Predicting the AL West

      Predicting the AL West this year seems like a no brainer.  In fact I only see one team from the West making the playoffs.  The Seattle Mariners do it again.

AL West

        Pecota        Wins                                                            Cru's Corner       Wins

1.    Seattle        93.9                                                                1.    Seattle        96

2.    Hou            84.9                                                                2.    Hou            82

3.    Tex            83.8                                                                  3.    Sac            81

4.    Sac            77.1                                                                   4.    Tex            71

5.    LAA           66.4                                                                5.    LAA            64

     The Seattle Mariners are loaded.  Their Rotation of Bryan Woo, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Luis Castillo, and Bryce Miller might be the best in baseball.  Andres Munoz is a dominating closer and Eduard Bazardo and Matt Brash give them gas throwers in the seventh and eighth innings.  Cal Raleigh is coming off the best catcher season in the history of baseball, and Julio Rodriguez is a star for the next five years plus.  Josh Naylor and Randy Arozarena give the Mariners the needed RBI pop in the middle of the order.  Although the addition of Brandon Donovan at third adds to the fire power of the offense, I don't love the Mariner's defense.  J.P. Crawford at short sometimes gets lackadaisical on routine plays and Donovan doesn't move well in either direction. Naylor has worked hard and improved at first base but he is not elite defensively.  It's a very minor issue for the Mariners that might haunt them in the playoffs, but they will win the West easy.

     The Houston Astros have the offensive weaponry to compete in this Al West; however their pitching depth is not good and any injury could leave them short-handed.  The addition of Carlos Correa at third base might be just what the Astros needed.  His age and injury history makes now a good time for him to move off shortstop and play third.  Jeremy Pena, Yordan Alverez, Jose Altuve, and Christian Walker, along with Correa, will make getting outs difficult for opposing pitchers.  That small ball park to left field will make home games explosive with those bats.  Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier are solid starters and the Astros are counting heavily on Japanese free agent Tatsuya Imai to settle into the three spot.  Lance McCullers Jr. is really the only other experienced arm they have to choose from.  Josh Hader is their closer and is very experienced in that role, but I'm not sure they have the horses to compete for 162 games.

     I really wanted to put the Sacramento A's in the playoffs this year.  Their offense is probably the most fun to watch.  Nick Kurtz was a stud in college and nothing changed for the former first round pick when he arrived in the big leagues.  Shae Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom hitting in the two and three spots in the order after Kurtz are run producers and table setters when needed.  Brent Rooker at clean up is a beast.  A very quiet but impactful signing was second baseman Jeff McNeil.  At 34 years old he will provide the leadership these young guys need.  The reason the A's are not a playoff team in 2026 is their pitching staff is below average at best.  Counting on Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs to return healthy, and Aaron Civale to continue the few good starts he had for the White Sox at the end of 2025 is a stretch at best.  The closer by committee is Hogan Harris, Justin Sterner, and Mark Leiter Jr.  Meh

     The Texas Rangers are putting all their eggs in one basket, Pitching.  Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Mackenzie Gore, Jack Leiter, and Jacob Latz form a dominating starting rotation to fear.  Cole Winn in the seventh, Chris Martin in the eighth, and of course Robert Garcia to close is going to lower opponents batting averages when they visit Arlington.  All that being said, I'm not sure this team will produce enough offense to compete.  Wyatt Langford and Corey Seager will do what they always do and that is rake.  Jake Burger has to move to first base with Joc Pederson coming in to DH, and it doesn't seem either is productive enough for those two positions.  Josh Jung at third base has all the potential in the world, but injuries the last two years have really hampered his performance.  

     The Los Angels Angels are a dumpster fire.  Moving Mike Trout to the DH role is intended to keep him healthy and it might work. However that means Jorge Solar has to play left field.  With Joe Adell in Centerfield and Josh Lowe in Right Field, the Angels might have the worst outfield in baseball.  Zach Neto at shortstop is a Punch and Judy hitter and Yoan Moncada has been less productive for four continuous years.  The Angels will try to resurrect the pitching promise from Grayson Rodriguez and Alex Manoah, both young stars whose future hasn't matched potential elsewhere.  I have the Angels with 65 wins, but they could chase the White Sox single season loss total record.  They are bad.