MLB: AL West
Averaged Standings (with win range for each team in parenthesis):
- 99-63 Houston Astros (96 to 103 wins)
- 84-78 Los Angeles Angels (80 to 88 wins)
- 81-81 Seattle Mariners (75 to 83 wins)
- 80-82 Texas Rangers (77 to 87 wins)
- 75-87 Oakland Athletics (72 to 77 wins)
Like Cleveland in the Central, Houston is projected to run away with the AL West. Their combined projection of 99 wins is the best in MLB. They took a World Series-winning team and added another reliable starting pitcher in Gerrit Cole and two relievers, Joe Smith and Hector Rondon. Their worst projection is 96 wins (Clay Davenport).
The Angels are one of the below .500 teams from last year with the best chance of making the playoffs this year. Four of the five sources have them winning between 86 and 88 games. PECOTA is the most pessimistic, projecting them to finish below .500 at 80-82. They are the second wild card team according to Fangraphs and Bleacher Report and tied for the second wild card spot according to Clay Davenport and USA Today.
If the projections hold up, the Mariners will miss the playoffs for a 17th consecutive year, but they’re within a few games of breaking that streak. Only Bleacher Report (75-87) thinks they won’t be in the wild card mix. They project to finish just a single a game ahead of the Rangers, but that’s in large part to the 87 wins that Clay Davenport has for Texas. Every other source has the Rangers below .500.
The A’s are trying to avoid a fourth straight last-place finish, but it doesn’t look good. Their high projection is 77 wins (Fangraphs and PECOTA). Unfortunately, another losing season won’t help their attendance, which has dropped in each of the last three years. Only the Tampa Bay Rays drew fewer fans than Oakland last year, and the Rays just announced their intention to move out of their hideous stadium. The A’s would like to do the same.