Suddenly the balance of power in the American League has shifted cross-country. The Rangers are the two-time defending American League Champions, and the acquisition of a certain slugger has turned the Angels into a legitimate threat for years to come. The Angels and Rangers might be the two best teams in the American League, and they should provide us with what will easily be the best pennant race in baseball. Unlike the last two years, Texas isn't going to run away with the division title. Instead they'll be fighting it out with the Angels all season. They'll probably both be in the playoffs, but one's going to be stuck in the wild card game.
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim-So which one is better? I've got to go with the Los Angeles Angels of Albert Pujols. It's still hard to envision Albert wearing anything other than a Cardinals uniform, but he'll be an Angel for the rest of his career (at least the next 10 years). His addition plus the improved pitching staff makes the Angels, in my eyes, the favorite in the AL West. Having three starting first basemen on your roster would be considered a problem for most teams. But when you get a chance to add the best player in the game, it's really a no-brainer. Besides, it seems unlikely Kendrys Morales will actually manage to stay healthy for an entire season, so trying to find at-bats for both him and Mark Trumbo might not be much of an issue at all. The Angels are incredibly deep. So deep, in fact, that their starting outfield consists of three center fielders, and Bobby Abreu, a very serviceable veteran who can still be productive, is their backup DH. Yeah, they're good. But what I think gives the Angels the edge over the Rangers is their pitching. They already had an established ace in Jered Weaver, then went out and plucked Rangers ace C.J. Wilson away in free agency. That gives Anaheim four former All-Stars in their rotation, Weaver, Wilson, Ervin Santana and Dan Haren. Plus, All-Star closer Jordan Walden is the real deal, and they have really good set-up men in Scott Downs, Kevin Jepsen and Hisanori Takahashi. That pitching staff is one of the deepest in the American League. That's why I give the Angels a slight edge over Texas in the AL West. Albert went to the playoffs seven times in 11 years in St. Louis. There's no reason to believe that his first season in Anaheim will end any differently.
Lineup: Erick Aybar-SS, Howard Kendrick-2B, Albert Pujols-1B, Kendrys Morales-DH, Torii Hunter-RF, Vernon Wells-LF, Chris Iannetta-C, Alberto Callaspo-3B, Peter Bourjos-CF
Rotation: Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Ervin Santana, Dan Haren, Jerome Williams
Closer: Jordan Walden
Projected Record: 98-64
2. Texas Rangers-It's hard to envision the two-time defending American League champions not even being the favorites in their own division, but that's the case for the 2012 Texas Rangers. Their lineup is still as stacked as ever, but the pitching staff took a hit with the departure of C.J. Wilson. What made that loss even worse was the fact that he signed with the Angels. I'm not saying the Rangers can't go to the World Series for the third straight season. But they need a lot of things to work in their favor in order for it to happen. The main questions concerning the 2012 edition of the Rangers revolve around the pitching staff. They invested a lot of money in Yu Darvish. If he turns into the last high-profile Japanese pitching import (Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka), Texas could be in trouble. Colby Lewis, who also spent some time in Japan, is the most experienced veteran starter the Rangers have, and Ron Washington has already said Lewis will get the ball on Opening Day. Derek Holland's performance in Game 4 of the World Series was a tour de force. Can he pitch like that for an entire regular season? I question moving Neftali Feliz to the rotation, though. He was a dominant closer, and they went to the World Series twice with him saving games. But they've brought in Joe Nathan as the closer, meaning they're committed to this Feliz-to-the-rotation move. Personally, I'd have left Feliz in the bullpen and made Alexi Ogando the fifth starter. Regardless, the Rangers are loaded. They'll be right in the thick of things all season. And with the addition of that extra wild card team, a return to the playoffs seems likely, especially since they get to play 36 games against the A's and Mariners.
Lineup: Ian Kinsler-2B, Elvis Andrus-SS, Josh Hamilton-CF, Michael Young-DH, Adrian Beltre-3B, Nelson Cruz-RF, Mike Napoli-C, David Murphy-LF, Mitch Moreland-1B
Rotation: Colby Lewis, Yu Darvish, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Neftali Feliz
Closer: Joe Nathan
Projected Record: 94-68 (2nd Wild Card)
3. Seattle Mariners-The AL West consists of two premier teams and two really, really bad teams. They open the season with two games in Japan on Wednesday and Thursday, meaning either the Mariners or A's will be in first place at some point this season. I think Seattle is slightly less bad than Oakland. The Mariners' problem over the last couple of years has been their complete inability to hit. That hasn't really changed, but they at least have enough decent pieces to put together something that resembles an actual Major League lineup. Ichiro's still the man, but he's coming off the worst season of his career. I think moving him out of the leadoff spot might've had something to do with that, but Seattle seems content to leave him in the No. 3 hole. Chone Figgins also needs to start resembling the player he was in Anaheim. If those two put up the numbers they're capable of and their incredibly talented future stars (Justin Smoak, Franklin Gutierrez, Dustin Ackley, Jesus Montero) show those flashes of brilliance, the Mariners could actually flirt with .500. If not, they'll struggle to score runs once again, making Felix Rodriguez's job even tougher. To an extent, you've got to feel bad for King Felix. He has to feel like he's got to throw a shutout every night just to get a win. Last season he had a partner in crime in Michael Pineda, so, of course, that was taken away from him when Pineda was traded to the Yankees for Montero. They also got Hector Noesi in that trade, who'll finally get the chance to be a regular Major League starter. Another new addition, Kevin Millwood, could take some of the burden off the bullpen by eating up innings if nothing else.
Lineup: Chone Figgins-3B, Dustin Ackley-2B, Ichiro Suzuki-RF, Justin Smoak-1B, Jesus Montero-DH, Franklin Gutierrez-CF, Miguel Olivo-C, Mike Carp-LF, Brendan Ryan-SS
Rotation: Felix Hernandez, Justin Vargas, Hector Noesi, Kevin Millwood, Hisashi Iwakuma
Closer: Brandon League
Projected Record: 75-87
4. Oakland Athletics-In the year "Moneyball" is a big hit at the Oscars, it looks like the script for "Moneyball II" is in the works. Because this A's team is as bad as some of those ones in the mid-90s. They took a big risk by bringing in Manny Ramirez and Yoenis Cespedes. If both work out, the A's look brilliant. But the chances of that don't seem too great. Especially since Manny has to sit out the first 50 games because of his failed drug test from last season. As a result, until June, they'll have a guy who's a DH in name only. The fact that they're now the only team that shares its stadium with a football team (not counting the Blue Jays, who share SkyDome with the Toronto Argonauts) doesn't help, either. The A's are trying to get a new stadium, but are in kind of a catch-22 situation. People don't want to come to a crappy football stadium to watch a crappy team play. The sheer size of that place means Oakland has to build around pitching, which was as much a part of their success during the Moneyball years as anything else. The A's had a decent young rotation built around Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez, so, of course, they traded both of them during the offseason. Now the rotation is anchored by Brandon McCarthy and Dallas Braden, with Bartolo Colon providing a veteran presence. The back of the bullpen's solid with Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes, but does it really matter? How many save opportunities are there really going to be for this team? At least they won't be the worst team in the AL West when Houston joins the division in 2013.
Lineup: Jemile Weeks-2B, Coco Crisp-LF, Yoenis Cespedes-CF, Brandon Allen-1B, Jonny Gomes-DH, Josh Reddick-RF, Kurt Suzuki-C, Cliff Pennington-SS, Josh Donaldson-3B
Rotation: Brandon McCarthy, Dallas Braden, Bartolo Colon, Tommy Milone, Graham Godfrey
Closer: Grant Balfour
Projected Record: 64-98
So, now that we've gone through all three divisions, here's a breakdown of how I see the American League playoff race shaking out. The Tigers will take advantage of being in the AL Central to earn the No. 1 seed, while the Yankees and Alberts will faceoff in the 2 vs. 3 Division Series. Detroit gets the winner of the wild card game between Tampa Bay and Texas. I've got the Rangers winning the wild card game, then losing to Detroit, while Anaheim beats the Yankees in the other Division Series. The Angels then beat the Tigers for the pennant.
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