2011 MLB American League West Predictions
There aren’t many baseballs fans that weren’t surprised by the performance of the Texas Rangers last season. Out of nowhere they emerged and won the American League Pennant, only losing to the San Francisco Giants in the World Series final last year. Would
they manage to do the same this year or will someone else from the American League West knock them off their spot?
The Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Angels and the Seattle Mariners make up the American League West. Last year the Rangers gave everyone a run for their money and the Oakland Athletics performed a lot better than anyone expected them to, even
beating the once-king-of-the-division Angels. The Angels are not the most dominating team in this division anymore leaving the space open for either of the other teams.
It’s refreshing to see that the Rangers are using ways other than home-run power to win. They’ve improved their pitching and defence and it’s nice to see them score runs in a different ways. Even though the mighty Cliff Lee is not with them anymore, they
still have a lot of manpower in the form of CJ Wilson and Colby Lewis. There is a chance that if Brandon Web can get back to his former self who used to deliver then the Rangers might make it to the top of the division once again. They seem to have a complete
team with the perfect package.
The Oakland Athletics didn’t really have any big names in their line-up last year, still they managed to get a .500 record last season. The 2010 season was a good one for them and seeing the return of Trevor Cahill, Dallas Braden, Gio Gonzalez and Brett
Anderson they could perform even better this year. The only weakness in the team is their terrible offense, but maybe the new talent that has been hired can change that. Although new, Josh Willingham, Hideki Matsui and David DeJesus may just end up surprising
everyone.
The Angels have previously won the division title five out of six times so to see them go down so fast last season was definitely not expected. After Kendry Morales suffered from a season-ending injury, the flaws in the line-up could easily be seen and that
is what led them to defeat. Now that Morale and Dan Haren are back for a complete season, they certainly have a chance of winning the division. If only Vernon Wells and Mike Scioscia could perform better than how they have been, the game could turn around,
but it doesn’t seem so since it looks like the pair do not have much left to offer.
The Mariners were an absolute disappointment last year and it doesn’t look like they’ve made any effort to improve themselves. There are many faults with them, the biggest being that it’s time for the line-up to change drastically. Ichiro Suzuki seems to
be the only powerhouse and no matter how good he is, there is no way he can lead them to division victory alone. They are putting all the responsibility on young talent, which still needs a lot of grooming and practice, so by the looks of it, the Mariners
would probably end up at the bottom of the division once again.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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