The AL West was shaping up to be the division that could send three teams to the playoffs in the American League before the season began.  After all was said and done the AL West only sent one team to the playoffs and left two teams who had high expectations disappointed.  After 162 games, 163 for one team, this is how the AL West ended:

Before the season began the division was going to be a three team race between the A’s, Rangers and Angels, but in the end only the A’s made the playoffs while the Angels were underwhelming and the Rangers choked late in the season for the second straight year.  At the bottom of the pack the Mariners had flashes of improvement but in the end they finished in fourth place in the division for the fourth consecutive year.  The Houston Astros came over from the NL Central where they were the team everyone beat up on and continued to be the team that everyone beats up on in the AL West.  Even though the division didn’t end up as competitive as it appeared it would but it still put out some award worthy players.

Most Disappointing Pitcher

This is a tough award to give out because generally the pitching in the AL West is very good.  The Rangers, A’s and Mariners put out some of the best pitchers in the league while the Astros have a lot of young kids with bright futures and the Angels pitching was up and down as a staff.  The most disappointing pitch, though, started the season as the closer for the Mariners.  After taking over the closers role in 2012 Tom Wilhelmsen was electric and gave Mariners fans hope for the 2013 season.  Wilhelmsen underperformed in 2013, though, and not only lost his job but after losing his job he wasn’t used in high leverage situations unless absolutely necessary causing him to be the most disappointing pitcher of the year.

Most Disappointing Position Player

This award was a toss up between two players on one team and shouldn’t be that surprising.  Both Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton are MVP caliber players getting paid a lot of money to be the best at what they do, but both of them underperformed their hefty price tags.  For Pujols he never was able to live up to his full potential because of injury, but Hamilton just underperformed all around earning him this award.  In the end Hamilton eventually started to put it together and show flashes of his former self, but it was too little too late as the Angels were already in such a big hole that they could not recover.

Rookie of the Year

Any number of players from the Houston Astros could have won this award but in the end this award came down to two breakout players, J.B. Shuck and Sonny Gray.  Shuck helped his team more throughout the year and filled a big hole for the Angels, but in the end Gray takes the award.  The 23-year-old right hander pitched in 12 games and was absolutely electric both out of the bullpen and when he eventually took the mound as a starter.  He went on win five of his 10 starts and finished the season with a 2.67 ERA before pitching in game two of the ALDS and matching Justin Verlander zero for zero before the A’s eventually won in a walk off.  While he didn’t pitch as well in his second bout with Verlander, but he proved he is a future ace in this league and the best rookie in the AL West.

Cy Young

As mentioned in the most disappointing pitcher the AL West put out some of the best pitching of the year and that was without a healthy Jered Weaver in the division.  This award could go to Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Bartolo Colon or Yu Darvish and you could even make a case for closers Grant Balfour and Joe Nathan.  In the actual AL Cy Young award Colon is most likely going to be the pitcher from the AL West with the most votes, but the award here goes to Darvish.  While Colon had more wins and a lower ERA it is Darvish’s strikeouts that set him apart while holding the third best ERA in the division.  Darvish struck out an astounding 277 batters this season, that’s 160 more than Colon and 92 more than Iwakuma who both have a higher ERA.  When you add into the mix that Darvish lost four games where the final score was 1-0 you can see why he is deserving of this award.

MVP

The most valuable player award goes to the best overall player in the division.  Some people argue that the best player should be on the best team because that player helped that team be the best team, but in many cases the best player isn’t always on the best team.  In this case the award came down to two players, one from the best team and one from the third place team.  Both Josh Donaldson and Mike Trout are deserving of this award, but in the end it is simple, Trout is the best player in the game not named Cabrera.  Much like the Cy Young, Donaldson may get slightly more votes for the AL MVP because of how good he was and that he helped lead a team to the playoffs, but Trout did the most with the least.  Without a healthy Pujols hitting behind him and with a struggling Hamilton Trout still managed to score 100+ runs and drive in 97 in his second season in the league.  If that wasn’t enough he batter .323 and walked over 100 times.  In the end, no matter how poorly the Angels finished, Trout was the best player in the AL West.