AL West - Preview or What-if Season to Date

With Major League Baseball hoping that play an 82-game schedule, this blog covers the results of our AL West games using Statis-pro cards for current rosters. These cards and rosters simulate the projected hitting, pitching and fielding for each player on a 2020 team (including rookies and new stars from Japan and Cuba). 

These might be previews of an upcoming 82-game season or if MLB is unable to play it might become a "what-if" blog like our 2020 March Madness. You can also click on the AL East, AL Central, NL East, NL Central or NL West. We use ballpark factors.

Hou	35	13
LAA	23	19
Oak	24	18
Sea	15	27
Tex	15	27

Division Statis-Pro Results to Date

1. Houston Astros 35-13 - the top enemy of the rest of baseball is loaded for another shot. We did make a slight adjustment to their batting cards based on the apparent advantage they had in 2017 that translates into Zips projections. However, rookie phenom Alvarez was not on that team and already delivered a 9th inning blast to complete a rally from down 8-0 against the Dodgers, and with a loaded line-up, and incredible few relievers to back up Verlander and Greinke, this is the team with the clearest path to win their division.
2. Los Angeles Angels 23-19 - The big acquisition of World Series hero Rondon is not quite as big in the game because Zips expects him to fall back a bit at age 30 from last year's career year. If MLB resumes and he is hitting at last year's clip, that adds even more power between Trout and Ohtani. Angels did beat A's 5 games to 1 in an early series to try to initially claim the No. 2 spot in the division to try to shoot for Houston or a wild card. If Ohtani pitches as well as bats they have a contender.
3. Oakland 24-18. Three gold glove infielders (Clutch Defense 5) who also bring power give the A's enough pop. The rotation starts with two lefty PB2-8 elite starters - so if in fact Sean Manaea is back to full-strength after missing last year and rookie Jesus Luzardo is really that good, then perhaps they can rebound from a disappointing 5 games to 1 series loss to the Angels and be the team to give the Astros a challenge. The game we have coming up that will be something in real life is the Astros visit to Oakland in which they face Manaea and then the man who turned them in for the electronic sign stealing - Mike Fiers.
4. Seattle 15-27. After their ace Gonzales the Mariners hope their big ballpark can protect really weak pitching by holding a few extra balls in the park. They have some speed and some power, but will be a little uphill. In our game we added prospects Jake Fraley and Jarred Kelenic to the top of the line-up as they project to hit with some pop.
5. Texas 15-27. Kluber from Indians gives them decent ace (though not the dominant Indians ace he was a few years ago), but still might not be enough pitching or hitting.

Click for google doc grid of all games. Read across for each team's wins against every other foe, then top to bottom for their losses. Below is only AL vs. AL through May 15, but google doc will include inter league and stay up to date.

For all AL West vs. NL West games (2 series each), click on the NL West blog All other games are below.

Minnesota wins 4-3 and 10-5 (not a sweep) at Seattle.

Houston sweeps 14-8, then wins 7-6 in 14 innings vs Texas

Oakland swept twice, 7-1 and 7-3

LA Angels won 8-7 and 6-2 in 12 innings over Boston

Houston won 5-1, then Yankees won 4-1. See score sheet at the bottom of this blog.

Houston sweeps Seattle twice, 8-4 and 8-2.  At the 36-game mark the Astros 6-0 sweep over Seattle left them 3 games ahead of every other AL team. Vogelman's 3-run HR in the 9th to cut the Astros lead to 8-4 was too late to stop the sweep. (If team wins and led by at least 5 at the end of the 8th inning without using their closer, they are credited for a 3-0 sweep).

Greinke allowed only 4 hits and 1 run in 8 innings and Brantley's grandslam in the 7th provided the sweep. Springer led off the second game with a HR and Altuve had 4 of the Astros 14 hits in the second game blowout.

Oakland swept 7-1, then rallied for 6-5 win over Texas.

Houston won 5-2 in 12 innings and 3-2 against Oakland.

LA Angels won 2-1, then Texas 6-4

LA Angels swept 10-1, Mariners won 4-1

• Seattle 4, Oakland 2. (Chapman injured on line drive)
• Oakland 8, Seattle 3 (no sweep, up 4 inn after 8).

• Houston 5, LA Angels 0 (sweep). Verlander 6.2, 0 W, Teheran 3, 5 L. Alvarez 3-run HR.
• Houston 4, LA Angels 3. McCullers 2.2, 3. Bindy 6,3. W- Peacock, LButtrey, S Usuna. Garneau GW HR. Bullpen 7.1 scoreless.

• Baltimore 5, Texas 1.
• Texas 9, Baltimore 8.

• Seattle 6, Texas 1 (sweep)
• Seattle 6, Texas 2

• LA Angels 10, Oakland 0 (sweep)
• LA Angels 4, Oakland 3 (12 innings).

• Minnesota 7, Houston 3 (12 innings). Greinke's 1-hit shutout ended the 9th when Kepler followed an Altuve error with a game-tying 3-run Homer to force extra innings. Kepler added a grandslam in the 12th for the win in a rematch of last year's Statis-pro ALCS won by Houston.
• Houston 3, Minnesota 1.