The American League West has spent this season drifting into ugly territory, and the standings entering Friday only sharpened the picture. The Astros were in first at 59-57, but they were still sitting on a minus-25 run differential. The Rangers were 1.5 games back at 57-58 with a minus-33 mark, the Mariners were 3 back at 56-60 with a minus-14 differential, and the Athletics and Angels were buried at the bottom with matching 13.5- and 14.5-game deficits.
That’s the kind of division that could end up in the record book for all the wrong reasons. No division in baseball’s current five-team setup has ever finished with every club in the red in run differential. This year’s AL West is on pace to become the first to do it.
The problems are spread everywhere. The Mariners have the best run differential in the group, but even Seattle is underwater, and the club’s offense has cratered around a pitching staff that still ranks respectably.
Josh Naylor has slipped, and Cal Raleigh has not looked anything like the player who drew so much attention with a 60-homer season in 2025. Entering Friday, Raleigh was slugging .308 with a 66 OPS+, had 12 home runs, and was worth minus-0.3 WAR according to Baseball-Reference.
Seattle’s pitching remains solid - only seven teams have a lower ERA - but the offense has been a drag, with the Mariners already shut out 11 times and carrying the third-lowest OPS in baseball.
The Athletics’ issues are a different kind of mess. They have shown some promise offensively, but injuries have hammered the roster, with Shea Langeliers, Nick Kurtz, Brent Rooker and Luis Severino all missing time.
Severino’s absence since late May has been especially damaging for a pitching staff trying to survive in a small, Triple-A ballpark. The A’s own league-worst run differential, minus-157, tells the story on its own.
Texas has not been spared either. Corey Seager has spent three separate stints on the injured list during the club’s first 115 games, while Josh Jung and Wyatt Langford have also been sidelined. Jacob deGrom and Nate Eovaldi have both pitched to ERAs of at least 3.96, a number that would be fine in some settings but not for a team that has struggled to score consistently.
Houston is in first, but only barely, and the underlying numbers are not flattering. Yordan Alvarez has been the bright spot, leading baseball with 35 home runs and standing atop all three AL Triple Crown categories by a wide margin.
If he finishes the job, he would become the first left-handed hitter to win the Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. But the rest of the lineup has not held up.
Jose Altuve has had a miserable season, Cam Smith has not delivered after arriving in a touted trade, and Carlos Correa’s season-ending ankle injury has further thinned the offense.
The rotation has been a problem too. Dana Brown’s offseason, in which he signed six pitchers who have combined for a 5.67 ERA over 271 2/3 innings, has helped sink a staff that entered Friday with the second-highest ERA in the American League.
Only the Athletics’ rotation has been worse. Brown and manager Joe Espada are both in the final years of their contracts, adding another layer of uncertainty around the club.
The Angels, meanwhile, have stayed stuck in the same place despite a rebound season from Mike Trout. They moved José Soriano, Jo Adell and Ryan Zeferjahn, among others, at the deadline and later released Jorge Soler. Rookie manager Kurt Suzuki is on a one-year deal, and the organization could be headed for more turnover this offseason depending on whether it keeps Suzuki and interim general manager John Mozeliak.
The division’s off-field churn has been just as notable. The Athletics fired longtime general manager David Forst on Friday, and the Angels had already dismissed Perry Minasian in June. Even with the trade deadline passed, the three clubs with a realistic shot at the division - Houston, Texas and Seattle - did little to meaningfully upgrade.
That leaves the AL West exactly where it is: crowded at the top, broken everywhere else, and very much on track to make history. Houston’s upcoming homestand could only widen the gap, with three straight divisional matchups coming against the Mariners, Angels and Athletics.
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