Houston Astros (64-32): A+

Another year, another Astros takeover of the AL West. As arguably the most well-rounded squad in the league, Houston ranks near the top of the league in nearly all major stats and it hasn’t been by a mistake.

Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley have continued to lead the lineup as table setters, each posting batting averages above .275. Kyle Tucker has provided pop behind them with 18 home runs while Jeremy Peña continues to fill the shoes of the departed Carlos Correa with 13 home runs and a nice OPS of .764. The highlight of this team offensively though has been the major power of Yordan Alvarez. If it weren’t for the monster year Aaron Judge is putting together, Alvarez’s .306/.405/.653 slash line to go with 26 home runs and a league-leading OPS of 1.058, Houston’s DH would be the undisputed American League MVP. If he returns from injury like normal, he might just spoil #99’s show.

Not to be outdone, Houston’s rotation has also been one of baseball’s best in 2022. The return of Justin Verlander from Tommy John surgery has been nothing short of spectacular with the 39-year-old pitching to a 1.89 ERA with 12 wins in 17 starts. Framber Valdez has continued his rise to stardom over the last two seasons as his 2.66 ERA with just six homers allowed stands out as a top arm. Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy have both pitched well enough for the team to round out an uncommon six-man order along with the resurgence of veteran Jake Odorizzi.

If there were one weak spot in this team, it would be the bullpen and even that’s hard to pick at. The triple R’s of Ryan Pressly, Rafael Montero, and Ryne Stanek has been unhittable and with the three allowing less than a .195 OBA and 1.15 WHIP. The long relief gap is a little questionable but with the way this rotation has been performing, that’s not a major concern for Dusty Baker.

We all know how bold this team is and they’ve done everything right thus far in the season. But with the offense having a little trouble further down in the order, don’t be surprised if Houston goes all in to set themselves apart from the Yankees as the American League favorites on deadline day. With Willson Contreras and CJ Cron on the market, the chance to make that happen is there for Houston in their quest to win a legitimate world championship.

Los Angeles Angels (40-55): F

On paper, it’s rather hard to comprehend how a team that features two of the three best players in the world is 15 games under .500. But when you take a deeper look, it makes a lot of sense how the Angels continue to disappoint year in and out.

Yes, Shohei Ohtani is having another historic season both on the mound and at the plate while Mike Trout has mostly been healthy and doing what he does while Taylor Ward has been a nice surprise offensively. But that’s about where the positives end.

Anthony Rendon has once again found himself on the IL for possibly the rest of the season while hitting just .228 in 45 games this season. Jared Walsh’s batting average has fallen back down to earth and the rest of the lineup hasn’t done anything noteworthy to support their stars. Highly regarded prospects in Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh, called up to deepen out the order, have only dug themselves seats on the bench with a combined on-base percentage of .274.

Aside from Ohtani and Patrick Sandoval, the Angels have yet again suffered because of starting pitching. Free agent signee Noah Syndergaard and rookie Reid Detmers have both cooled off from hot starts with both of their ERAs jumping over 4 as Anaheim continues to struggle without Shohei on the mound. The implosion of Michael Lorenzen hasn’t been softened by any minor league patch-ups, marking a black hole in the fifth rotation spot.

If the fifth rotation spot is a mess, then the bullpen is a pigsty. Raisel Iglesias, coming off a nice payday after an impressive 2021 season, has forgotten how to throw a baseball and owns a 4.50 ERA as the team’s “closer.” The “quick-fix” attempts of Archie Bradley and Aaron Loup have also fallen flat on their faces as the Halos bullpen owns one of the highest ERAs in baseball.

Ever since their double-digit losing streak in June caused the firing of Joe Maddon, nothing has changed with the Angels' fortunes despite the continued excellence of Ohtani and Trout. This is the same game Anaheim has been playing for a while now with their stars and being 14 games under .500 and heading for another massively disappointing season, one soon has to question the long-term futures of Ohtani (a free agent in 2023) and Trout (the most trade leverage of any player in baseball) to this faltering franchise.

Oakland Athletics (35-63): F

There really isn’t much to say about the worst team in baseball when they were expected to be this bad. After the mass exodus in the offseason of a core that reached the playoffs three years in a row from 2018-2020, Oakland has fallen off a cliff just like we saw coming.

It’s hard to do a true team analysis since pretty much nothing is going well for the Athletics. The rotation has been the lone bright spot as Paul Blackburn and Frankie Montas have both been good enough this season to garner a decent return at the trade deadline. Young gun Cole Irvin has started to come into his own with a 3.21 ERA and he looks like he could be a piece for Oakland to build around in the coming years. Zach Jackson and Domingo Acevedo have been decent in the bullpen, but the fall-off of Lou Trivino symbolizes how the rest of the season is going for Oakland’s arms.

Hitting has been a major problem for the Oakland Athletics. Sean Murphy is the only regular hitting above .220 for this team and only Seth Brown joins him on the team for 30+ RBIs. Tallying the second-least runs in the league, the losses of Mark Canha, Starling Marte, Matt Chapman and Matt Olson have plunged this team into the deep end.

With the on-field performance being so abysmal, the dominoes are continuing to fall off the field for the franchise as rumors of their move to Las Vegas continue to run rampant. Whether they stay in the Bay or head to the Sin City, the A’s still hold the league’s worst record and don’t hold much hope for improvement in the near future.

Seattle Mariners (51-45): B+

Following one of the most unexpected success stories in baseball last year, the Mariners showed a willingness to take it to the next level in 2022 by acquiring Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker from the Reds, while also adding AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray in a big offseason. At first, it didn’t work very well as Seattle hovered around .500 for much of the spring. But, a 14 game winning streak into the break heals all wounds.

The Mariners recent resurgence has been fueled by one of the league’s best stables on the mound. Robbie Ray has picked up where he left off in Toronto with the sixth most strikeouts in baseball (135) while an outstanding supporting cast of Chris Flexen and Marco Gonzales both have logged nearly 100 innings with ERA’s in the mid 32. The real story of the rotation though has been the unbelievable sophomore season of right-hander Logan Gilbert. In 19 starts, Seattle’s newfound ace has compiled 10 wins and a 2.76 ERA with triple digit strikeouts.

In the bullpen, the story is the same. Paul Sewald has made his name as the team’s closer with 12 saves in 14 opportunities with just eight walks allowed in 36 innings. Penn Murfee and Andrés Munoz have burst onto the scene as high quality middle-relief arms with sub 3 ERAs, not to mention the knee-buckling stuff of former Tampa Bay Ray Diego Castillo.

While the bats haven’t done maybe as much as they were expected to, they’ve still produced and especially in this recent run of success. Rookie sensation Julio Rodriguez has lived up to the hype and then some with a .275 batting average, 16 home runs and .814 OPS in 91 games, not to mention a stellar performance at the home run derby. All-star first baseman Ty France has solidified himself as a force in the middle of this lineup as his batting average sits at .308 with an exceptional OPS of .846. While the Cincinnati boys of Winker and Suarez haven’t made crazy impacts, shortstop J.P. Crawford has picked up the slack as his slash line sits at a pleasing .265/.345/.382.

Three weeks ago, this team was below .500 and looking at a failing grade for this semester. Obviously, rattling off 14 in a row (the longest run in the majors this year) changed that and shot the Mariners from potential deadline seller to eyes firmly on October. While it might be unrealistic for Seattle to catch up with the Houston juggernaut, they’re red-hot run in July has them primed for a return to the postseason for the first time in two decades.

Texas Rangers (43-51): C

A perfectly average grade, for a team that is pretty much just that in 2022. It’s more of the same from 2021 for Texas, with the bats impressing and the arms failing.

After very tough starts raised doubts about their big paydays in the winter, first year Rangers in Corey Seager and Marcus Semien have found their footing in the lone-star state with a combined 35 home runs, contributing to the 118 (7th in the league) the team has hit collectively this year. Adolis Garcia has followed up his fantastic rookie season with 16 home runs for himself and 54 RBIs, but his strikeout problem grows more worrisome by the day. Jonah Heim and Nathaniel Lowe have been nice surprises with the sticks as each has clubbed 12 long-balls and share an average OPS of near .770. These four mentioned are the only Texas position players to see the field for more than 70 games though, as the lineup juggling has caused inconsistencies in a tough division.

Like year’s past, the Rangers still can’t figure it out on the mound for the most part. The signing of Jon Gray has paid dividends thankfully and Martín Perez has dropped from the sky to be one of the league’s most efficient pitchers, but that’s about where the fun ends. Dane Dunning still hasn’t been able to figure it out since coming over from Chicago and the farmhands from within the organization haven’t been able to stop the bleeding on the other three days.

The arm barn is a bit of a mixed bag, certainly not as horrid as it has been in past years. Brock Burke and Matt Moore have been revelations in the middle-innings to limit runs and rack up K’s. Joe Barlow has taken over for Matt Bush as the team’s closer and the switch has seemingly benefitted both arms. Behind those arms, the Rangers bullpen has been lit up like a Christmas tree, as lack of pitching depth continues to bite them in recent years.

The signings of Seager, Semien and Gray signified the Rangers wish to return to contention. Unfortunately, that isn’t what’s happened thus far in 2022 and very little suggests that Texas can burst through to be serious playoff contenders this year. While time will tell if they are really heading in the right direction, they have at least established stars to build something around to compete with Seattle and Houston down the road.