Who's the best in the AL West?

Dan Wanser (Writer): @DanWanser

Credit: zimbio.com
The Texas Rangers are currently locked in a very tight race
for the AL West crown with the Oakland Athletics.
Who will win? I guess we'll just have to wait and see

As of today, the Texas Rangers are tied up with the Oakland Athletics in a very close race for the AL West division title. Both teams have very respectable records as they sit tied atop the division. Currently, Oakland has a record of 45-34 while Texas sits at 44-33. Both teams are looking to go into the All-Star break on a hot streak hoping to pull ahead. Lets not forget though, its not all about where you get, its how you get there.
How do you get atop the division? Well to start, you need to have a productive offense. In Oaklands case, they have two people whose current batting average is above .300. Josh Donaldson, 3rd baseman for the Athletics is hitting .308. Shortstop Jed Lowrie is also swinging the bat well this year as he is hitting .303. However, if you cant get the runs in, the runners might as well not get on base. Lucky for Oakland though, they also have some good RBI guys. Josh Donaldson and Yoenis Cespedes are both above 40 RBIs at this point in the season. Donaldson and Cespedes have 48 and 41 runs batted in respectively.

Oakland isn't the only team that can hit though. The Texas Rangers also have a pretty productive offense, even if it isn't quite as good as Oaklands. The Rangers do not have a player that is hitting over .300. However, they do have 3rd baseman Adrian Beltre who is hitting a close .294. Like the Athletics, the Rangers do not only have hitters to get on base, they have guys who can knock in runs as well. Right fielder Nelson Cruz is having a very good year RBI wise at the plate as he has 55 runs batted in to this point in the year. Adrian Beltre is also putting in his fair share as he has a respectable 39 RBI to this point of the season.

Batting isn't the only thing that wins you games. To be successful, you need to have good pitching to keep you in the game so your bullpen can do their job. Both teams have decent pitching which is led by one guy, the staff ace. For Oakland, their ace is Bartolo Colon. Colon leads the team in ERA, where his sits at a solid 2.93. Colon is 10-2 in 15 starts this season. For the Rangers, their ace is Yu Darvish. Darvish also leads his team in ERA at a very good 2.95. Darvish is 7-3 in his 16 starts this season.

One important stat that will determine who wins the AL West division crown is how the two teams play against each other. The two teams have played 10 games against each other so far this year. In those 10 games, The Rangers have gotten the better of the Athletics by winning 6 games to Oaklands 4. Out of those 10 games, 5 have been decided by 2 runs or less with Texas winning 3.

Nobody knows who will win the AL West division crown this year, but everyone has their own opinion of who will come out on top. Lucky for these two teams, you play all 162 games and you decide who moves on by how you play on the field, not public opinion. There's one key saying that will fit this scenario perfectly and that's "Its not how you start, its how you finish."

Credit:zimbio.com
The Athletics and the Rangers are tied up in the AL West division race as
of right now. Who will win has yet to be decided. One thing is for sure,
 its going to be an important second half for these two teams.