[Augetout]

A.L. WEST

The Contenders: Rangers, Astros, A’s, and Angels

The also-ran: Mariners

During the chosen time period, the Astros were in the National League West, and made a couple of appearances in the playoffs back when rainbow uniforms and stadiums, not band-boxes were still ‘cool’. The chosen time period leaves the A’s 1970s teams who won 3 straight World Series out of the mix, but the cupboard is not bare in Oakland… The Angels were near-misses on a couple of occasions, and the Rangers and Mariners were yet to be playoff-capable. The A’s 1989 win is the only World Series win for teams in this AL West. Perhaps the best news is that neither the Twins nor the Royals, teams who spent a good deal of the chosen time period dominating the AL West, are in the realigned AL West.

The Mariners were not a very good team for much of the chosen time period, although in 1995 they finally made the playoffs, and have had some infrequent success since. Nonetheless they have a decent lineup anchored by 1994 Ken Griffey Jr.’s 1.076 OPS season. Being honest though, it is a team that has yet to draft Alex Rodriguez. It is also a team that has ‘pre-God’ Randy Johnson as its ace despite his ERA being a full half point higher than it is for the other team he is an ace on, the D-Backs. Such is the luck of this northwest team. Neither the starting rotation nor the bullpen is likely to hold up against other teams in the AL West, and the lineup simply isn’t good enough to overcome that set of difficulties.

The Rangers, like the Mariners, never made it to the playoffs during the chosen time period. They sniffed such things on occasion, but never found a way to get there until their run of success that began in 1996. For this league their lack of real world success does not preclude their chances, as much like the Expos the Rangers have assembled a pretty powerful lineup with a pretty good pitching staff to back it up. The Rangers have a rotation that has the Ryan Express, but Nolan is not the staff ace. The lineup boasts 4 hitters at above the .310 mark, with 5 starters having more than 30 doubles, and with the 3-5 hitters having 112 HRs between them. The Rangers should be a fun team to watch.

There was a time when the Astros were contenders and were not cheating! Realignment brought the Astros to the American League which should be to the advantage at least in pitching of the Astros, and so it is. Nolan Ryan’s 1982 1.69 ERA is good for staff ace, and the only starting pitcher with an ERA north of 2.37 is J.R. Richard with a 2.71 ERA in his last full season before his tragic stroke. The Astros’ rotation is on par with the Dodgers rotation. The bullpen has 2 pitchers with ERAs under 2.00 and the ‘worst’ has an ERA of 2.65 so it might not be a great idea to knock their starting pitchers out of games. Back in the day the Astros played in the Astrodome with walls that were placed as far away as the stadium’s design allowed. Thus the Astros spent well over a decade valuing speed over power, and it shows in their lineup. The top 5 hitters are at .309 or better, and other than the defensive wizard of a catcher Alan Ashby, there are no weak spots in the lineup. All that and the Astros get the benefit of 1994 Jeff Bagwell, or as some might call it the beginning of the band-box/steroid-dominated era. Still, many a team would love to have a .368 hitter with 32 doubles, 39 HRs, and 15 SBs sitting in the 3 hole, which is what the Astros enjoy with Bagwell. The other half of the ‘brothers B’, Craig Biggio also has his 1994 season stats, with 44 doubles and 39 SBs to go with his .318 average, and .411 OBP. The ‘rainbow’ Astros are well-represented, though, as Jose Cruz, Cesar Cedeno, Alan Ashby, and most of the pitching staff come from the days of the orange rainbow. Houston has a lot of ways to beat other teams, and will contend in the relatively weak AL West.

Given that the A’s are the only team from the newly-aligned AL West to win a World Series, they should dominate the division, right? Maybe, but while they will contend they most likely will not dominate. This is despite having 1990 Rickey Henderson, 1988 Jose Canseco’s 40/40 year, McGwire’s 49 HR year, and so on. In fact the top 3 spots in the lineup combine for 142 stolen bases, which is more than any team had in 2019 or the pandemic-shortened 2020 seasons. The A’s entire starting staff sports ERAs under 3.00, and the ‘worst’ ERA in the bullpen is 1989 Rick Honeycutt’s 2.35 ERA. Oh, and 1990’s Dennis Eckersley has the 9th inning locked down to the tune of a 0.61 ERA with a 0.614 WHIP. Opponents might want to score before the 9th, as scoring in the 9th doesn’t seem likely.

It seemed like every year Gene Autry’s impending death compelled the Angels front office to acquire every aging star they could lay hands on, to no avail. They had chances, to be sure, losing in the ALCS in 1979, 1982, and 1986. Thus perhaps it makes sense that each year the Angels front office might have concluded that they were ‘one player away’ from winning it all. In any event, the lineup is stocked with Hall of Fame players who started with other teams but came to the west coast to play for the Angels. The pitching staff is solid, with no starting pitcher having an ERA above 2.93, and a bullpen with 2 relievers under the 2.00 ERA level. All that and an all-time Bermanism, Bert “be home” Blyleven is on the Angels staff. With 4 hitters with 30+ HRs, and a solid pitching staff, the Angels will contend in the AL West.

Quirks:

The Angels and Red Sox both start Fred Lynn.

The Angels and Yankees both start Reggie Jackson.

The Angels and Orioles both start Doug DeCinces.

The Angels and Twins both start Rod Carew.

3 teams in the AL West have names starting with the letter ‘A’ (Astros, Angels, A’s)