Rival Houston Astros Favored Over Defending Champion Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers may be the defending World Series champions, but they aren’t even the favorites in their own division.
That honor, at least according to MLB.com, goes to the defending American League West champs. Yes, the Houston Astros are the early bets to repeat in a recent rundown of division winners from last season.
Of the six divisions, the Los Angeles Dodgers (NL West) and Atlanta Braves (NL East) are given the best shots to defend their division crowns. Then come the Astros, who actually finished tied in the AL West with the Rangers at 90-72, but claimed the division via a tiebreaker (better head-to-head record).
As pointed out by MLB.com, 2016 was the last time Houston didn’t win the AL West. Per MLB.com:
There have been signs that the Astros’ grip on the division – and, really, the whole AL – may be loosening, though. First there’s the fact that their division (and intrastate) rival, the Rangers, just won their first World Series after beating Houston in a seven-game ALCS. But the core of this team remains as strong as any in baseball: Altuve/Bregman/Alvarez/Abreu/Tucker is a gauntlet for any pitcher, they’ll have Justin Verlander atop that rotation for a full season this time around and now Josh Hader looms in the back of the bullpen.
Not the Rangers won’t be in the mix.
This is a tough call – there’s a big gap between Nos. 2 and 3 on this list – particularly with the Rangers looking just as good as they did last year (when they tied the Astros atop this division). But with as many pitching injuries as the Rangers have to start the season, we’ll go with the Astros.
The Rangers will have Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and free-agent agent Tyler Mahle rehabbing for the first several months of the season. But should Texas stay within striking distance of the Astros when the pitching cavalry arrives – and why not? – the world champs could be in position to win the club’s first AL West title since 2016.
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