American League West Handicapping / Gambling Futures
Hard to believe that the Boys of Summer are almost back. Ready to start baseball betting? Teams have reported to 2010 Major League Baseball training camps and it’s time to start our division by division MLB predictions previews for the year.
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AL West
The West is a fascinating division this coming season. One can never discount the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; they’ve been a model of consistency under manager Mike Scioscia. Yet, the Mariners improved dramatically and Texas OF Josh Hamilton is confidently predicting just a hair shy of 100 wins for his club. Something has to give, and more often than not, it will be the Oakland Athletics.
American League – Odds TO WIN 2010 MLB American League West
LOS ANGELES ANGELS +140
OAKLAND ATHLETICS +800
SEATTLE MARINERS +195
TEXAS RANGERS +205
Los Angeles Angels Prediction: 1st AL West
The Angels lost P John Lackey, and that sucks under any circumstance. Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana and Scott Kazmir must pick up the slack. Gone is longtime serviceman Vladimir Guerrero but in is World Series MVP Hideki Matsui. The Angels outfield is in great shape, the bullpen is strong as usual and this is a team that does the baseball fundamentals very well. That might just be enough for a division crown.
Texas Rangers Prediction: 2nd AL West
Outfielder Josh Hamilton predicted that Texas will win 96 games. That seems a tad optimistic, but the Rangers are an excellent club nevertheless. Hamilton is buttressed by powerful RF Nelson Cruz, trusty 3B Michael Young and stud 2B Ian Kinsler. Hard throwing P Rich Harden was acquired from the Cubs; if he can stay healthy Harden and Scott Feldman make a very nice one-two in a hitter friendly park. Crusty vet Vlad Guerrero will DH for Texas. Ultimately, it will be neat to see how close the Rangers can come to Hamilton’s boasting. 
Seattle Mariners Prediction: 3rd AL West
Seattle made some upgrades that should drastically improve its ballclub. Cliff Lee, Philly’s 2009 rental player, makes an appearance in the Pacific Northwest; Lee and Felix Hernandez makes probably the best starting pitching duo in the majors (and that’s saying a lot – there’s lots of good ones). Gamer 3B Chone Figgins comes over from the Angels and 1B Casey Kotchman from the Red Sox. Ichiro will agelessly do his thing, and some pieces are in place for the M’s to win some games in 2010. We’ll see how it pans out.
Oakland Athletics Prediction: 4th AL West
The A’s made a decent splash by grabbing ace pitcher Ben Sheets from Milwaukee. Sheets is injury-prone, so that will be an X-factor, but he’ll be a nice influence on a young rotation. After that, though, the outlook starts to darken some. Oakland is still doing their Moneyball-esque “get guys on base” thing, it’s just other clubs are doing likewise with superior talent. That’s about as plain as it can be put.
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