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 →