The second half of the season is in full swing, and the AL West has transformed into one of the most fun divisions to watch in all of baseball.
Three teams in the west have a top-5 record since the All-Star break. The Texas Rangers have lost only nine games in the past month, while the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners have lost just ten in the same span.
The Texas teams capitalized on the Mets’ fire sale. The Rangers and the Astros acquired a first-ballot Hall of Famer at the Trade Deadline. The Mets will retain most of the massive contracts of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer while the two go on a quest for another ring.
Verlander returns to Houston, the town he left for New York in the 2022 offseason. The Mets are paying $35 of his $44 million contract over the next two years.
Houston is in pursuit of their ‘dynasty’ championship, as the third championship typically determines the dynasty’s validity. They have made four trips to the World Series since 2017 and brought two back to Houston. With the difficulty of their path, with the Rangers and the Braves standing in their way, the Astros will have an arduous path recreating their 2022 championship run.
The team’s heart – Kyle Tucker, Yordan Álverez, Alex Bregman, and AL Player of the Week José Altuve have been their usual selves keeping the Astros as one of the most feared teams in the league.
Scherzer joins the sixth team of his career in the already stacked Texas Rangers. The Rangers quietly spent the sixth most on players in the 2022 offseason but will save money as the Mets shell out another $35 million to help cover his $58 million contract. Scherzer joins Jordan Montgomery as reinforcement for the Rangers after Jacob Degrom went down early in the season.
The Mariners were on the other side of the spectrum during the Trade Deadline. Seattle was 46-46 and five games out of the last Wild Card spot when the second half of the season got underway. They sold one of the best relievers in the league Paul Sewald and seasoned veteran A.J. Pollack for a bundle of MLB-ready players.
It has worked out in their favor, as they are 18-10 since the break and held a playoff spot for the first time of the 2023 season on August 12th.
The Rangers and the Astros have held a playoff spot for the entirety of the season. The Rangers have the best run differential in the American League by more than 50 runs, and the Astros are only two games back in the division race. Both teams have playoff odds north of 90%, according to FanGraphs. The Mariners have been tearing and sit two games behind Toronto in the last Wild Card spot.
With just over two months to go in the regular season, the AL West is a division to watch as the season comes down to the wire.
