The 4th division I will be looking at, will also end the American League portion of the MLB, the AL West. And to start with the AL West, I will be previewing the Houston Astros. The Astros are coming off a horrific regular season, as they finished 29-31, 2nd place in the AL West. Had it not been for the expanded playoffs format, the Astros wouldn’t have made it to the playoffs at all. Last year was also the first year that happened after the news of the Astros cheating in years prior. I’m not going to talk heavily on that, but the backlash by the fans did have an effect on one Astro player in particular, Jose Altuve. Altuve had his worst offensive season in years, and even had the yips in the postseason where he couldn’t make a throw. Other Astros had bad offensive seasons as well, like Alex Bregman, who was plagued by injuries, Carlos Correa, Josh Reddick and so on. Their entire team last year was plagued by injuries which showed the most in the playoff to the pitching staff. Did the front office do much in the offseason to help make them a better team? Let’s take a look.
Projected Starting Rotation
| 1 | Zack Greinke |
| 2 | Lance McCullers Jr. |
| 3 | Jake Odorizzi |
| 4 | Jose Urquidy |
| 5 | Cristian Javier |
The Rotation is not as “feared” as it has been in years past. They’ve lost Gerrit Cole to the Yankees in free agency last year and during the season last year lost Justin Verlander to Tommy John Surgery. Their rotation isn’t as deep as it once was and I believe will struggle again. Last year they were saved by the success their young arms had, but I don’t think that will be the case this year. I think this year, Greinke, McCullers and Odorizzi will peform well, but the young arms of Urquidy and Javier will struggle in their first full season as starters.
Projected Line-Up
| 1 | 2B Jose Altuve | R |
| 2 | 3B Alex Bregman | R |
| 3 | LF Michael Brantley | L |
| 4 | SS Carlos Correa | R |
| 5 | DH Yordan Alvarez | L |
| 6 | 1B Yuli Gurriel | R |
| 7 | RF Kyle Tucker | L |
| 8 | C Martin Maldonado/Jason Castro | R/L |
| 9 | CF Myles Straw | R |
The lineup definitely looks different from years past, as career Astro and glue of the lineup George Springer left in free agency this past season. That is going to hurt the Astros a lot this season, as Springer was their spark plug. He jump started the action for the team and was a meaningful part of the team. Two players to highlight are Correa and Altuve. Altuve because of how bad of a regular season he had last year and if he can bounce back. Or will the continuous backlash from fans continue to weigh on him. As for Correa, he’s in his walk year as he hits the open market after this year. Will Correa perform well to boost his market , will he struggle and silence the nay-sayers? I expect Altuve to continue to feel the effects of the fans backlashing and struggle this year, mainly because I believe he genuinely feels bad and guilty. For Correa, I expect him to struggle to begin the season, but will begin to perform well come June.
2021 PECOTA AL West Projections
PECOTA predicts Houston will bounce back as a team and regain the AL West after getting beaten out by the Oakland A’s last year. The AL West is the hardest division to predict because of how bad on paper each team looks. Not one team stands out above the rest. The only thing for sure is that the Texas Rangers will finish in 5th. I think it will be a 3 way fight for 1st between the Astros, A’s and for baseball’s sake Angels. I say baseball sake because they need Mike Trout in the playoffs, but I will divulge more into that when I talk about the Angels. In the end, I see Houston barely winning 1st, but I’m not too confident in that prediction.
