The American League West

Mariners (20-24) Like the friend who shows up at your door with a six-pack of good craft beer or a bottle of wine ready to try and cheer you up after a depressing event, I have arrived this morning to look at the bright side for the 2017 Seattle Mariners. Yes, I am relatively sure they have angered the baseball gods in some as-yet unknown way (Jerry Dipito may know). But let's not worry about higher powers. Or 15-run victories. The past can be a troubling, worrying place. Let's not go there. Let me open that for you. Sit back and relax and contemplate what I am trying to say to you. They've only played 27 percent of their games, plenty of time to turn it around The 538 blog still says the Mariners have a 20 percent chance of making the playoffs - that's better than just about half of MLB. That's stat geeks talking, not me.  The rookie right fielders are studs . Ben Gamel has played well, and Mitch Haniger is on his way back. You're four games below...

Athletics (20-23)  I like to think that Billy Beane and David Forst and some dude that looks like Jonah Hill in "Moneyball" are all in a crappy basement somewhere that has been transformed into a data analyzing, numbers-crunching tech center where they figure out how to do things in the strangest way possible so that no one can understand how, for example, they lead the American League in home runs and are just three games below .500 with this lineup of unproven youngsters and aging veterans. They, improbably, earned a series win over the Red Sox last night. Khris Davis, Chad Pinder and Mark Canha all went yard in the 5th inning with monster moonshots. Pinder hit the ball so hard he "kind of" blacked out. Sean Manaea picked up his second win less than a week after one of the weirdest pitching performances you will see this season - an all or nothing affair where he walked five batters while also striking out seven. Last night he walked no one. The A...

Angels (22-23) Great. New York, right? It's bad enough dealing with the New York Yankees , a club that's always contending even when they are in a "rebuilding year." But when the Angels , coming off a solid homestand, traveled to the Big Apple this weekend, they were facing the New York Mets , a high-salary team mired in injuries and losses and turmoil and a growing sense of Epic Fail brewing out there in Queens. You know, a New York team below .500. So of course the Angels have lost this series. They can at least avoid the sweep today (they just took a 5-run lead in the first).  Last night, the Halos did what they do - rally back from a 4-0 deficit, scoring 2 in the 7th and 3 in the 9th. But...the Mets scored 3 in the 8th inning off  Y usmeiro Petit. And that was that. The Angels continue to hover in that "around .500" area that was good enough for second place until the Rangers caught fire. The box.  Billy Eppler and the Office of the GM continue...

Rangers (23-21) It's always a sad feeling when a win streak ends. In your heart, you through it might go on for, well, let's face it Rangers fans, forever. Or at least just one more game. But the Detroit Tigers ended that dream with a thumping last night, including approximately 1 gazillion home runs  off Rangers starter  A.J. Griffin in the first inning. Or three. Interestingly - or horrifyingly, if you live and die by the Rangers - the 10-game wining streak ended with Griffin on the mound. He's been one of the club's best starters. He came into the game 4-0. He left 4-1, having given up 9 earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. But the streak was epic. The streak was the longest in the majors this season. The streak also propelled the Rangers from last place to second place and back into the contenders conversation again - exactly where they have been in just about every season the last decade. The box. The New York Times gives the Rangers some love.   But perh...

Astros (29-14) Mike Fiers takes his fair share of abuse from Astros fans. "I hate that guy," a fan told me while watching a game last week. I wanted to say, "Hate's a strong word, dude," but he appeared the sort of guy who had reached that tipping point of alcohol-to-body mass ratio where bad things were going to happen any minute now with any sort of catalyst. I didn't want to be that catalyst. Let this be a lesson to you, gentle reader. Anyway...I noticed Fiers came in for an enormous amount of abuse on social media last night - although these people totally get it.   Fiers went 6 innings last night and gave up 1 - far beyond a quality start (an uber-quality start?). No, what happened last night is that Mike Clevinger dropped the hammer on one of the major's best offenses. Or one of the major's best offenses failed to hit Mike Clevinger. Take your pick. So Fiers got it together for one of his best outings of the season...and lost. Thaaa...

The Astros numbers so far are the stuff of pennant winners. They have: The best record in Major League Baseball Won almost 70 percent of their games Baseball's best starting pitcher in Dallas Keuchel , who is 7-0 with a 1.84 ERA The best staff ERA in the American League The most strikeouts in the the majors The most hits in the American League An amazing record of 18-7 against the rest of the American League West They look like the Supermen of the American League. But while it's still only mid-May, the Astros' Kryptomite seems already apparent: the Cleveland Indians, also known as the defending American League champions. . While this afternoon's game in Houston is just one of 162, it's a long season, blah blah blah, it seems a tad more important than the usual mid-May game. Why? Because if the Astros lose it, they will have lost both series to the Indians this year, no matter what happens on Sunday. On the other hand, if the Astros win today and Sun...

Indians 5, Astros 3  After winning an April series in Cleveland between these two clubs, the Cleveland Indians took the first game in a three-game set in Houston behind a strong outing from Trevor Bauer  (9 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings) and a shutout performance from the bullpen. The box. Athletics 3, Red Sox 2 The A's would not be denied. After an amazing catch from Jackie Badley Jr. robbed Ryon Healy of a game-winning home run in the 9th, Mark Canha won it with a home run of his own in the 10th. Kendall Graveman had a quality start and the A's bullpen pitched four scoreless innings The box. Rangers 5, Tigers 3 The Rangers kept it rolling on the road against the Detroit Tigers , winning their 10th in a row. Nick Martinez picked up his first win since 2015. The Rangers are now three over .500. The box. Mets 3, Angels 0 The Angels ran into Jacob deGrom in the Big Apple, getting shut out against the New York Mets . The starter struck out 9 in 7 innings....