The AL West Race Handicapped

Finally. We reach the 6th of 6 parts handicapping the Major League Baseball divisional races at this point in the season. Home of the 2002 World Champion Angels, they once again are leading the way in this division. Without any further delay...here we go with the division. For reference, I don't hear much about teams in this division so we will keep this short and sweet.

Current standings (July 20)

Los Angeles 56-38
Seattle 53-39 2 GB
Oakland 45-50 11 1/2 GB
Texas 41-54 15 1/2 GB

Los Angeles - The class of the AL West and for awhile had the best record in all of baseball. This team is well on their way to yet another division championship. Frankly, they are too good for the rest of the teams out west. Vladimir Guerrero continues to rate among the most feared hitters in baseball. The guy has a strike zone from his chin to his toes and can take any pitch he can reach and turn it into a home run. Love the no batting glove thing he has going on too! The team could probably use one more big bat to complement Guerrero if they want to make a run at another world championship, though. John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar are dominating this year on the hill (combined 23-8 with an an ERA under 3). Odds 3 to 1

Seattle - The surprise of the American League. They have shown they are definitely for real but I highly doubt that they can overtake the Angels and win the division title. The wild card is within grabs as they really only have Cleveland to contend with for that right now. Ichiro Suzuki continues to be the face of the franchise with his all around top notch play. Their weakness is on the hill. If they can overcome that and stay steady...their bats MIGHT be enough to catch L.A. Side note on Ichiro....he is 11 hits coming into today of reaching the 1,500 hit milestone. This is his 7th year in the majors! Odds 7 to 1

Oakland - They showed everyone what kind of season they are having when they traded away Jason Kendall to the Cubs. These guys are going nowhere fast. GM Billy Beane needs to find some diamonds in the rough to turn this franchise back into the winners they have been for much of the last decade. They have promising pitchers in Danny Haren and Joe Blanton (and Rich Harden if he can ever get healthy). Just need to get healthy and play to their ability and add a couple players and yeah...they are right there. Odds 20 to 1

Texas - Ay, ay, ay. This club is in the same state as Cincinnati and San Francisco. The only excitement in Arlington is watching Sammy Sosa add to his home run numbers (passed the 600 home run mark this season). The story with this franchise is what it always has been. Pitching, pitching, pitching...well actually the lack of pitching, pitching, pitching. These guys have not had a decent pitcher since they had Kenny Rogers in the mid 90s. Tom Hicks and Jon Daniels need to get a clue and pay for some pitching or this franchise won't be seeing the postseason for a long long time. Odds 75 to 1

This wraps up our division by division tour. Hope you did not or do not lose too much money on my odds....remember this is for entertainment use only.