Sunday, March 13, 2011

Division Run Down: AL West

Something about a four team division makes it seem like a crap shoot every year.  Though this time I think there's a particular order popping up more often than not.  But of course, that usually means nothing...

The Favorite: Texas Rangers

They won the division comfortably last year, made the World Series, and though they lost their ace, the Rangers added free agent Adrian Beltre, they have the reigning American League MVP, and they will trot out a couple young starters showing promise, most notably Derek Holland.  They aren't without questions: Can Josh Hamilton say healthy, will Colby Lewis duplicate his 2010, and of course, what role will Neftali Feliz ultimately settle into?  Still, no other team in the West is in position to pass the Rangers.

The Neglected: Seattle Mariners

The Mariners lost 100 games last season for the second time in three years.  Much has been said about the unlikelihood of everyone on the team playing as poorly as they did, which should put them in line for an increased win total without changing much.  That being said, it's not hard to go up from 61, and they're still putting a lot of faith in youngsters Saunders and Smoak, and have very little starting pitching depth behind Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez.  It's unlikely Seattle sniffs the .500 mark this year.

Most Likable Team: Oakland Athletics

It's funny, throughout the 90's the A's were unquestionably my least favorite team in baseball.  As a young, impressionable baseball fan I was left with a bad taste in my mouth when the Reds weren't given much of a chance going in the 1990 World Series.  That feeling lingered as players like McGwire, Canseco, Henderson, and Stewart just struck me as unlikable.

All that changed at the turn of the century when the A's were the focus of a new kind of baseball and the subject of some book that a bunch of people read.  Now the A's play the role of perpetual underdog as they try to win with less, endlessly searching for baseball market inefficiencies.  A stash of young, promising starters and a handful of slick fielding batsmen with some power peppered in here and there gives this team just enough to be interesting.

Least Likable Team: Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim?)

Having only four teams limits our choices here (though I never really made it a rule that I wouldn't select a team for more than one category, it just kind of worked out that way so far).  But I think the Angels fit the bill here.  Acquiring Vernon Wells this offseason probably qualifies them immediately (I have nothing against Wells personally, it's just clearly an unlikable move).  Add in their silly name changes and I think it's an open and shut case.

Potential story line:

Is Billy Beane back?  I admittedly haven't had much of a chance to keep up with this story, but wasn't there talk of Beane being more interested in soccer than baseball last year?  Add in the fact that the A's haven't finished above .500 since 2006 and to most people Moneyball is a distant memory (or something to be proven ineffective).  If the A's young pitchers keep improving and the offense produces just enough to compliment their above average run prevention, I personally would like to see the Moneyball naysayers put back in their place just a bit (or at least we can try and convince them that they just don't understand what they're talking about, but that seems unlikely).

Overall Result: (slightly adjusted...)

Rangers 87 (+1)
Athletics 83
Angels 79 (+1)
Mariners 73

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