Remember when the AL West was a powerhouse? In the last 5 years we saw 12 teams win 90 games, 3 wildcards, a season with two 100-game winners and a season (almost two seasons) with three 90-games winners. One of my regular season pleasures used to be gloating to my friends back east over the yankees playing losing ball during their west coast trips.

This year I can imagine the A's winning the division without winning 90 games. I can imagine them being the only team to play .500 ball. What happened to our division?

Sure, the Bosox have stepped up, taking away a playoff spot. But they can't be solely responsible for the drop off in wins.

It seems like the division is on a decline. To me it's quite telling that the central has a winning record over the west right now. When is the last time that happened? Somehow, in a matter of years, we've gone from having three (sorry texas) legitimate championship caliber teams to having four teams that are going to beat each other up to determine who gets knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. We've gone from the gauntlet to the joy ride (anybody noticed how bad our division is at home).

What happened?