Last year the AL West was one of the best divisions in baseball-producing the only two 100-win teams in the game-and this year we can expect the same.
The Mariners are the defending division champs, after winning a major league record-tying 116 games last year. But it should come as no surprise this year when they fail to match last season's success. In fact, the Mariners will be in a dogfight to win the division. Last year was a remarkable season for the Mariners. Bret Boone had one of the greatest offensive seasons by a second baseman in the history of the game. This achievement came after years of mediocrity and it would be a major surprise to me if he performed anywhere near that level again this year. The loss of Alex Rodriguez to the Rangers in the offseason was muted by Boone's production and, this year, the loss of A-Rod will really show. However, even with the inevitable decline of players like Boone, the Mariners still have hope when players like Ichiro, Freddy Garcia, Edgar Martinez and John Olerud are around. The Mariners will not have the dream season that they had a year ago, but they will be the favorite to win the division title again this year.
Right on their heels are the Oakland Athletics. The A's looked like they would have a down season when they lost Jason Giambi to free agency, but the front office staff was able to make a number of moves that kept the A's in contention, while still maintaining a minimal payroll. The big question entering the season this year will be the play of rookie first baseman Carlos Pena. Pena was acquired in a trade from the Rangers and is a highly regarded prospect. He won't be able to match Giambi's numbers right out of the gate. After all, who can? But if he can perform better than average, the loss of Giambi will be minimized. The A's still have an abundance of young talent, led by the left side of their infield-Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada-and their starting pitching-Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito. With this core of players, the A's are a favorite to contend for the wild card, if not the division title itself.
While the Mariners and A's are the class of the division, both the Rangers and the Angels have a good chance to finish above .500. The Rangers have an awe-inspiring lineup, centered around A-Rod. Rodriguez is, simply put, the best player in the game. No other shortstop in the history of the game has combined hitting prowess with defensive ability the way that A-Rod has, and he is only now entering the prime of his career. Around Rodriguez are a number of other star players, including Pudge Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro and the re-acquired Juan Gonzalez. The big question, as it was last year, surrounds pitching. Sure, the Rangers will score 900 runs this year, but they also might allow 1,000, so they need to find some solutions in the rotation, and fast. One subplot revolving around the team will be the play and attitudes of John Rocker and Carl Everett. Both are extremely talented players, but they are probably the two most divisive locker room personalities in the game today and it remains to be seen how well the team will function with them in the clubhouse.
The Angels are the forgotten team in the division, but they are much better than most people believe. Despite the deep pockets of Disney owning the team, the Angels have fallen behind in this era of Yankees-style big spending. The big acquisition of the offseason was Aaron Sele, a proven front of the rotation starter. In addition, the Angels traded away first baseman Mo Vaughn, who had been a bust, for Kevin Appier, who they will count on to the lead their pitching staff, which should be solid. On the offensive side of the ball they will rely on Troy Glaus, one of the best power hitters in the league, and also on the comebacks of Tim Salmon and Darin Erstad. Salmon and Erstad both had horrible seasons last year and any improvement will significantly help the club. While the Angels will be a decent team, they won't be able to fight past all three of these teams for a playoff spot.
The madness of March Madness
There is already controversy surrounding the NCAA Tournament, just adding to the excitement that kicks in every year for March Madness.
The first controversy surrounds Gonzaga. Although I am not as enamored with Gonzaga as many other people are, they were royally screwed when they received a sixth seed. This is a team that finished the year ranked in the top 10 in the country and won their conference in both the regular season and tournament play. Somehow they fell to the sixth slot and it just doesn't make sense. In the last two tournaments the Zags have used the underdog role to fuel their team and now they have more fuel for the fire this year.
Secondly, there should be some way for conferences to determine the best team without the use of a tournament, which has skewed play over the last few year. This year Butler finished the season 25-5, but they fell in the finals of the Horizon League tournament. When they didn't receive the automatic bid given to the tournament winner, Butler was excluded from the field. The Horizon League is not strong enough to warrant two teams in the Big Dance, so they will be represented by a weak team instead of Butler, their best team.
There have been other slights in the seeding process, most notably Cincinatti receiving a number one seed over Oklahoma, but the field as a whole seems to be correct. Now, we can focus on the play on the court, not the politics off of it.
Just say no to drugs
As the fallout from the Olympics continues, I think it may finally be clear that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has very little idea of drug use by athletes or, even worse, it doesn't care.
Drug use by Olympic athletes has been a major issue since the 1970s, if not earlier, when East German women were given steroid doses that increased their strength. It was only after dominating competition for a decade that many of these women began to see the horrible consequences, even if it was often a government mandated usage. Thirty years later, we still have major doping problems and, still, the IOC has been a largely ineffective governing body.
Some of the most egregious rulings in the winter games surrounded the cross-country skiing results. Three medalists in both men's and women's races were caught with a new blood doping drug in their system,and were stripped of medals that they had won. But they were not stripped of all their medals, which is a travesty. The IOC let them keep medals that they won earlier in the games, even though later blood samples revealed that they cheated in subsequent races. To say that these athletes were clean in earlier races is nearly impossible.
Athletes will always look for ways to make themselves better, so the usage of performance-enhancing drugs will always be a problem. The IOC needs to adopt a more consistent stance when handing out punishments, or else the Olympics will become a mockery.