I woke up today to the A's tied with the Rangers for first place in the AL West. And earlier this year during prediction season, I claimed that the Rangers would wind up in second place.
Yet, why am I curiously more obsessed with making sure the Angels are losing as opposed to the Rangers? After the last couple of seasons, do I just have a pavlovian-type response to the Angels winning?
Maybe, but I'm thinking that it's more because I much more scared of the Angels youth. At the beginning of the year, I said that the Angels opening day roster didn't scare me. They had some good pitching, a great bullpen thanks to Shields and K-Rod, but their offense seemed like the weakest in the division. What scared me was injuries to their older group or them struggling and giving opportunities to the young studs coming up through the Angels system. The Kendricks, McPhersons and Woods of the world.
The Angels struggled enough to get Stoneman to reach into the system for some of the kids, which makes them a much scarier team to me all of a sudden. Even though they're still seven games back and the A's are tied with the Rangers and the Mariners are only four and a half back, the Angels are suddenly the scarier team. Especially if they replace Jeff Weaver with Jered.
So, I throw the question to you, AN. Am I being paranoid and programmed from past experience to feel this way? Or am I justified in fearing the youth of the Angels? Should I not look past the Rangers despite their penchant for eventually fading?
