I hope everyone checked out my article last week. If you did then you can tell that it wasn’t the NL East but actually the NL West. That was a flub on my part.
Now, this week I will be breaking down the AL west.
Let’s get started.
The AL west has teams from California to Texas:
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Oakland A’s
The Seattle Mariners
The Texas Rangers
The Houston Astros
Like I said in my previous article I’ll break down each team and then give a final recap of the division.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Angels are a team that has found themselves in a tough division. Last year they finished third and missed the Playoffs. Their number one issue they have to address is pitching. In 2015, C.J. Wilson and Jared Weaver both under performed as starting pitchers. They will have to improve and be anchors in the rotation for a fairly young pitching staff. However, a bright spot is the Garrett Richards had a career season last year, and was the Angels ace. He will be back again this year, and if all three can come through they will be a tough team to beat any day of the week.
Albert Pujols finally came into his own last year, as hit belted 40 home runs. He along with arguably one of the greatest players in baseball today Mike Trout should be able to help the team offensively and defensively throughout the year. Trout hit .299 with 41 home runs, and he can make spectacular plays in CF.
David Freese and Chris Lannetta will be a big part of this team as well this year.
I expect the Angels to have a bounce back year. They will definitely be in the hunt for a playoff spot this year.
Oakland A’s
The A’s are always a hard team to sort out. They have players coming up through their farm system who you may have never heard of before. They come to the big stage and knock it out of the park. However, that being said they had an off year last year finishing dead last in the division.
Stephen Vogt will have something to say to the doubter this year. The A’s leading hitter last year will be primed and ready to have a repeat performance in 2016.
They will have to fix the pitching though. A 4.14 combined ERA is what the A’s had at the end of the season last year. That being said, they still have one of the youngest pitching staffs in all of baseball, so they should be able to bounce back.
The A’s actually have a young team all around and they will be hungry to fix the .251 batting average the team had a year ago.
All in all, I believe the A’s will be on the outside looking in but they will be much improved from last season.
Seattle Mariners
The Mariners found themselves on the short end of the stick last year. They had all the talent, Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Felix Hernandez. However, they still were only able to place forth in the division. They had a batting average of .249 and a team ERA of 4.19. Both of these need to be worked on, if the Mariners want to find themselves in Title contention.
They still have those All Star guys, but I feel in a tough division they will fall short.
Texas Rangers
The Rangers found themselves in the driver’s seat last year as they won the AL West divisional crown. This year will not be easy, just like last year wasn’t easy for the Rangers.
Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre will again be on task to lead this team back into the playoffs this year.
Guys like Prince Fielder and Josh Hamilton though will have to improve their game if the Rangers want to compete for another title.
The pitching, like nearly all of the AL West teams, has to be improved. A team ERA of 4.24 will not get you to the World Series. Pitchers like, Yu Darvish, Colby Lewis and Cole Hamels have to come through this year.
The Rangers will be a tough team to beat and could possibly find themselves in the playoffs once again.
Houston Astros
The Astros got a Wildcard slot and took full advantage of it. They beat the Yankees in the Wildcard Game and went on to fall in a five game series to the eventual World Series champions.
Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa are two of the youngest and hottest players coming into the 2016 season. They will be the stars to watch on this spectacular Astros roster.
They also had the division’s lowest team ERA at 3.57. Guys like Collin McHugh and Dallas Keuchel will bring their A game in 2016.
I see bright things in Houston this coming year.
Standings
1st – Houston Astros
2nd – Texas Rangers – Wildcard
3rd – LA Angels of Anaheim
4th – Oakland A’s
5th – Seattle Mariners
So, the Astros and Rangers flip spots from last year but both teams will have a taste of playoff baseball.
Come and check out next week’s article, as I break down the NL Central.
