Houston Astros: AL West Season Preview and Prediction

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The Astros have company at the top of the American League West for the 2022 season.

When the biggest offseason player move is a departure, the division is anybody’s ballgame in the American League West, so get ready for a fun season. After a bevy of trades, many of which involved the Oakland Athletics, there’s a new sheriff or deputy in town.

The Seattle Mariners could be the best of the west, or the second best, and the Houston Astros will have plenty to say about who is the top dog in the west. The Los Angeles Angels and the Texas Rangers will do their best as well to vie for contention with their offseason moves, so let’s take a quick look at American League West from worst to first.

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Oakland Athletics

There is no doubt that the Athletics are tanking this year in hopes of a rebuild. The A’s have traded away almost all of their marquee players for prospects and have rebuilt their farm system. With a long-standing struggle in besting, the A’s are playing the long game and hoping to wait out the Astros talent, which could take a long time.

They are hovering the bottom of the standings for a few years.

Texas Rangers

Even though the Rangers have made strides to better their team in the short offseason, they will end up not very close to the top of the heap in the standings. The one saving grace the Rangers have in the West is that they are usually a thorn in the side of the Astros and win games they shouldn’t on occasion.

Especially adding the big bats they did this off-season, the Rangers will not be a pushover this year, making them possibly the best divisional fourth place team in MLB, a dubious honor.

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Los Angeles Angels

The Angels had several offseason moves impacting their pitching staff and none more important than the acquisition of Noah Syndergaard. If he can return to his old form, the Angels will be a tough team with a solid lineup and good pitching at the top of the rotation.

The Angels could add a few offensive pieces during the season to try and fight for the top spot, but unless they sell the farm, it will be tough for them to get past the Mariners’ and Astros’ dynamic lineups. With the expanded postseason, however, they could make a push for the postseason if the cards fall their way and the Mariner-mojo has faded from last year’s hot streak.

Seattle Mariners

In an extremely active offseason, the Mariners are making a push. After their red-hot streak to end the 2021 season, the Mariners have added some power to their lineup to try and push past the ever present front runner Astros.

The Mariners fall just short of the Astros in the standings in predicting due to their questionable back half of their rotation. Barring the Mariners adding a top-tier arm at the deadline, I think the Mariners just miss surpassing the Astros.

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Houston Astros

After losing the best-ranked player on the team, according to the MLB Network’s top 100 rankings, along with big bullpen pieces that were traded for last deadline, the Astros seem ripe for the picking.

The biggest question for the 2022 Astros is not who replaces Carlos Correa, although that is a close second, but rather will Alex Bregman returning to form. If he regains his Superman status, the fans will miss Correa but not as much as they would if he continues to falter.

With many more questions and uncertainty, the Astros would be ecstatic to retain the AL West crown. If Justin Verlander remains healthy, Lance McCullers Jr. and Jake Meyers don’t miss most of the season, Bregman returns to form, the Astros’ young rotation doesn’t sophomore slump and Jeremy Peña can produce at least minimally well, then the Astros win the AL West in dramatic fashion.

If one or more of those uncertainties turn into a no, then things will get interesting out west in September, and the Astros could potentially land in second place. Who takes the top spot if that happens? It will be tough to determine as both the Angels and the Mariners would love to take down the defending American League champions.

I see the range down to one simple phrase, first one to 90 wins takes the AL West. Standings in the West will be close and go down to the last few weeks of the season as divisional games fill out the last few series of the year.

Final Record Prediction for the AL West:

Astros………………….91-71

Mariners……………..89-73

Angels…………………88-74

Rangers………………79-83

Athletics……………..65-97

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