Who will win the AL West???

[Aggie_Eric98]

Ok, I did this last year and I'll try it again, do we have any Ranger believers out there besides me?

I'll start even with Vlad coming back and not needing surgery, I like the Rangers chances.

[Absolutely Adequate]

I'm still betting on the Los Angeles A's of Oakland, even with their horrible start. Their pitching is better than this and their hitting is much better than this.

The Rangers? No, they don't have the hitting or especially the pitching.

[Big Papi's Pimps]

There's only one absolutely 100% true answer: it could be anybody. All the AL west teams are skitzo. You never know which teams is going to show up on any given night.

That being said, I think Texas could be the one to finish on top. Oakland took too many risks during the offseason that just aren't panning out. The Angels have the strongest bullpen in all of baseball, but that won't matter since their offense is non-existent with Vlad on the DL. Texas' offense was struggling early on, but recently they have been heating up. And their pitching has been holding its own without any major blow ups thus far. Texas should be able to get far enough ahead of the Angels before Vlad comes back.

help me out??

http://www.fantasybaseballcafe.com/foru ... 838#975838

[Madison]

It's either going to be Texas or the Angels.

I had the Angles favored to win the division preseason, but losing Vlad is going to hurt them for the next couple of weeks. Still a good team, but if Vlad misses significant time (doesn't look like he will right now) then the Rangers will most likely win.

The Rangers are holding their own without the offense really being all that great so far. Yes, they are scoring runs and hitting homers, but I wouldn't say the offense is where it normally is just yet. This hot stretch has helped though. For the pitching, we've had some nice starts and some big busts. Team ERA stands at 4.58 which is about what was expected, but with the bats, it's not too hard to win as long as the team ERA stays under 5.00. If Vlad doesn't miss significant time, it should be a race with the Angles most likely pulling it off though.

Seattle still doesn't have it and must have missed the memo that told everyone that Beltre would be a bust. No idea what they were thinking with that signing, but I just don't see the pieces there to win the division.

The A's just have zero offense. They have the best pitching in the division hands down, but it's no surprise that they are having issues scoring runs. At 10 games under .500 now it would take a huge run for them to have any chance and they just don't have the offense to do it.

Angles or Rangers with the edge to the Angles if Vlad doesn't miss significant time (which is what is currently being reported). I hope my Rangers pull it off though.

Since I'm sure the Oakland fans will scream and yell that Oakland isn't out yet, let's analyze the division a bit closer.

It will take at least 90 wins to win the division. That means the A's would have to go 73-45 from here on out. That's 28 games over .500 for the rest of the year. To put it in perspective, while the A's have to go 28 games over .500 to get to 90 wins, the Angles only have to go 1 game over .500 and the Rangers only have to go 2 games over .500 to get to 90 wins. At least one of those two teams (Angels/Rangers) will do it, if not both while the A's have a huge mountain to climb that they just don't have the offense to do. Put a fork in the A's because they are done for this year.

[raiders_umpire]

if Vlad is back in 10 days or so, then the angels should be able pull away with the division.... but if Vlad misses a month or so, then i think the rangers will be able to pull away and the angels not quite be able to catch them.... seattle and oakland are still missing pieces to compete imo...oakland of course is needing some bats and where as seattle needs a little pitching and hitting to get going......

[SaintsOfTheDiamond]

The Rangers? No, they don't have the hitting or especially the pitching.

I agree. As much as I'd like to see them win, the A's are probably not going to be able to recover from this awful start unless ANA and TEX completely fold. If you could somehow put the TEX offense with the OAK pitching, then a team other than the Angels may win, but I don't see that happening either.

[bronxxbomber]

It's going to be LA, but I do agree that Tex will make a nice run. Tex might have a better chance if they get better pitching somehow and Vlad's injury is more serious then we know.

[slomo007]

Rangers for me. I like the Angels as well....but I'll put my faith in my favorite AL team as the tiebreaker.

[blankman]

Angels

[acsguitar]

I'd say there is a 90% chance the Halos win