MLB 2024 (AL West)

We're now less than a week away from the official Opening Day for the other 28 teams.  Less than a week until the Texas Rangers unveil their first-ever World Series championship banner.  It felt like forever that the Astros have dominated the AL West, but last season was different.  It was the Rangers who led the division for most of the season.  Houston ultimately caught them, but it was Texas who ended up lifting the trophy in the end.

Ironically, it was the Astros having the AL West tiebreaker that set the Rangers up on their run.  If Texas has the tiebreaker, they have the first-round bye and Division Series home field, not Houston.  Ending up as the wild card team gave them the "more difficult route," but it also set them up on their incredible road to the title (pun intended).  The Rangers don't go 11-0 on the road in the playoffs if the win the AL West (which they still technically did since they finished tied).

And, let's not forget, Seattle is only two years removed from a playoff appearance.  The Mariners are nowhere near as good as either Texas team, but they're also not as bad as either California team, so a third-place division finish seems to be in the cards.  And, who knows?  If they can get to 86-87 wins, maybe they'll sneak in there as the third wild card.

Will anyone still care about the Angels now that Ohtani's gone?  Will his being gone actually end up being a good thing?  As for the A's, where will they play next season?  Their lease is up after this year and their stadium in Las Vegas won't be ready for a while.  Is it sad that that's the most intriguing storyline about that team entering the season?

1. Texas Rangers: They'd been building towards it.  Then last year, all the pieces fell into place.  And, frankly, it seemed a long time coming.  The Rangers play in a major market and act like a major market team.  And they never spent poorly.  Those guys just hadn't made enough of a difference yet.  Until last season, when everything Chris Young touched turned to gold.  He landed Jacob deGrom as a free agent before deGrom's inevitable injury led to him landing Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery at the deadline.  Those two, along with Nathan Eovaldi, were lights out in the postseason.

Scherzer and deGrom both start this season on the IL, and Montgomery, while he may still come back, remains unsigned.  So, the rotation isn't as strong to start the year as it will be later on.  But it's still pretty good.  And they've got a lineup that more than makes up for it.  The Rangers return everybody but Mitch Garver who started Game 5 in Arizona, and Ezequiel Duran is poised to take over at DH.  They'll get a challenge in their own division from the Astros, but the defending champions are arguably the strongest team top-to-bottom in the American League.  Now that they've won it all, the expectations are higher.  As they should be.  Because this team is damn good!
Projected Lineup: Marcus Semien-2B, Corey Seager-SS, Adolis Garcia-RF, Josh Jung-3B, Ezequiel Duran-DH, Evan Carter-LF, Nathaniel Lowe-1B, Jonah Heim-C, Leody Taveras-CF
Projected Rotation: Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, Dane Dunning, Cody Bradford
Closer: Jose Leclerc
Projected Record: 93-69

2. Houston Astros: Look who's suddenly not the top dogs anymore!  The Astros had an aura of invincibility around them and, frankly, probably started getting a little too comfortable.  Then they realized the Rangers would be formidable and it lit a fire under their asses.  Houston continued its ALCS streak, but dropped Game 7 to the Rangers and suddenly find themselves as the second-best team in the division after nearly a decade at the top.  So, how did they respond?  By going out and getting the best closer available, Josh Hader.

Even with Hader in the back end of the bullpen, Houston's pitching is full of question marks, particularly surrounding the health of their starters.  The good thing is they have about seven starting pitchers, so even if Valdez or Verlander goes down, they have a Luis Garcia they can plug in.  The lineup, meanwhile, is starting to see the effects of free agents leaving.  Michael Brantley is gone, which shifts Chas McCormick to left and installs Jake Meyers as the starting center fielder.  They've still got their core guys, though.  So, as long as Bregman, Altuve, Alvarez and Tucker stay healthy, they'll do their thing as the Astros will go on their inevitable march to October.  They've become postseason fixtures.  Don't expect that to stop this season.
Projected Lineup: Jose Altuve-2B, Lance Bregman-3B, Yordan Alvarez-DH, Kyle Tucker-RF, Jose Abreu-1B, Jeremy Pena-SS, Chas McCormick-LF, Jake Meyers-CF, Yainer Diaz-C
Projected Rotation: Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Jose Urquidy, Lance McCullers Jr., Cristian Javier
Closer: Josh Hader
Projected Record: 92-70 (Wild Card)

3. Seattle Mariners: It really seemed like Seattle's window would be more than just the one year.  But 2022 wasn't the start of a long run of playoff appearances, and they fell back to their usual around .500 selves last season.  Frankly, I don't see how this year will be much different.  Which isn't a knock against the Mariners.  It's just an acknowledgement that Texas and Houston are both better than them, and a lot will need to go right (or wrong for the Rangers and/or Astros) for Seattle to overtake them in the AL West.

Their lineup around Jose Rodriguez is OK, not great.  They signed Mitch Garver away from Texas to be their DH, and I like Jorge Polanco as a table setter.  Is the lineup as deep 1-9 as the Rangers and Astros or the teams in the AL East they'll be fighting for a wild card, though?  No, it's not.  These aren't the Griffey, A Rod, Edgar Martinez Mariners.  They don't have a Randy Johnson, either.  Luis Castillo is a good Major League pitcher, but he wouldn't be a No. 1 in most other rotations.  Probably more like a No. 2 or 3.  And, aside from Ryne Stanek, I've never heard of anybody in their bullpen, which can't be a good sign!  As I said, they aren't bad, they aren't particularly good.  So, it's reasonable to think they'll hover around .500.
Projected Lineup: Jorge Polanco-2B, J.P. Crawford-SS, Jose Rodrigez-CF, Mitch Garver-DH, Mitch Haniger-RF, Ty France-1B, Cal Raleigh-C, Luke Raley-LF, Josh Rojas-3B
Projected Rotation: Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller, Bryan Woo
Closer: Ryne Stanek
Projected Record: 82-80

4. Los Angeles Angels: During that whole time they had both Mike Trout & Shohei Ohtani, the two best players on the planet, they didn't make the playoffs once!  It's been a decade since they've made it, and they haven't won a postseason game since 2009.  So, other than the ticket sales and increased exposure, having Trout & Ohtani together didn't really make much of a difference!  That's why I think Ohtani being gone might actually be good for the Angels.  They don't have all that extra attention and all that extra media just following around one player.  The rest of the team is no longer the supporting cast in the Ohtani Show.  Not to mention the fact that it opens up the DH spot for somebody else...or to rotate among starters so they can get off their feet...or to get an injured guy's bat in the lineup even if he can't play the field.

With all that in mind, Ron Washington's got a big task at hand.  Because this roster has too many holes (the result of Arte Moreno's years of spending big and whiffing on free agents).  They still have Trout, but there isn't much around him.  And I think they've given up hope that Anthony Rendon will ever be both healthy AND productive.  But, hey, at least they're better than Oakland/Las Vegas!  And when they don't make the playoffs this year, the number of people asking why will be significantly less.
Projected Lineup: Taylor Ward-LF, Brandon Drury-DH, Mike Trout-CF, Anthony Rendon-3B, Mickey Moniak-RF, Logan O'Hoppe-C, Nolan Schaunel-1B, Luis Rengifo-2B, Zach Neto-SS
Projected Rotation: Tyler Anderson, Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers, Griffin Canning, Jose Soriano
Closer: Carlos Estevez
Projected Record: 74-88
 
5. Oakland Athletics: What I find funny about the whole situation with the A's is how the fans are suddenly so passionate now that they've announcing they're planning on leaving.  I know there are a lot of factors at play here, but if they were this passionate to begin with, then maybe they would've still been showing up at games and the team would actually be generating some revenue.  It's not as simple as I just made it sound.  Obviously.  But this is much different than the Expos.  The city is to blame, too, and ownership certainly could be more invested in putting a competitive team out there.  I'm calling those "fans" out for their sudden undying love for the A's, though.

Anyway, whether this is their last season in Oakland or not, it won't be a good one.  I'll be absolutely shocked if this team doesn't have 100 losses, and I fully expect them to have the greatest odds in the 2025 Draft lottery.  There are some worthwhile players on the roster, though.  Brent Rooker can flat out hit, Ryan Noda and Shea Langeliers aren't bad, and they were wise to scoop up J.D. Davis to play third base after the Giants cut him.  He'll provide some veteran leadership for a team that'll need it.  Because they have absolutely no pitching, so they'll need to score a lot with an offense that isn't much better than the pitching staff.
Projected Lineup: Esteury Ruiz-CF, J.D. Davis-3B, Brent Rooker-DH, Seth Brown-RF, Ryan Noda-1B, Shea Langeliers-C, JJ Bleday-LF, Zack Gelof-2B, Nick Allen-SS
Projected Rotation: Paul Blackburn, JP Sears, Alex Wood, Ross Stripling, Joe Boyle
Projected Record: 56-106