Sportsrageous

The first half of the Major League Baseball season has seen the Pittsburgh Pirates take the division lead, the four-ace rotation of the Philadelphia Phillies dominate opposing hitters and the American League East continue to be baseball’s best division.  In the next few days we’ll look at how each division stacks up to others and what contenders in each division need to do to reach this year’s Fall Classic.

Today we look at the AL West.

Contenders: Texas Rangers, LA Angels

Texas Rangers

The Rangers have pretty much put to bed the hopes of the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners of reaching the postseason with consecutive sweeps on their two division rivals.  Now in the midst of a three-game set against the Angels and an 11 game win streak, the Rangers sit four games ahead of their closest pursuer, the Angels, and 11.5 and 13.5 games ahead of the Mariners and A’s respectively.

The Rangers will be looking to buy at the trade deadline, specifically buy some bullpen help.  San Diego Padres’ Heath Bell and Mike Adams and Oakland’s Andrew Bailey are all on the Rangers’ radar.  The team has stated that if the right deal comes along for any player they will look into it, but for right now they are only actively looking to shore up an inconsistent bullpen.

During their current hot streak the Rangers have won with a combination of timely hitting and dominating pitching posting a team ERA of 2.09 and averaging 6.4 runs per game.  Their batting order is one of the most deadly in all of baseball and if the rotation continues pitching deep into games and keeping the bullpen rested the Rangers will be the favorite to win the division.

Los Angeles Angels

The Angels have one of the best starting rotations in baseball and the third best team ERA in the AL.  Staff ace Jered Weaver is arguably the best pitcher in baseball with a 12-4 record and a sparkling 1.90 ERA.  After that Dan Haren has been one of the best starting pitchers in the AL and youngster Tyler Chatwood has shown promise.

The bullpen has been solid as well, as Scott Downs and Jordan Walden have been an almost unbeatable late game combo.  Walden has saved 21 games while posting a 2.77 ERA and Downs has been the Angels go-to reliever in tight spots allowing only five runs in 31 innings.  The problems the Angels have faced have not been with their arms.

The Angels’ weakness has been their bats.

Having only averaged a touch over three runs per game to this point, the Angels have been rumored to be in the market for some of the better hitters available at the trade deadline.  Carlos Beltran, Melk Cabrera and Aramis Ramirez have been names linked to the Angels, though nothing official has been discussed.  If the Angels can get Vernon Wells going (.220/.251/.410) and add another big bat they may be able to pitch their way into the postseason while scoring just enough to get by.  Its a formula the San Francisco Giants won the World Series with last year, but they won’t be able to afford outings by their pitchers like Sunday’s 9-1 loss to the A’s if they want to catch the Rangers.