AL West

And now, with no fanfare, we go out west. And no one wants to, really. I love baseball (clearly) but the way I see it, no one really truly likes any of the 4 teams that comprise the American League West. Let's be honest: every other division in the game has its diehards nationally (we're going to stick in the AL for now): the east, obviously has the New York Yankees (hands down the most recognizable American Sports symbol in the world), the Boston Red Sox and I'll even throw in the Baltimore Orioles into the conversation (come on, everyone in the 1990s LOVED Cal Ripken Jr). The Tigers, Indians and White Sox all have a limited national following for the Central division. Anyone who knows anything about baseball knows the names Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan (the J-Headed Monster) in Minneapolis (only 3 more White Sox games ever in the Meterodome...thank God).

But out in the West...there's nothing. Raise your hand, when's the last time you saw someone in, say, Boston wearing an Oakland A's cap? They've (the A's) been in three different markets, and still barely have fans (Philly, Kansas City and Oakland). The Angels seem to exist only to compete with the Dodgers (by the way, who in the name of all that is holy thought it was a good idea to make the primary colors for Los Angeles' two baseball teams BLUE and RED?!!!? Really now? Really! I'll give the Dodgers a pass since they're about 126 years old, but the Angels marketing teams deserves a sharp stick in the eye for that one). {Blue and red being the colors of LA's two most famous gangs, the Bloods and the Crips, if you didn't know} The Rangers? Please...the fact that George W. Bush was their President of Baseball Operations is enough to prevent a fan base, even in Texas (where football DOMINATES all else anyways). The Mariners have had two first-ballot-best-players-to-ever-play in the last 20 years (Griffey Jr and Ichiro) but no one cares. I'm sorry, they just don't (and if you don't believe me, look up T.V. ratings. Numbers don't lie, provided your looking at the right numbers).

So, you've got a division no one really is that interested in, and for the last 5 years, it's also been a boring division. 2004: The Angels win it. 2005: The Angels win it. 2006: The A's win it (barely). 2007: The Angels win it. 2008: The Angels win it (by a lot). 2009: The Angels are in 1st. That's not going to change. I could just stop right there, the Angels are going to win that division, but you (I hope) expect a little more for me.

The Rangers have kept their heads above water much better than I thought they would so far this year, given that they have the same problems they always do. They will crush the ball, repeatedly, but they have to, because their pitching is just...puke inspiring (I really wish I could come up with a better adjective than that, but really, I think it works quite well). The Rangers have not had pitching really ever in my baseball lifetime (although I hear that Nolan Ryan guy was a thing...even though he only played 5 years at the end), although they are supposed to have pitching prospects in their pipeline that are good. I rather doubt it, given the way the ball plays at the Ballpark at Arlington and the fact that Jon Daniels, their GM is, in my mind anyway, an idiot. This is a guy who traded away Jon Danks to the White Sox for Brandon McCarthy (who is always always always broken) and Edinson Volquez for Josh Hamilton (obviously a great story of redemption, but the last thing the Rangers needed in 2007 was a HITTER). Ian Kinsler is a really fun player to watch (and has made both of my good fantasy teams good the last 2 years), Michael Young is that rare under-rated yet over-rated player (I'll explain that one in a bit) and the aforementioned Hamilton is a treat but that pitching 'thing' they got there is something bad.

The Mariners...bleh. Ken Griffey Jr. cannot play anymore. His return is a wonderful story, but he can't play. His bat is slow, he's late on fastballs he used to kill, can barely catch up to a slow breaking ball and, frankly, was never as good a fielder as he was made out to be. I will stand by that...yes he made the highlight real and deservedly so. However, by the metrics, Ken Griffey Jr was an average FIELDING center fielder. Love the guy, helped make my baseball season last year (see Game 163), but not as good a defender as people think. Truly. Felix Hernandez is 23 and has a live arm, but can't do it alone. I don't buy into Jarrod Washburn, other than this being a career year. Good for him, he'll probably get traded to the Yankees and get some postseason baseball, but career year. That's my bet.

I hate the A's. I do. I just don't like them; I think Billy Beane is an arrogant jerk (who did, however, help write a very interesting baseball book, Moneyball) that really hasn't ever won any hardware. Yes, he took the 2nd lowest payroll in the game to the postseason twice earlier this decade, but please, show me the American League Pennants and World Series rings he has. Don't worry, I'll wait. Oh, right...the A's have only gotten to 1 ALCS this decade. And promptly got waxed by the 2006 Tigers when they did. Oops. My bad. I did pick the A's to win the division this year at the start of the season, which is one more piece of evidence that I am a baseball idiot. I though the A's were due for one of their good years, but I did think Matt Holliday would regress a bit from his Colorado high days and that Jason Giambi was mistake. I thought the Angels would regress from their 100-win season last year, but I was wrong. About both. The A's suck, the Mariners are mediocre, the Rangers have no pitching and the Angels are the class of a division that no one cares about and will (once again) lose in the first round of the playoffs to the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees. Really, no numbers are necessary to go over a division that isn't compellingly competitive (like the AL East) or at least competitive (the AL Central)and that people aren't watching anyway.

We next move to the National League, going back East to the Phillies and the other piles of 'meh' out there and move across the country till we end up West again. Peace and love, peace and love. Thanks for reading.