The AL West has produced the American League’s representative in the World Series for the last two years, but a 0-2 record where it matters most isn’t something that anyone is looking to brag about. The good news for folks who root for the AL West as a whole, though, is that the division has got substantially upgraded over the last few months. The Texas Rangers won’t just hop, skip and jump to the Fall Classic this time around. No, in 2012 they’ll get a legitimate battle for the honor from both the Anaheim Angels and to a lesser degree the Oakland Athletics.
Coming off a 96-66 regular season and a pretty remarkable run all the way to an eventual 4-3 World Series loss, the Rangers aren’t going anywhere. But it also won’t be as easy of a path this year. Between the arrival of Yu Darvish and the departure of C.J. Wilson, you have to figure that just adjusting two those two pieces alone (not to mention all the other changes) will force Texas to take some time in order to readjust. Wilson was a pretty substantial part of this unit, and his 16-7 mark, 206 strikeouts and 2.94 ERA went a long ways cushioning the blow when Cliff Lee bolted town. Continue reading
The NL West is an absolutely fascinating division that could wind up looking any one of a number of ways when it’s all said and done. The Dodgers, Rockies, Diamondbacks and Giants all have their fair share of strengths and weaknesses going in, and who emerges as top dog by year’s end largely depends on who is best able to maximize those strengths and minimize those weaknesses.
Last year’s regular season in baseball could not have ended any more ____. Depending on what side you were on, that word could be dramatically different. It could not have been scripted better and SportsCenter could not have fawned over it any more than it did.
We heard about the beasts that may lurk in the East, and Pujols is going to eat everything in the West, but what about that Central? The Cy Young winner Justin Verlander has the Tigers looking like the favorite with a -500 betting line from bovada.com to win the division, 4/1 odds to win the pennant, and 4th best in the MLB with 8/1 to win a World Series.
With the National League defending champion St. Louis Cardinals gearing back up for another grueling season, you would think there would be more conversation about repeating. That is, unless you lose The Machine. The 
The East has been really interesting the past few seasons, drawing in the masses to watch each and every game leading up to the postseason. The division hosts 2 teams with by far the most talent, along with the highest pay rolls. The AL East, that is. The NL East is more like the division that the Phillies always win. As it stands today, the