Opening Day Expectations and Concerns, One for Each Team: AL West

Seattle Mariners

Expectation: This is a Mariners club that could truly make its first World Series appearance in franchise history. Cal Raleigh likely won’t follow up his historic season with another one, but he’ll be good. And Julio Rodríguez is primed for a MVP-caliber year.

Concern: The rotation is fantastic but that bullpen is weak. Outside of closer Andres Muñoz the relief corps are incredibly weak. If the starters can ride it out each night then they’ll be alright, but any difficulty for the starters will spell problems for Seattle.

Athletics

Expectation: The A’s are my sneaky pick to make the playoffs in the AL West (and maybe even win it) with all the young talent they have. They’ve locked up most of their young core on extensions apart from AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz. 

Concern: The pitching is atrocious. Despite Luis Severino’s great outings in the World Baseball Classic, he’s struggled in the regular season. The rest of the rotation is mostly pieced together behind him.

Houston Astros

Expectation: After missing the postseason for the first time in almost a decade, the Astros are desperately trying to return to the bright lights of October. That being said, they’re mostly relying on running it back with an offensive core that can rake given the opportunity.

Concern: The starting rotation is anchored by Hunter Brown but woefully short after him. With the free agency departure of long-time ace Framber Valdez, the rotation depth is thin. 

Texas Rangers

Expectation: After winning it all in 2023, Texas has struggled to even nab a Wild Card spot–let alone win the AL West. But their rotation is incredible, and just got even better by trading for MacKenzie Gore. The Rangers gave up a lot to acquire the Washington Nationals ace, but it’ll be worth it for a team that had the best starting group in baseball last year. 

Concern: The offense has been bad. With Corey Seager as the only elite contributor of the group, it’s difficult to say what might be the state of the Rangers’ offense this year.

Los Angeles Angels

Expectation: Do not be under any expectations that the Angels will finish anything better than dead last in the AL West. It’s not a great looking roster by any means, but the one bright spot is shortstop Zach Neto. He’ll look to build on a fantastic 2025 campaign that saw him slug 26 home runs.

Concern: None of it looks too good for the Halos, but the rotation is especially bad. They added Alek Manoah this offseason but the rotation is thin behind Yusei Kikuchi.