The Commish Online www.thecommishonline.com
HOT CORNER
AL WEST
March 26, 2003
Without question, the A.L. West is the hardest division to predict. Oakland, Anaheim, and Seattle are all playoff worthy, but because they play a large portion of their games against each other, it's likely that only one team will make the postseason. My pick this year is Oakland because when in doubt, go with the pitching. You can't argue with a starting three of Zito, Hudson, and Mulder. When different writers and publications predict the Cy Young winner and THREE of your starters are named, you know you've got a good team. Throw in the best left side of the infield in baseball (Tejada and Chavez), and it's tough to pick against the A's.
It's not easy picking against the World Series champs, especially when they essentially kept the team intact, but the Angels did play their best baseball in the playoffs. The rookies played at a level higher than anyone's expectations, and it's just unreasonable to foresee Lackey, Rodriguez, and the rest of the crew to perform like that over a 162 game season. They will fall just short of Oakland, but the abundant hitting will put them ahead of Seattle.
The Mariners have won more than 200 games over the past 2 years, but their rotation doesn't compare to Oakland and their lineup falls way short of Anaheim's potent offense. A new manager shouldn't hurt the Mariners because skipper Bob Melvin has been with the organization for a while, but they just don't have the fire power to compete in the toughest division in baseball.
Stuck in last place, but slowly gaining on the leaders, is the Texas Rangers. The lineup is downright impressive, and they are deep enough to platoon at several positions. Showalter has a remarkable record of turning teams into winners, and the bullpen is much improved. The big "if" with Texas, though, is the rotation, and nobody is talking about any young arms to rescue them in the near future. If they can rebuild the staff without sacrificing much from the major league level, they will be competitive, but for now, the Rangers are stuck with their staff and stuck in last place.
AL West
1. Oakland
great pitching, powerful infield, and defensive outfield should spell success
2. Anaheim
same team as last year but hard to pick them ahead of Oakland's staff
3. Seattle
their rotation doesn't scare many teams and the hitters are getting older
4. Texas
Schowalter will make them better than last year, but still last in this tough group
