AL West Preview

1. Athletics
2. Rangers
3. Mariners
4. Angels

Not to toot my own horn, but I had this division on lock down last year by predicting the correct finish one through four. All that, despite most people having the Rangers and Athletics at the bottom of the division and the Mariners and Angels at the top. Bank on this year's AL West to be more balanced than last year.

1. Athletics - The one standout in this division is Oakland's pitching. Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, Dallas Braden and Josh Outman form a formidable, young rotation. The lineup does not have a whole lot of offensive firepower, but the Athletics added Josh Willingham and Hideki Matsui in the offseason. Even now, the offense does not strike fear into the hearts of pitchers, but it is not the liability it was in 2010.

2. Rangers - The defending AL Champion will continue to hit fireworks, but the pitching certainly takes a step back without Cliff Lee. Now the Rangers want Brandon Webb to fill some of the void, but not many pitchers have come back from similar shoulder surgeries successfully. Meanwhile, the Michael Young situation just feels like it could completely deteriorate and become a distraction.

3. Mariners - Great expectations were not met in 2010. Not even close. The good news is that this team has promising young talent in Michael Pineda and Dustin Ackley who can make a difference right off the bat. A quick look at Felix Hernandez's innings count might give pause, but as long as he holds up he can win several move Cy Youngs in his career. The bad news is that he can only start once every five days for a pitching-thin team.

4. Angels - Kendry Morales learned how not to celebrate a home run and the Angels' season spiraled downward after. In the offseason the team failed to woo Carl Crawford and had to settle to a trade that netted Vernon Wells. The veteran offense is complimented by a pitching staff anchored by Jered Weaver. No. 2 starter Dan Haren allowed nearly two hits more per inning in 2010 than he did in 2009. The rest of the pitching staff seems below average, leading one to believe this could be a middle of the road team.