Pitching/Batting Efficiencies: AL West

The AL West has some poor Earned Run Averages, but a couple teams are top six in Batting Average. The Angels lead the division.

A couple weeks into the season, the AL West is led by the Angels, with the Mariners not far behind. Seattle's record, specifically their 7-3 stretch over their last 10 games, might not mean anything considering they began 13-0 a couple years ago and finished dead last, but it would be good to see a change in destiny for them this season. After all, they barely missed the postseason last year with two more losses than Houston, who made it into the expanded foreground.

The Angels are currently 6th in baseball in Batting Average, but they'll need their pitching woes of years prior to improve if they want to finally break through and give Trout the postseason shine he deserves.

Oakland has been surprisingly bad so far, and their struggles have come on both ends as they are bottom five in ERA and bottom ten in Batting Average. They're dealing with key injuries and holes from free agency, but they look to win the division again. It won't be easy, though.

Houston struggled mightily last season, finishing two games below .500, and their record shows more of the same to come this year. The only difference is that in a full-length season, they won't be making the playoffs if their record gets stretched into one closer to 70 wins rather than 90. After all, the Angels and Mariners are trending upward while Houston is not. Their reign over this division has likely concluded, if not fading quickly. Don't tell that to the statistics, though.

The Rangers have a decent ERA, and it's a bright spot for them despite losing their breakout pitching stud Lance Lynn to the White Sox this winter. They're most likely finishing 5th in the division this season and will rebuild for the foreseeable future.

Here's the graph of efficiencies in regards to ERA and BA to illuminate the aforementioned summary.

Charting accurate as of games through April 17th.

All five teams are closest to the quadrant indicative of a good Batting Average mixed with a poor Earned Run Average, but Houston is separating itself in the ERA realm. The Astros and Angels are slugging with the best of 'em, and Seattle is right smack in the middle and currently holds the number one spot in the division in the win column, while the Angels have the best record overall. It will be interesting to see how these numbers continue to play out and if the poor ERAs lead to this division getting beaten down by the better AL slugging teams.