Baseball Season Is Just Around the Corner
With the baseball season beginning shortly I would like to take a look at the American League West. This is an intriguing conference this year as I believe it contains two teams that have a very good chance of winning the American League.
The Texas Rangers were in great form last season and finished the season with the second best record in the American League. To reinforce what was already a great team the Rangers have acquired an amazing pitcher from Japan ‘Yu Darvish’. Darvish has spectacular numbers in the Japanese league which is expected considering the Rangers have agreed a 100M dollar deal with the Japanese pitcher.
However before enthusiasts get too excited we should remember that pitching in the Japanese league is not the same as pitching in the majors. Since Darvish has arrived with the Rangers he has been working on altering his wind up and delivery to better suit pitching in the majors.
These kinds of changes can be extreme and very difficult to master at the beginning of a career at the top level and, while I do expect Darvish to be an excellent pitcher, supporters should be careful not to expect too much too soon. Darvish may very well become the number one pitcher for the Rangers but I expect him to start much further down the line up and he may even struggle in his first season.
In contrast to the Rangers the Angels finished last season on a less progressive note winning only 3 out of their last 10 games. While it could be said that the Angels did not perform as well as expected last season, they are a roster which is full of talent and potential.
With Cruz, Hunter, Abreu and Aybar in the hitting line up they are definitely a club to be feared offensively and with the addition of Albert Pujols to an already dangerous line up you can expect the Angels to considerable increase the number of runs scored per game this season.
The Angels scored just over 4 runs per game last season and I would not be surprised to see them score over 5 runs per game this year. Certainly with that kind of offense the Angels will be in with a chance to win every game but ultimately their success may come down to their starting pitching and if you are an Angels fan that might just be good news.
The Angels starters pitching remained excellent throughout last year despite their offensive woes, finishing the season with an ERA of 3.57 which was 6th in Major League Baseball. If the Angels bullpen can hold onto the leads that they will inevitably get from the starting pitchers, they may have a slight edge over the Texas in what looks very much like a two horse race in the West.
