Slow West

 

The 2026 AL West. The divisional equivalent of a writer that keeps crumpling and tossing perfectly good story ideas before deciding on one they've already done before.

We've had this season the threadlines of an A's team that can go the distance, then a Mariners team looking to finish the job from last year, then a Rangers team taking advantage of a golden opportunity, and currently the story of the AL West is 'everybody crashed into each other and died so the Astros are in first'. And like...you see how that's disappointing, right? The Astros have almost deliberately sabotaged their own success by failing to procure their main pieces, replacing them with disappointing, inferior homegrown versions, have a rotation full of very hurt former greats, and one of their big moves at the deadline was trading away one of the only good healthy pitchers they had. And they still get first. That is a truly unheard level of entitlement. That you just end up in first without even being good enough to justify it. Just 'oh, well if the other two aren't gonna be very good, we might as well.'

And the Mariners have been given every opportunity to be good this year, complete with great foundational moves, but just cannot win games. They were over .500 on July 20th, then went 4-12. Seranthony hasn't worked, Ward hasn't worked, and Josh Naylor, who's taken forever to get going, is NOW the only one on this team remembering to hit home runs. And now, after they're done with the Rays, they have to play the Yankees and Astros. It is not ideal, and it's not looking great.

So...I guess that leaves the Rangers? Who were dipping around the deadline, nearly traded deGrom and Eovaldi, actually traded Josh Smith, and then locked in and decided to go for it anyway. And that seems to be working out?

Here are some things that haven't been working all year that are suddenly, finally, doing well for the Rangers: Joc Pederson, who's once again a reliable hitter, leads the team with 21 homers, and has returned to his lovable presence on a would-be contender. Corey Seager's battled injuries and slumps all year, and now he's finally hitting, and has 11 home runs. Wyatt Langford has been trying to stay healthy for a while and now is letting his 13 homers speak for themselves. Nathan Eovaldi's looking to finally get his ERA under 4, and his 10 wins and 137 K's say a lot. And even Kumar Rocker's putting together a halfway decent season, with a 4 ERA and 98 Ks. We've also finally seen Cody Bradford show up in the rotation this year, and he looks really good. Somehow, the idea of a deGrom-Eovaldi-Gore-Bradford postseason rotation is looking better than a lot of competitors's renditions.

There are fundamental issues, like the fact that only 2 guys have over 50 RBIs [and it's August], and the fact that only one starter has an ERA lower than 4, but the way these guys have looked fairly recently indicates that things are finally clicking, and they're now a half-game behind the Astros for the division. Like in 2023, the Rangers could be heading for a showdown, and I am absolutely here for it.

Coming Tonight: A future Hall of Famer having an extremely okay season.