2020 MLB SHOWDOWN SET --- AL WEST

 It is officially World Series Week, and I for one a hyped, the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers are going to have an awesome series with lots of showdown star power in the series. In this post were going to look at the AL West and if it wasn't for Tampa Bay, we may have had the worst World Series Showdown team ever. Not because of them being a bunch of cheaters, but because the regular season version of the Astros was not very good... all the averages and on bases dipped from the last couple years (since they must now see how hard it is to hit like every other team in the league when you don't know what is coming). Okay, I have gotten all my Astros bashing out of the way, so let's BANG on through the AL West and see what the studs (and duds tbh) will be joining the set of stars and that have already been released. 

                                               

2001 Seattle Mariners

After posting the 1998 Yankees, we had to follow them up with the 2001 Mariners. Seattle's 2001 squad had the greatest regular season (purely from a "racking up the wins" perspective), setting a still-standing record with 116 victories. However, their dominate regular season did not end in a title, as the Mariners were knocked off by the dynastic Yankees in the ALCS.

This team is very good, although they lack any superstar cards. Sure, Ichiro won the MVP this season (and Freddy Garcia should have won the AL Cy Young), but they have pretty lackluster cards. Rather than stars, this team benefits from solid depth at every level. Perhaps not so coincidentally, this is the strength of the 1998 Yankees and, to an extent, the 2016 Cubs. Top heavy rotations and lineups can carry a team in a series or two, but serious depth and consistency wins out over the grinding 162 game MLB season. Enjoy this team, one of the most memorable "how did they not win it all" teams in recent memory.