Until the Texas Rangers went on their run last season, defeating the New York Yankees and making it to the World Series, most people around baseball viewed the American League West as the weakest division in the American League.
So far this season, the AL West has proved to be one of the toughest divisions, with three teams, the Rangers, Angels, and A’s, that could easily compete for the division title and a wild card bid.
The Rangers this season have showed last season’s run was not a fluke, starting out the season by sweeping the Boston Red Sox and jumping out a 10-5 record.
Second baseman Ian Kinsler and outfielder Nelson Cruz have carried the Rangers offense this year, combining for nine homeruns and 20 RBI.
Pitching has also helped to carry the Rangers despite the loss of Cliff Lee.
Matt Harrison has been the biggest surprise for the Rangers, jumping out to a 3-0 record while striking out 14 and having an ERA of 1.23.
Former reliever Alexi Ogando has also been a major factor, picking up two wins himself.
Tied for first in the AL West with the Rangers are the Angels, a team many people thought could struggle this season.
Starters Dan Haren and Jered Weaver have each looked like possible Cy Young candidates this season, combining for eight wins and 58 strikeouts in eight starts.
The Angels also could be a threat later on in the season, with the veteran bats of Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells to help carry the team’s offense.
Also, the Angels are expecting to get power hitting first baseman Kendrys Morales back this month, after recovering from a broken leg.
Possible the biggest sleeper in the division is the Oakland A’s, despite being two and a half games back of Texas and Anaheim early in the season.
Oakland has a young pitching staff, built in a similar way to the San Francisco Giants staff that won the World Series last season.
The young pitching staff, combined with the addition of veteran bats like Hideki Matsui, David DeJesus and Josh Willingham, should help to provide Oakland with the timely offense they’ve been missing for the last several seasons.
While all the hype going into the season was about how dominant the AL East was with the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays.
However, look for the AL West to not only have it’s division winner be a real threat come October, but also look for the wild card team to come from the AL West, giving them two teams in the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
The Penalty Flag‘s Trey Nelson can also be seen on the LA Dodgers Spring Training Blog.
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