Caleb Wilfinger
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Winter is turning to Spring and the 2023 Major League Baseball season is nearly here. Here at Pickswise we have a ton of content coming to get you primed, so make sure to keep an eye on our MLB tab heading up to Opening Day. With the season rapidly approaching, we are breaking down each MLB division and today we’ll be talking about the AL West.
To no one’s surprise, the Houston Astros came out on top last year, followed by the Seattle Mariners. The Texas Rangers came in third, while the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics brought up the rear. The defending world champion Astros are favorites to repeat as division champs, while the Rangers, Mariners and Angels could all battle for 2nd place. This will be a fascinating division, so let’s break it all down and look at our best bet.
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AL West Division Winner Odds
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing
- Houston Astros (-175)
- Seattle Mariners (+320)
- Los Angeles Angels (+750)
- Texas Rangers (+850)
- Oakland Athletics (+25000)
Houston Astros
The reigning World Series champions are set up nicely for a title defense in 2023. Houston is a well-oiled machine from top to bottom, but I have some minor concerns for the Astros heading into the season. For one, it appears that injuries will be a factor, as Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez are set to miss significant time at the onset of this season. That should definitely set the Astros lineup back a bit, but this is still a loaded team and I’d expect Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker to pick up the slack. Not having Justin Verlander at the top of the rotation hurts, but Cristian Javier, Framber Valdez and Luis Garcia should be more than enough to capture another AL West crown. I can’t lay the inflated number, but this is the American League’s best team.
You can also check out our 2023 MLB season preview
Seattle Mariners
The Mariners made the playoffs a season ago while defying a lot of their advanced metrics in the process. I do expect some regression to come for the M’s pitching staff, especially Logan Gilbert, who was rumored to be working on a couple of new pitches in the offseason. Seattle was a great defensive team a season ago, ranking 9th in defensive runs saved. However, the Mariners were a poor base-running team and were inconsistent offensively. In a surprisingly competitive division this season, the Mariners could take a step back compared to preseason expectations. Regardless of how the 2023 season goes, it sure will be a ton of fun to watch Julio Rodriguez play baseball in Seattle for years to come.
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Los Angeles Angels
The Angels are one of the highest variance teams in baseball, and it’s easy to see the upside with Los Angeles. After all, this is an organization that employs Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, the best players in the game. There are high-upside players and well-known stars in this lineup as well, such as Anthony Rendon at 3rd base. However, we’ve all seen this movie before with the Angels, so a healthy dose of skepticism is warranted. The predictive metrics look at Los Angeles and lean toward the over on their win total this season, but I’m not confident enough to recommend a season-long wager on such a mercurial team.
Texas Rangers
Texas is an interesting case of a team with high upside that also shouldn’t have the extreme variance of a team like the Angels. The addition of Jacob deGrom was obviously a massive move, one that dramatically improves the Rangers’ underrated rotation. Texas also runs extremely well on the bases, and that should only continue in a season with shift restrictions. Speaking of the shift, hardly any players were robbed of more hits because of the shift than Corey Seager, and he should absolutely rake in 2023. We could even see star pitching prospects Jack Leiter or Kumar Rocker take the leap and make an MLB start this season. The rebuild is nearly complete in Texas, and Rangers fans should be excited. I expect to bet on the Rangers throughout the 2023 season, starting with taking the over on their preseason total of 82.5 wins.
AL West Best Bet: Texas Rangers over 82.5 wins (-105)
Oakland Athletics
Oakland was an absolute mess last season and basically performed as expected in the mind of the metrics. However, there is reason for a tiny bit of optimism for A’s fans this year, as it was a fairly solid offseason for the front office. The additions of Jesus Aguilar, Jace Peterson, Manny Pina and Aledmys Diaz among others were all decent acquisitions that will play better than some of the Major League minimum guys they were playing last season. Oakland should also get a full season from Ramon Laureano — who was suspended to start 2022 — bolstering its lineup in the process. Even with these additions, this team is headed for another last place finish.
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