A Closer Look at the AL West Gambling Report Card | Point Spreads

The American League West is shaping up to be a two-team race between the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros, though the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers continue to hover around .500

With Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game Home Run Derby and All-Star Game now in the rearview mirror, let’s take a closer look at where things stand in the division. We break down the latest in our AL West gambling report card.

Houston Astros

It took until the final day of June for the Astros (50-46) to climb above .500, but they finally appear to be back on track in the MLB power rankings after a dismal start to the season.

The Astros are 38-22 since their low water mark of 12-24 on May 8 and have climbed within 1.0 game of first place in the AL West. They’re also only 3.5 games out of the third and final wild card.

Houston is -160 to return to the playoffs but has a lot of work to do in the rotation, which suffered season-ending injuries to Cristian Javier, Jose Urquidy, and J.P. France, as well as shorter injuries with Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez.

If the last month is a sign of things to come, the Astros should cash in on current +100 odds and win their seventh AL West title in eight seasons.

Los Angeles Angels

Pretty much all that could go wrong, has gone wrong for Los Angeles since Shohei Ohtani left in free agency. Mike Trout was again injured for most of the first half, while Ohtani is second in MLB with 29 homers and is a -290 favorite to win his third MVP.

In that sense, it should be no surprise that the Angels are 10.0 games out of first place at 41-55 and tracking to miss the playoffs for the 10th straight season. Their negative -87 run differential is second-worst in the AL, ahead of only Chicago (-177).

One of the few bright spots has been the Angels’ 54-42 record against the run line, which leads baseball.

Oakland Athletics

Is it possible to finish in last place and still beat expectations? When you’re the Athletics — who were projected for an MLB-low 57.5 wins — everything’s on the table.

Oakland entered the All-Star break at 37-61, 15.0 games behind the first-place Mariners and with practically no hope of making the MLB playoffs. Yet, they’re still on pace to top projections in our AL West gambling report card.

It helps that they’ve hit the fourth-most homers in baseball, with 122.

That’s pretty much all there is to get excited about.

Seattle Mariners

The Mariners are just 8-15 since climbing a season-best 13 games above .500 on June 18 and have seen their AL West lead whittled to just 1.0 game. Houston is now a +100 favorite to win the division, with Seattle a smidge behind at +110 in our AL West gambling report card.

Unsurprisingly, Seattle’s rotation — led by George Kirby, Luis Castillo, and Logan Gilbert — has performed as one of baseball’s best. The Mariners lead the majors in quality starts (58) and rank third in ERA (3.46).

Despite that, the Mariners — who are an MLB-worst 42-56 against the run line for a cover rate of just 42.9% — may need to make a splash at the trade deadline to hold off the surging Astros. Be sure to keep that in mind when making your MLB picks and parlays.

Texas Rangers

The Rangers (projected for 88.5 wins) have been disappointing, but there’s still time for them to assess their chances of competing for another World Series title. The next two weeks will ultimately determine whether they’re buyers or sellers.

MLB injuries to shortstop Corey Seager and pitcher Max Scherzer contributed to a lackluster first half in which Texas went just 46-50. Though the Rangers have seen their World Series hopes plummet to +10000, they remain just 5.0 games out of first place and on the cusp of the wild card. For what it’s worth, they’re currently +500 to make the postseason.

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