Al West

CHICAGO WHITE SOX1992 record: 86-76 (third)Manager: Gene LamontPitching: They can't expect 20-game winner Jack McDowell to do it himself. Right-hander Kirk McCaskill has to be better than a .500 pitcher (12-13 last year) and promising Wilson Alvarez and Alex Fernandez have to grow into front-line starters, but the White Sox do have a potentially solid pitching staff. Relief shouldn't be a problem after a 1992 season in which Bobby Thigpen, Roberto Hernandez and Scott Radinsky combined for 39 of the club's 52 saves.

ARLINGTON, Texas - The Rangers have had success against left-hander Joe Saunders -- the Orioles' starter in tonight's AL wild-card game -- but Texas manager Ron Washington said Saunders is a much different pitcher that he one his team saw often in the AL West when he pitched with the Angels. “From what I understand and what I've been reading in the reports, he's not the guy I remember reading about when he was in Anaheim,” Washington said. “So I think we're just going to have to wait and see. We know he's going to use his off-speed.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Orioles arrived at Anaheim Stadium last night in the midst of an 18-game stretch against American League West teams.They arrived tied for third place in the AL East with a 12-7 record. Their opponents, the first-place California Angels, took a 9-12 record into the two-game series.Welcome to realignment."I've seen some strange things in baseball, but it seems like it's getting stranger and stranger," said Orioles part-time designated hitter Lonnie Smith, a five-time World Series participant.

Give it to Royals' Broxton Ron Fritz Baltimore Sun As much as I like the work of the Rangers' Yu Darvish and the Orioles' Jason Hammel, let's give this one to the home team. I'd put Royals closer Jonathan Broxton on the team with the game being played in Kansas City this year. It's not like you're adding a stiff. Broxton has 20 saves in 23 opportunities and a 2.05 ERA. Right now, designated hitter Billy Butler is the Royals' only representative.

The American League West is in need of a new nickname. It has been called the AL Worst, the AL Mess and, among fans of former cowboy star Gene Autry, the mild, mild West, but none of those dubious descriptions truly captures the futility of realignment's worst nightmare.The California Angels were 13-20 going into Tuesday's semi-doubleheader against the Texas Rangers, and finished the night on top of the standings. The Angels got two victories that night, one of them the completion of a suspended game, and that was enough to go from third place to the top of the heap (emphasis on the word heap)

Going into the weekend, they were last in the American League West, had the league's worst batting average (.243) and third-worst ERA (4.89), yet many still considered the Oakland Athletics to be contenders.But those expectations may be based more on the reputation of manager Tony La Russa than realism. Although only 6 1/2 games separated them from the lead, the five teams between the A's and the first-place Kansas City Royals present a much bigger challenge.Despite their offensive problems -- only the Orioles had scored fewer runs (200)

It was little more than three weeks into the 2002 season, but three teams in the American League West already had to be asking themselves the same question. Why even show up? The Seattle Mariners, coming off their amazing 116-win regular season in 2001, were 17-4 on April 23 and showing no signs of cutting the rest of the West an inch of slack. No one seriously believed they could win as many as 116 games again, but they were 21 games into the schedule and on a 131-win pace and, well, nobody thought they could do it last year either.

Athletics: Oakland is an AL-best 21-9 since the All-Star break.Rangers: Texas has had at least a four-game lead in the AL West every day since June 15.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Orioles arrived at Anaheim Stadium last night in the midst of an 18-game stretch against American League West teams.They arrived tied for third place in the AL East with a 12-7 record. Their opponents, the first-place California Angels, took a 9-12 record into the two-game series.Welcome to realignment."I've seen some strange things in baseball, but it seems like it's getting stranger and stranger," said Orioles part-time designated hitter Lonnie Smith, a five-time World Series participant.

Is the balance of power starting to shift in the American League? Or was the process well under way before anybody noticed?Along with the current heavyweights in the AL East, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, the Orioles are about to get a clue. Those three teams opened series on the West Coast last night -- and the Orioles' game against Oakland was the first of 19 straight against AL West teams.You'll remember that last year's strike almost certainly saved the American League the embarrassment of having a division winner with a sub-.

White Sox and Angels Bill Shaikin Los Angeles Times The White Sox might be the biggest surprise, since management appears to vacillate between keeping an old team together and rebuilding. The Sox won the World Series in 2005, but they have won one playoff game since then and attendance has fallen from 3 million to 2 million. But pitching wins, and the White Sox are the only AL team in the top three in earned-run average for starters and relievers. The Angels would be the biggest disappointment.

Angels, Rangers in ALCS Mike DiGiovanna Los Angeles Times The top four teams in the American League are, in no particular order, the Yankees, Tigers, Rangers and Angels, and I would be stunned if all four, under the new five-team playoff format, didn't reach the postseason. The final spot will come down to the Red Sox and Rays. The axis of power in the league is shifting from the Northeast (New York-Boston) to the West, so I like the Angels and Rangers to reach the championship series.

Predicted finish, records Rangers Angels Athletics Mariners 87-75 86-76 78-84 61-101 Pennants, wild cards since 1995: 2, 3 Average payroll: $99.3 million (third of six divisions) Manager with World Series rings: Mike Scioscia ('02) Players with MVP awards: Josh Hamilton ('10), Ichiro Suzuki ('01). Pitchers with Cy Young awards: Felix Hernandez ('10) Possible high fantasy picks: Hamilton, Hernandez, Ian Kinsler, Trevor Cahill.

The Diamondbacks are making every player, including Justin Upton (right), available in trades. The Red Sox and Yankees are interested but Boston has a lot more to give up for the supremely talented right fielder. … While the Rangers can return their World Series team essentially intact, the A's and Angels figure to make an AL West repeat problematic. The A's have a wealth of pitching and are working to pry away third baseman Adrian Beltre from the Red Sox, with an opening offer of five years, $64 million.

Dontrelle Willis (1-1, 3.99 ERA) appears to be all the way back for the Tigers. He froze Justin Morneau with a well-placed 94 mph fastball Tuesday, when he retired 12 straight Twins in one stretch. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire called Willis' stuff "good, really good." He faces the Yankees on Monday. … The Mariners' Ken Griffey isn't the only old hand whose popularity and production is an issue for an AL West front office. The A's are dealing with the same thing involving Eric Chavez, who is turning the designated hitter spot into a powerless wasteland.

Respect my authority Peter Schmuck Baltimore Sun I hate to ruin the suspense, but I'm pretty sure I can pick the teams right on the nose. Not because they're particularly obvious, except the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies, but because I have a tremendously inflated sense of my own ability to make accurate predictions with little real evidence to support them. Though I'd like to pick the Mariners in the AL West, I have a personal rule against picking any team that has Milton Bradley in the middle of its lineup, so I'll take the Angels again.

Who's hot Mike Williams of the Pirates has earned 30 saves in 32 opportunities. Who's not Ryan Dempster, in three starts for the Reds, is 0-3 and has given up 20 hits and 16 runs in 12 innings. Line of the day Jacque Jones, Twins LF AB R H RBI HR 6 2 5 2 1 He said it "We have much bigger problems to deal with than whether or not home runs are being achieved illegally." A Drug Enforcement Administration agent, on the likelihood of investigating baseball players for steroids and other illegal drugs On deck The Angels, fresh off their sweep of the Mariners, take on the A's, the AL West's other top contender, tonight.

AL WEST Angels Starting point: 97-65, 1st (beat Red Sox in first round, lost to Yankees in ALCS). Project manager: Tony Reagins. General contractor: Mike Scioscia. Bones: The Angels scored the second most runs in the majors last season, going to the playoffs for the sixth time in Scioscia's 10 seasons as manager. New materials: RHP Fernando Rodney, DH Hideki Matsui, RHP Joel Pineiro. In the dumpster: No. 1 starter John Lackey, DH Vladimir Guerrero, 3B/leadoff Chone Figgins, OF Gary Matthews Jr., LHP Darren Oliver, RHP Jose Arredondo.

The Angels and A's have been going after it on the West Coast for nearly 40 years, which passes for a long tradition in the AL West. Though newly renamed Los Angeles lost big-hitting Troy Glaus to free agency, the Angels still appear to be the class of the division. The Mariners, however, muscled up with the acquisition of free agents Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre, and the Rangers can slug it out with anybody. This just might be a put-up-or-shut-up year for Oakland, which was the model of small-market excellence when Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito anchored one of the best pitching staffs in the game.