MLB: AL West July Check-In

The AL West has been mediocre this year, and at this point it’s looking like the division winner will have to settle for the 3-seed and playing in the best 2-of-3 wild-card round to open the playoffs. But it’s still an exciting race, with Houston and Seattle neck-and-neck. And after a rough start, the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers are still lingering on the outside. Here’s a snapshot look at these three teams, along with the also-ran Los Angeles Angels and Oakland A’s.

Houston
The Astros are getting on a nice roll. That’s even with Kyle Tucker being on the Injured List right now, and having only played 60 games to date. He should be healthy soon. Yordan Alvarez is having another vintage year at DH, with a stat line of .383 OBP/.529 slugging percentage. Jose Altuve is at .353/.459. Houston’s offense will get even better if Alex Bregman starts even remotely resembling the Bregman we’ve gotten used to.

Pitching is dicier. Ronel Blanco is having a good year, at 9-4 with a 2.56 ERA. Framber Valdez is capable of more than his 3.66 ERA, but I don’t know that it’s a given. Houston’s pitching staff ranks eighth in the American League for composite ERA and is really depending on 41-year-old Justin Verlander to get healthy and pitch well down the stretch.

Seattle
The best pitching in the American League is keeping Seattle going. Logan Gilbert is the ace of the staff, with a 2.79 ERA in his 20 starts. Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Bryce Miller all have ERAs in the 3s. Andres Munoz is a dynamic closer with a 1.41 ERA and the bullpen as a whole is steady and well-balanced. This alone will keep the Mariners in contention.

Whether they move from contention to actually making the playoffs will depend on the bats. Seattle is a lowly 13th in the AL at scoring runs. Nobody in the everyday lineup is having an all-around good year. Cal Raleigh has hit 20 home runs, but if the catcher isn’t going deep, he’s not doing anything at all. The veteran Mitches—Hanigan and Garver—are quiet. Seattle needs J-Rod to step it up. Julio Rodriguez has a meager stat line of .318/.369. The good news? He surged in the second half last season.

Texas
Corey Seager and Josh Smith are giving the Rangers a productive left side of the infield. But the right side of the infield, Marcus Semien and Nathaniel Lowe, are struggling. Semien in particular has to pick it up if the Rangers are going to earn a chance at repeating in October.

What Texas has going for them is a rotation that’s quietly coming together. Nate Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, Michael Lorenzo, Jon Gray and Max Scherzer are all pretty steady. Jacob deGrom might finally be back in August. There are no weak spots in the rotation. If the front office makes some moves to shore up a bullpen that is 12th in relievers’ ERA, the Rangers can be a very interesting team down the stretch.

LA Angels
Logan O’Hoppe is a nice young catcher, 24-years-old and slugging .472. Mike Trout will get off the IL at the end of the month. Tyler Anderson, at the age of 34, has a 2.97 ERA in 19 starts. Anderson is 34-years-old and could be a trade piece at the deadline. That’s all the good there is to say about the Angels.

Oakland
Brent Rooker has a stat line of .368/.569 in his contract year. Do the A’s move the 29-year-old DH? That’s the only real drama for the A’s. Shout-outs go to catcher Shea Langeliers for his 18 home runs and manager Mark Kotsay for somehow piecing together the league’s fourth-best bullpen.