The AL West in 2022 was Houston’s and no one else. But 2023 is a new year, a fresh start and lots of moves were made around the division. So, who wins it?
Houston’s 2022 regular season campaign left little hope for the rest of the field in the AL West. Led by slugger Yordan Alvarez, the Astros would produce an impassable 106-56 record. Locking the division up by late September, and some would say even earlier than that. Houston would of course go on to take home the World Series title back to Minute Maid Park, leaving the rest of the division with a lot of work to do this winter to catch up to a Houston team that could very well be getting even better. Who got better? Are there clubs that haven’t gotten better at all?
Houston Astros
Well, it’s simply reload and go again, right? The juggernauts of the American League in 2022, The Houston Astros in 2023 could possibly meet, or even surpass their performance in the previous season. After winning the World Series, one of the big bits of business Houston got done was signing former MVP and White Sox RBI machine Jose Abreu. The 35-year-old slugger has plenty of fuel left in the tank and should fit right in at first base with the departure of long time first baseman Yuli Gurriel.
Kyle Tucker, the team’s leader in RBIs last season (107), is far removed from being baseball’s best kept secret. Though Tucker could be used differently this year with Yordan and now Abreu to provide the majority of damage, there’s little doubt he’ll tear it up in any order in the lineup.
The ever-controversial Jose Altuve quieted down critics in 2022 with a .300 batting average, team leading 103 runs scored and an attractive .921 OPS. Another player that will benefit greatly from the addition of Jose Abreu, who will raise Altuve’s chances of a 2nd straight season crossing the plate over 100 times.
Normally when a pitching staff loses a Justin Verlander, you can bank on that team not being as good as they were with him. This staff might just be set up to handle a loss like that though. With Verlander gone, they have quite the successor for an ace in 28-year-old lefty Framber Valdez. Going 17-6 with a 2.82 ERA in 2022, Valdez is more than capable of bettering that performance, featuring one of the best changeups in the game today.
At this point, its less Houston vs the division and more Houston vs Houston. The only thing stopping this team in the West is themselves. The front office did its job to address the holes early, and not a bad way to do it with a former MVP. Fresh off a World Series and showing little signs of regression, expect to see Houston in October.
2023 Projected Finish: 1st Place
Los Angeles Angels
In 2022, the longtime cornerstone duo of Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon played a total of 166 games. Trouts 119 would be drastic progress from the 36 he played in 2021, however it would be the 5th time in six years that Trout would play under 140 games in a season (Including the COVID-shortened season, in which he did play 53 out of 60 games). Rendon played a meager 47 games and his 3rd straight season playing under 58 games. Durability has been a major issue here in the Anaheim area.
The first week of May 2022, the Angels had a 2.5 game lead in the West. By the All-Star break? twenty-one games out of 1st place. Finishing the season 33 games out, it was a disastrous season. Hard to imagine we all witnessed the elite performance of star Shohei Ohtani on this same team that collapsed as hard as they did. Combine frustrating durability issues with other players putting in All-Star performances to no avail, 2023 will not come without a lack of pressure for this club.
Durability is the name of the game for this lineup in 2023. The pitching staff summed up in one word? Support. This team is screaming out for a solid reliable #2 quality start to complement Ohtani’s unique pitching talent. Patrick Sandoval showed signs of #2 level stuff with a 2.91 ERA over 148.2 innings but will need to churn out more wins than the 6 he produced in 2022 before he can be considered a legitimate #2 starter.
The most cliche “what if” can be used here. If everyone stays healthy? They should be forcing Houston to look in their rear view mirror all season long. However, little evidence of durability will leave Angels fans uneasy for much of the year. Now, that’s not to say they can’t do this and finally be a contender in the “Mike Trout Era”, but a lot needs to change, and fast.
2023 Projected Finish: 4th Place
Oakland Athletics
With so much focus on the impending sale of the club and off the field matters, this piece will be trying to focus on the on-field performance of the 2023 Oakland A’s.
The problem with that, there might be little to look forward to before that sale happens. Oakland lost 102 games in 2022 after a winning season in 2021, a trend that has occurred multiple times in the 21st century already for this club. Attendance produced record lows last year at the Coliseum. A stadium met with criticism from the fans, with team performances that those fans struggle to watch. Some are waiting impatiently for a sale to happen, even if that means this club moving away from Oakland.
It may feel surreal to think that this may be the last year the Athletics exist in Oakland. Tons of history that will outlast generations. Many feel the time is right for a new page to be turned. But before that page is turned, we got a season to play. No one’s putting earth shattering expectations on this team by any means, but this team DOES have talent. Young talent. Some may be playing to stay after the sale or play for a contract. Which in some ways can be a positive combination, a similar scenario as the famous baseball movie Major League.
Seth Brown will be the main man in this lineup with catcher Sean Murphy shipped off to Atlanta. Hitting 25 HRs and 73 RBIs in 2022, Brown showed he can certainly be a stable for power and run production.
In hopes to give Seth Brown runs to drive in, Oakland signed Houston utility infielder Aledmys Diaz early this offseason to be the catalyst at the top of this lineup. Manager Mark Kotsay would probably prefer to combine outfielder Ramon Laureano with Diaz at the top of the lineup, but also has the option of versatile second baseman Tony Kemp to accompany him.
Lefty Cole Irvin led the team in innings pitched in 2022. Posting a 3.98 its far from ace stuff, but as it stands, Irvin might be the most reliable starter heading into the season. Many of the pitching staff positions may be decided or won in Spring Training.
The positive here is the pressure is off. The kids can relax and just play without an unreachable expectation. The veterans can enjoy baseball like kids again. Would some of them want pressure and expectation? Of course. Most will be playing for that. Unfortunately, considering the level the rest of the division is at, it may be a frustrating finale for the Oakland Athletics.
2023 Projected Finish: 5th Place
Texas Rangers
Theres little argument that no club has shown more of an incentive to win with acquisitions and money spent in the last 2 years than the Texas Rangers. Even as this article is being written, there’s a good change front office is negotiating a deal. With north of 250 million dollars spent this offseason alone to refurbish the pitching staff with talented top prospects mixed in, the entire mentality has shifted in the organization since pre-COVID.
A brand-new Globe Life Field to play in. A cornerstone just hitting his “prime” years in Corey Seager. Young players just starting to make an impact in first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and speed-power combo outfielder Adolis Garcia. 2023 has all the pieces to be the start of a successful decade for the Rangers.
Texas will have the luxury of being able to send ace Jacob DeGrom out onto the mound for them every five days. The superstar pitcher signed a 5-year contract totaling 185 million this offseason, solving the problem of a lack of an ace on this club for a handful of years.
Most likely right behind him will be flamethrowing Nathan Eovaldi. Signing a two-year 34-million-dollar contract of his own, Eovaldi will bring his electric 4 seamer to Texas in hopes to give them reliability in the rotation.
Texas also acquired the services of lefty Andrew Heaney and righty Jake Odorizzi, providing plenty of proven options to go to. Something the club didn’t necessarily have in recent years.
In their possession are two of baseball’s top pitching prospects as well in Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. Should they bring them up early, it would be much anticipated to see. Though Texas have put themselves in a situation where they don’t need to push their prospects up right way
Texas will be the division’s X-factor. They just might be the entire league’s X-factor as well. Drastic overnight turnarounds are rare to come by, but Texas has done a lot of positive things in a little amount of time. This time around, we could be seeing winning baseball in Texas again.
2023 Projected Finish: 2nd Place
Seattle Mariners
A second straight 90-win season and the first playoff berth in over 20 years has Seattle Mariners fans buzzing. It wasn’t a team full of aging veterans with one more year left to prove either. This teams young, their veterans are in their prime and getting better.
the spotlight deservedly shines on five tool player Julio Rodriguez. A team leading .853 OPS and filling in stat categories on the way to that number. Expect a scary good season from a kid with a ceiling that no one’s really sure how high it is.
It’s not just him though. Power hitting third baseman Eugenio Suarez will again be the everyday source of power. Hitting 31 home runs last season, little doubt he can post 30+ again.
Ty France quickly emerged as one of the steadiest performing first baseman in the league in 2022. 20 bombs, 83 RBIs and a respectable .274 on the side, An All-Star selection isn’t out of the question for Ty if the Mariners hit the ground running first half.
Seattle was also relatively busy in the offseason, and early. Trading for Toronto slugger Teoscar Hernandez in November. Giving the lineup even more light tower power. Kolten Wong was traded to Seattle not soon after, providing tons of versatility and a world class glove to the infield. Both of these moves taking the load off the other veterans on the team and adding quality depth.
The backbone of this team in 2022 was their sneaky good pitching staff that finished near the top of the AL in nearly every team pitching statistic that exists.
Former Cy Young award winner Robbie Ray and young righty Logan Gilbert led the pitching rotation, with left-handed sinkerballer Marco Gonzalez having one of his better campaigns in 2022. All of them most likely receiving a significant boost in run support, wins could actually be up from last year’s 90.
Houston will be the lead car for much of the race. However, this Seattle team may post the biggest threat to Houston’s attempt to repeat as division champs. They have depth, proven success with virtually the same squad, and stability and durability unlike the Angels have shown. If the division race isn’t a close one by September, expect the Wild Card race to feature multiple teams in the West right in the heat of it.
