The Houston Astros captured a relatively tame American League West division a year ago by just 3 1/2 games, and with the Texas Rangers looking to rebound things could become even more spicy atop the standings.
(Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
With Houston aging and Seattle returning the same tired core, can the Rangers rise up and snatch the crown? Let's break down where each of the AL West teams stand and preview the MLB Futures market.
All odds via
DraftKings
as of February 23, 2025.
Houston Astros Odds to Win (+125)
I mean, sure, the Astros are the favorites in the division. You'd have to say that after the Texas Rangers' incredibly disappointing 2024 and the Astros' continued steadiness.
It wasn't as if they had the best year, however, winning just 88 games and watching their aging offense take a step back. Now, they've swapped out Alex Bregman for Isaac Paredes -- which may not be a very fruitful endeavor -- and will rely on two 34 year-olds in Christian Walker and Jose Altuve to power much of the offense around Yordan Alvarez.
This team has just looked to be getting weaker for two years now, and it seems this could be the breaking point. Hunter Brown did seem to figure some things out last year, but aside from him I don't have much faith to be honest.
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Texas Rangers
Odds to Win
(+225)
The Rangers had some injuries really derail their progress last year, and when Wyatt Langford wasn't ready to be a superstar in his first year things sort of went haywire.
I still believe in this team's talent, however, with Corey Seager and Marcus Semien continuing to hit in front of some undeniable young bats. The installation of Joc Pederson will only help this power-hungry team play closer to their strengths, and the rotation looked pretty solid last year and should only get better if Jacob deGrom is going to pitch a full season.
There's so much that can go right for this team, and when everything went wrong last year it still put them narrowly below .500.
Seattle Mariners
Odds to Win
(+250)
If you know me, you know I hate this team. They strike out all the time and hunt home runs with a heavy dose of fly balls, a pretty terrible approach when you play in a park which kills anything hit in the air.
Sure, Jerry Dipoto swears he'd like to cut own on strikeouts, yet here the Mariners are running out the same lineup and bringing in Randy Arozarena last season which can't be seen as an earth-shattering move at this point in his career.
The offense is almost a carbon copy, which is not really a great thing because it's failed to do enough in the last few years to capitalize on an excellent rotation. Seattle's going to run its same guys out there once again this season, both at the plate and on the bump, so why would we expect different results?
Los Angeles Angels
Odds to Win (+3000)
I'll be honest, I kind of love this Angels roster. Assuming Mike Trout doesn't get hurt again and can produce some form of offense close to what we saw last year, they'll also get Luis Rengifo back from injury and install a few bats in the heart of the order in Jorge Soler, Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson who were once
good.
There's a lot of potential in this offense, and we love potential, but it's hard to get too excited because this team's without a single reliable starting pitcher. Reid Detmers is still a random number generator, Yusei Kikuchi is on a sharp decline and Tyler Anderson might not be too far behind him at 35 years of age.
I'm not going to be backing this team in the division, but I would certainly say I'm excited to see it hit.
Athletics Odds to Win (+3000)
The Athletics are likely headed for a bit of a mess this year, moving from the Oakland Coliseum to a new park in Sacramento which should be rather hitter-friendly. That's going to jive with how they've constructed their entire pitching staff -- most of which is still intact -- and even if they didn't have the most talent in the world it should still throw a big wrench into their plans.
Like L.A., this offense may have incredible potential with the move to the new park considering the abundance of all-or-nothing power threats in the lineup, but there is far too much unknown about the new park and how it will affect the arms on this team.
Best bet for the AL West Futures
I don't think you want to stake your money behind a declining Astros team, and I certainly don't think you want to do anything differently with the Mariners given they've proven that this build simply isn't a great one.
That leaves us with the Rangers to win the AL West, a team which I would back here even without the process of elimination. Now that Langford and Evan Carter have had some time to settle into the bigs, and Pederson has arrived off a good year, this lineup should get back to mashing and this staff should remain firmly above-average with deGrom coming back into the fold.
I just don't think there's anywhere to go but up, and in a relatively weak division that means a lot.
Best Bet: Rangers to win the AL West (+225)
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