2026 Baseball Preview (AL West)

Last year, we finally saw a changing of the guard in the AL West.  The division had been dominated by Houston for so long, but the Astros not only didn't win it in 2025, they didn't even make the playoffs.  Instead, it was the Mariners winning the AL West for the first time in 25 years and coming oh so close to making the first World Series appearance in franchise history.

This season shouldn't be much different.  The Mariners aren't just the best team in this division, they're arguably the best team in the entire American League.  Although, they're also now the hunted.  How will having the target on their backs affect them, if at all?  After all, they're the only team in the Majors that's never been to the World Series, and now there are expectations that they can get there.

Texas is really the only team in the division that has any chance at dethroning Seattle.  Even if they don't, the Rangers are plenty capable of snagging a wild card.  Especially since those three teams in the East will be in a dogfight all season and could easily eat each other alive.  And who knows what Houston will do?  The Astros have been shedding players left and right over the past few years, to the point that they're a middle-of-the-pack team now.

There will also be American League baseball played in the State of California.  The A's will continue their vagabond existence as not the worst team in the division and with actual reasons to be optimistic they'll be good once they do officially relocate to Las Vegas.  The Angels, meanwhile, will be doing battle with the White Sox for the worst record in the AL.  Fortunately for them, there are National League teams that are worse.

1. Seattle Mariners: Can they repeat what they did last year?  There's no reason to believe they won't.  Is it realistic to think Cal Raleigh will hit 60 home runs again?  Of course not!  But he doesn't need to.  The Mariners have built a really complete lineup.  Losing Eugenio Suarez's bat hurts, but they did re-sign Josh Naylor, which was huge.  And you also know that they'll be active at the deadline if they need a bat.  They might not need to do anything major at the deadline, though.  Because this team is really good as-is.

That includes their starting rotation, which is really underrated.  None of them are superstars, but the top four are all top-notch Major League starters.  If they can stay healthy, that's an even bigger strength than their devastating lineup.  Especially since they've got one of the best closers in the business in Andres Munoz.  As you can tell, I really like this team.  I have a lot of reason to.  There's a real possibility the Mariners could run away with this division.
Projected Lineup: Julio Rodriguez-CF, Randy Arozarena-LF, Cal Raleigh-C, Josh Naylor-1B, Victor Robles-RF, Brendan Donovan-3B, J.P. Crawford-SS, Rob Refsnyder-DH, Cole Young-2B
Projected Rotation: Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, George Kirby, Luis Castillo, Bryce Miller
Closer: Andres Munoz
Projected Record: 92-70

2. Texas Rangers: Just imagine how different things would've been for the Rangers had they been healthy at all at any point in the two seasons since they won the World Series.  Especially in their pitching staff.  Texas built a top-tier starting rotation, but it's been ravaged by injuries.  Which isn't entirely bad since it allowed Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker to develop at the Major League level.  With the two of them, Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom and new addition Mackenize Gore, who came over from Washington, that's the strength of the team.

Their lineup will look different, too.  Marcus Semien is gone.  So is Adolis Garcia.  Which really puts the onus on Corey Seager, Josh Jung and Evan Carter to perform at a high level.  I'm also curious to see what they get from longtime Met Brandon Nimmo, who Texas acquired in the Semien trade.  He replaces Garcia in right, but is a very different type of player without that same power.  If players stay healthy, they're the AL West team most capable of challenging in Seattle.  If they don't, the Rangers are looking at another season out of the playoffs.
Projected Lineup: Brandon Nimmo-RF, Wyatt Langford-LF, Corey Seager-SS, Jake Burger-1B, Jace Jung-3B, Joc Pederson-DH, Evan Carter-CF, Kyle Higashioka-C, Josh Smith-2B
Projected Rotation: Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, Mackenzie Gore, Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker
Closer: Robert Garcia
Projected Record: 90-72

3. Houston Astros: To say the Astros' roster looks different than it has in recent years is an understatement.  Seemingly everybody not named Jose Altuve has either been traded or left as a free agent when the time game.  The latest former Astro to join that list is Framber Valdez, who's now a part of that sensational rotation in Detroit.  It leaves Hunter Brown as the ace of the staff, with the rest of the rotation likely to be filled out by whoever's healthy at the moment.  They do have an elite closer in Josh Hader, though.

The big news on the lineup front is that Altuve moves back to second base after that ill-fated adventure in left field last season.  Instead, Yordan Alvarez is projected to be out there, even though his best position is actually DH.  Houston's biggest problem over the past couple seasons has been keeping people healthy.  This lineup can be incredibly dangerous if everybody's in it at the same time.  But, in addition to the lineup, they have to keep the pitching staff healthy, too.  Should both of those things happen, the Astros could regain their once seemingly permanent place in October.
Projected Lineup: Jose Altuve-2B, Carlos Correa-3B, Yordan Alvarez-LF, Christian Walker-1B, Isaac Paredes-DH, Jeremy Pena-SS, Jake Meyers-CF, Yainer Diaz-C, Cam Smith-RF
Projected Rotation: Hunter Brown, Mike Burrows, Tatsuya Imai, Cristian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr.
Closer: Josh Hader
Projected Record: 85-77

4. Athletics: Something strange happened last season in Sacramento.  The team without a home playing in a Minor League park showed promise.  They had the top two finishers in Rookie of the Year voting and added them to a talented young core that already included Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers.  This season, they threw a veteran into the mix, making a trade with the Mets for Jeff McNeil.  It won't translate into a playoff berth, but Not Oakland/Not Las Vegas will definitely be watchable.

While they're set up lineup-wise for when they move to Las Vegas, the pitching staff is still a weakness.  They made the big splash last winter to bring in Luis Severino, only for him to complain about pitching in Sacramento and being terrible at home.  Unfortunately, they don't have much of a rotation behind Severino.  There's also a question about who'll finish games.  They had an All*Star closer in Mason Miller, but traded him to San Diego at the deadline last season.  So, who'll be their closer?
Projected Lineup: Lawrence Butler-RF, Jacob Wilson-SS, Nick Kurtz-1B, Brent Rooker-DH, Shea Langeliers-C, Tyler Soderstrom-LF, Jeff McNeil-2B, Max Muncy-3B, Denzel Clarke-CF
Projected Rotation: Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Aaron Civale, Jacob Lopez, Luis Morales
Closer: Elvis Alvarado
Projected Record: 74-88
 
5. Los Angeles Angels: Here's the good news: Anthony Rendon is no longer taking up a roster spot!  They restructured his contract to spread the money they're wasting on him over seven years, which was a necessary move.  That contract was an albatross that was holding them back from doing the things they need to do to become competitive again.  And they used some of that money to help their bullpen by signing Kirby Yates.  That's the first step, with so many left to go.

They have the longest playoff drought in Baseball, and it will likely continue this season.  Their pitching staff is a mess, both in the rotation and in the bullpen.  So, it doesn't really matter how good their offense is if their pitchers can't hold a lead.  They also have no depth, which will make it tough to navigate around Mike Trout's inevitable injury.  And they can't even DH Trout since Jorge Soler is there.  This isn't the worst Angels team, but it isn't exactly good either.
Projected Lineup: Josh Lowe-LF, Yoan Moncada-3B, Mike Trout-CF, Jorge Soler-DH, Nolan Schanuel-1B, Logan O'Hoppe-C, Jo Adell-RF, Adam Frazier-2B, Zach Neto-SS
Projected Rotation: Yusei Kikuchi, Jose Soriano, Reid Detmers, Grayson Rodriguez, Ryan Johnson
Closer: Jordan Romano
Projected Record: 64-98