Fastball

AL West Teams Do Something Not Done in 40 Years as Rangers Win World Series Title

With the Texas Rangers winning the title in 2023 and the Houston Astros winning in 2022, the American League West has become the first division to produce a repeat champion since 1983 and 1984.
Brady Farkas|
AL West Teams Do Something Not Done in 40 Years as Rangers Win World Series Title
AL West Teams Do Something Not Done in 40 Years as Rangers Win World Series Title

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Texas RangersHouston Astros

With the Texas Rangers winning the World Series on Wednesday night and the Houston Astros winning the title in 2022, the American League West has become the first division to produce repeat champions in 40 years.

Per popular Mariners "X" user @MarinerMuse:

The last time two teams from the same division won consecutive World Series titles, it was Baltimore and Detroit in 1983 and 1984 (then AL East). So shoutout the AL West I guess.

Now, that's a sad Mariners fan making the point, but it's still historic. The AL West was a gauntlet each of the last two years so title wins by the Astros and Rangers were incredibly impressive.

In 2022, two teams from the division (Astros, Mariners) made the playoffs and you had to deal with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani playing for the Los Angeles Angels. In 2023, you had to deal with Trout and Ohtani, and three teams won 88 games or more, making the West one of the most competitive divisions in the entire league.

It figures to be strong again next year as well. The Rangers return the nucleus of their World Series team and will get a full season out of Max Scherzer. They could also see Jacob deGrom return sometime in August. The Astros return the nucleus of their team as well and could see injured pitchers Lance McCullers and Luis Garcia return to help the team.

As for the Mariners, they still have one of the best young staffs in all of baseball, and should get aided by the returns of Marco Gonzales and Robbie Ray.

On to the offseason...

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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