AL West May Review

The month of may has come and gone and the MLB is starting to pick up its pace with more and more teams surprising fans as contenders. The AL West has its usual front runners in the Oakland Athletics leading the division with a record of 42-27. It isn’t much of a tight race in the AL West as the A’s and the Astros are pulling away from the struggling Angels, the Mariners and the last-place Texas Rangers.

Who has been the surprise team

The surprise team of the division is the Oakland Athletics who I didn’t expect to be in first-place have surprised many with their strong start, they tend to surprise a few even though they are a team that isn’t like the Angels who spend a ton of money in free agency. The A’s have a record of 42-27.

Their general manager Billy Beane is famous for his money ball tactic and it is working at the moment and let’s see if the A’s can keep up their strong start. Players like Matt Chapman, Jesus Lazardo, Matt Olson, Sean Manea, Ramon Laureano have all been contributing towards their strong start. The question is will they be able to keep a hold of their stars? Chapman, Olson, and Laureano’s contract all expire at the end of the season and Beane will face a tough task.

Rebuilders

The team that won’t be looking to make the playoffs anytime soon and might want to make a couple of trades of their star players are the last-place Texas Rangers who have a record of 25-42 look like they are heading for a long time rebuild. Players like Joey Gallo and Nick Solak who have good potential and not much time left in their career to win a championship should look for a trade. The Rangers have been struggling for the last few years after having been in the World Series in 2010 and 2011 and their last playoff appearance was 2016. They lost players to retirement or free agency including pitcher Corey Kluber who now plays for the Yankees.

Underperfomers

The team that has been really disappointing is the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim coming in with a record of 33-34, they are 8 games behind the first-place Houston Astros. With the talents like Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Dylan Bundy, Griffin Canning, Anthony Rendon, and David Fletcher, many Angel fans expected a better performance from the team with experienced players. And with the money they have spent in the last few years, there has been a lot of disappointing performances and they have missed out on the playoffs every year since 2014.

Who could make a late run

A team that could leap frog the Astros and potentially who could get a wild card spot is the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners haven’t been terrible this year with some of their farm system talents getting called up. JP Crawford, Jarred Kelenic, Dylan Moore, Jake Fraley, Kyle Seager have been playing well to keep their team in contention. With a record of 34-35, there is a chance for them to make it. And with their prospects taking it away in the farm system. Will we see the Mariners surpass the Astros and make it to the playoffs. I hope so because the Mariners are a team that are on the rise with their prospects.

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