1998 Set - AL West

Keeping things on the West Coast, we will move to the AL West (back when there were only four teams in it). A very top loaded division with the Rangers having an immense amount of talent and the bottom dwelling Oakland A's just a couple of seasons away from their Moneyball storyline. A couple of really fun cards in this division, especially given that there were some late season trades and call ups that produced some nice ones.

Texas Rangers - 88-74 - 1st

First up are the Rangers, and they are loaded with bats. Pitching is very ehhhh. But their bats are stacked with their lowest every day player sitting at an 8 ob (Royce Clayton). Mike Simms swatted 16 home runs across 186 at bats (both career highs for him). AL MVP Juan-Gone doubles at a 13 and homers at a 17 for a 9 ob. Rusty Greer is a 350 point 10 ob. Goodwin as a 210 9 ob lead-off guy. And Pudge with his beastly +11 arm. This team is tough if you don't have the right arms to throw against them.

Very average pitching for the Rangers but a pair of 4-16-7 ip's are always fun!

Anaheim Angels - 85-77 - 2nd

Up next are the Angels and again, a very subpar pitching lineup here. Shout out to Kevin and the NPB for the nice Shigetoshi Hasegawa card (extremely valuable depending on your house rules as a 3-17-2 ip reliever). Jarrod Washburn and Troy Glaus are featured as rookies. Bats wise, some useful cards but nothing that wows you as this is one of the only teams in the set to feature only 1 foil (surprising coming from an above .500 team).

Pitching is here.

Seattle Mariners - 76-85

A very subpar performance from this club and it's primarily due to their arms being awful. A mid-season trade of the Big Unit didn't help this either. But any team with Griffey (oh how we all miss that swing) and A-Rod are sure to have some high points and extremely fun to play with. And current Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell with his multi-position ability is nice for NL Only formats (I know he's on an American League team).

Bob Wells is an interesting card that I would be willing to bet goes in the first 8 rounds of a league draft (5-15-2 ip with a hr allowed at 90 points).

Oakland (Las Vegas) A's - 74-88 - 4th

Rounding out the division are the A's. There are some interesting cards to play with here. Kenny Rogers is a 6-15-7 ip with a huge gb range. Rickey Henderson as another 210 point 9 ob that can hit a home run. Rookie card for Miguel Tejada. And AL Rookie of the Year Ben Grieve.

And here are the pitchers for the A's, with a nice closer Tim Worrell.

There is your AL West. Hope you enjoy these cards!

In a draft with a 5k cap, who are your top 3 picks you are targeting from this division?