State of the AL West

For my next “State Of” piece, I profile the wild, wild AL West which is proving to be top to bottom one of the best divisions in baseball.

1. Oakland Athletics: This team is playing some great baseball and once again, GM Billy Beane’s methods seem to be working. So what is behind the success of one of the top teams in the American League? Offense. They are the major league leaders in runs scored, as well as being 2nd in on base percentage. Josh Donaldson is arguably the best 3rd baseman in the American league with 17 HR’s and 50 RBI’s. Brandon Moss and Yoenis Cespedes aren’t far behind him either (16 HR’s/53 RBI’s, 12 HR’s/42 RBI’s respectively). Even their pitching has been a revelation. Scott Kazmir is experiencing a career revival, going 7-2 with a 2.20 ERA so far. Sonny Gray is also a budding star (6-2, 2.86 ERA). The only reason they aren’t running away with this division is the recent great play out of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This is an exceptionally talented team that if they keep up their early success, they will be a very tough out in the playoffs.
2. Los Angeles Angels: Well look who decided to show up. The franchise that spent millions upon millions of dollars to develop a winner is finally playing inspiring baseball. They have won 6 of their last 8 games including 2 against the division leading Athletics. Mike Trout is a superstar and is leading this team with 45 RBI’s. Albert Pujols is starting to find the level of play that made him so valuable and the future Hall of Famer is finally showing some success in LA, with 15 HR’s this year. Despite that success there are still things for him to work on. On top of all that, Josh Hamilton is back in the lineup and hitting .381 in 9 games back this year. Plus, C.J. Wilson, Jered Weaver, and Garrett Richards are pitching well enough to make the playoffs right now. Currently, that is where this team stands as one of the two wild card teams. If they play up to their talent, they could win this division.
3. Seattle Mariners: While many people expected the Angels to finally live up to their talent, not many saw the Mariners being as good as they are at this point of the year. The Mariners hold a .5 game edge on a few teams for the last wild card spot. This is all with an offense that statistically isn’t even in the top half of teams in baseball. Robinson Cano is still hitting the ball well, just not for as much power as he only has 3 HR’s this year, but is batting .332. Kyle Seager has played well in addition to Cano but for the most part, pitching is this team’s strength. Felix Hernandez is once again having a brilliant year (8-1 2.46 ERA) but the team as a whole has a team ERA that ranks 7th in the majors. The Mariners will probably fall back down to earth at some point but for now they are playing well enough to talk about.
4. Texas Rangers: It’s hard to fathom that the Texas Rangers are a distant 4th right now in this division. One of the reasons are the mounting list of injuries. Mitch Moreland is the latest on this list with an ankle injury that could keep him out long term. He joins Prince Fielder, Jurickson Profar, Matt Harrison, Derek Holland and more on a very crowded DL. However, there are still some positives for this team. Adrian Beltre and Alex Rios are still playing great and Yu Darvish is still amazing with a 7-2 record and 2.11 ERA. It will take this team a long time to get healthy, but by then it may be too late for them to make the playoffs.
5. Houston Astros: Seeing the Astros in the cellar has been a common theme since its last few years in the National League and now in the American League. However, it’s not all sadness and dreams of next year in Houston. This team has real talent but is just exceptionally young. George Springer has been everything people expected of him with 12 HR’s and 36 RBI’s in 48 games. Jon Singleton was recently called up and the 22 year old has 7 RBI’s in 9 games played. On top of that, Dallas Keuchel has been pitching very well (8-3, 2.38 ERA). With more top prospects on the way, expect this team to be like the Tampa Bay Rays when they started bringing up all their top picks like Evan Longoria, David Price and more. The future is bright in Houston, but for now, it looks like another season in the cellar.

Tune in for my next “State Of” article as I venture into the National League, beginning with the NL East! Follow me on twitter @alexmmckeon and we can talk sports!

Note: Stats from ESPN.com