Divisional preview: American League West

The Seattle Mariners are the trendy pick to win the American League West, and if they do, they would have their first division title since winning 116 games in 2001.

But will the Mariners overtake the Los Angeles Angels, who won 98 games last season only to lose in the postseason's first round? Since winning the World Series in 2002, the Angels have been bounced in the postseason five times, four times in the first round, and once in the American League Championship Series.

The Angels offense will miss Howie Kendrick, traded to the Dodgers, and Josh Hamilton, who is likely to be suspended for personal issues. Seattle trumped up its lineup to take advantage of excellent pitching. Texas' best pitcher, Yu Darvish, is out for the season and Oakland, even with a reshuffled lineup, is weaker. Houston is taking steps in the right direction.

We'll follow the trend and pick the Mariners to win with the Angels, A's, Astros and Rangers following.

Seattle: After winning 87 games and missing the wild card playoff round by one game last season, the Mariners are ready to contend. They are coming off their first winning season since 2009 and added experienced players to a talented core. ... The biggest addition is former Oriole Nelson Cruz, who led the AL with 40 home runs last season, but the Mariners also added the experienced bats of Rickie Weeks, Justin Ruggiano and Seth Smith. They join a roster that had four All-Stars last season, including infielders Robinson Cano (.314-14-82) and Kyle Seager (.268-25-96), closer Fernando Rodney, who had a 2.85 ERA while saving 48 of 51 games, and starter Felix Hernandez, who won 15 games last season with a 2.14 ERA and 236 strikeouts in 248 innings. There is another All-Star in the making behind the plate in catcher Mike Zunino, 24, who hit 22 home runs last season and made improvements defensively. Also, the Mariners' speedy leadoff guy, Austin Jackson, is set to be a force. ... The new addition to the rotation is lefty J.A. Happ, who has pitched for Philadelphia, Houston and Toronto. Happ had a 3.56 ERA in his final 10 games for the Blue Jays last season. ... Hernandez and All-Star Hisashi Iwakuma lead the rotation. James Paxton, who had a 2.19 ERA in his last nine starts of 2014, and Taijuan Walker, who has dominated with a 97 mph fastball this spring, are top-notch pitching prospects and the Mariners bullpen is no slouch either, given that statistically, it was among the best in the AL last season.

Los Angeles: The Angels are led by Mike Trout, the 2014 unanimous AL MVP, and starter Jered Weaver, but after that, there are questions, unusual for a team that led the majors with 98 wins last season. ... Trout, the center fielder, hit .287-36-111 last season, but he's going into the season with the idea of cutting down on the 184 strikeouts, most by an MVP. With Hamilton out, Trout needs to get support from corner infielders David Freese and Albert Pujols. Freese, who hit .260 with 10 home runs last season, has to prove his bat hasn't slowed, and as long as Pujols stays healthy, he should be able to match last year's .272-28-105. ... In the outfield, Trout overshadows right fielder Kole Calhoun, who hit .272 with a .325 on-base percentage and 17 home runs last season. Matt Joyce and Collin Cowgill will DH and play left. ... Weaver, who will make his team-record seventh consecutive start on opening day, is coming off a season of 18 wins and a 3.59 ERA. The Angels need lefty C.J. Wilson (4.51 ERA in 2014) to be more consistent and Matt Shoemaker to repeat last season, when he won 16 games with a 3.04 ERA as a rookie. Garrett Richards, out with a knee injury, is expected back in mid-April. He won 13 games with a 2.61 ERA last season.

Oakland: The Athletics, who blew a 7-3 lead and lost to the Royals in the wild card game last October, have been reconfigured under GM Billy Beane: The A's traded their AL MVP candidate, Josh Donaldson, and replaced him at third base with Brett Lawrie, formerly of the Blue Jays. Marcus Seimen, acquired from the White Sox, will be the shortstop, while Ben Zobrist, known for his versatility and dependable bat with Tampa Bay, is at second. Ike Davis, who hit 32 home runs for the Mets in 2012, plays first. The new DH is Billy Butler, who played with Kansas City last season. ... The Athletics are loaded with young pitching and the rotation is led by Sonny Gray, who has a deadly curveball and was 14-10 with a 3.08 ERA last season, and Scott Kazmir, who has been resurgent, first with Cleveland in 2013 and then Oakland last year, when he went 15-8 with a 3.55 ERA. ... Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin, each coming back from Tommy John surgery, are expected back mid-season. The A's lineup anchor is lefty pull hitter Josh Reddick, who has battled a wrist injury, but looked strong with eight home runs in the second half of last season.

Houston: A decade ago, the Astros were playing in the World Series. Now they are trying to dig out from four consecutive seasons of 106, 107, 111 and 92 losses. The rebuilding, though, is making progress. ... Lefty Dallas Keuchel (2.93 ERA) and Collin McHugh (2.73) had breakout seasons that moved them to the top of the rotation. ... Second baseman Jose Altuve, who stands 5-foot-5, is the face of franchise after hitting .341 with 56 steals to become the first player since Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 to lead the league in average and stolen bases in the same season. Altuve, 25, led all big-league second baseman with 299 total bases in 2014. ... The big outfield prospect is George Springer, who came up in April last season and hit 20 home runs even though he hit .231 and was riddled with strikeouts. ... The Astros, with new manager A.J. Hinch, have a long way to go, but if they can fix their bullpen, which led the majors with 54 blown saves over the last two seasons, they can push their way up to a .500 record this season.

Texas: The Rangers, who won AL pennants and lost the World Series in 2010 to San Francisco and 2011 to St. Louis, are coming off a season of 67 wins, their lowest total since 1982, and they start this season with bad news: Their best pitcher, Darvish, a three-time All-Star with a 3.27 ERA in his three seasons in Texas, will miss the season because of elbow reconstruction. It's a huge blow to a team that used the disabled list 26 times last season, good for 2,281injury days. Jeff Bannister, hired from the Pittsburgh organization, replaces Ron Washington as the manager. In the rotation, he will have lefty Derek Holland, Colby Lewis, Yovani Gallardo (acquired from Milwaukee) and Ross Detwiler, who was in the Nationals bullpen last season. Gallardo grew up in Fort Worth a Rangers fan. He made five opening day starts for the Brewers and pitched in two postseasons for them. Holland missed five months of last season because of injury, but looked sharp in a September return. The good news is that outfielder Shin-Soo Choo and first baseman Prince Fielder are healthy after both were sidelined by injuries last season. The Rangers have building blocks in Elvis Andrus, Leonys Martin and Rougned Odor.