this year their roster makeup could be the worst it's ever been. The team that has been the longest-tenured in the city of Oakland will be leaving the fans with the sourest taste in their mouths. You seriously might see the A’s win under 50 games. You have to feel bad for the Oakland fans that it has come to this for their storied franchise.

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