The Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers are different when it comes to No. 1 pitchers.
The Angels have three pitchers who could be aces for plenty of teams while the Rangers have three or four starters who are capable of similar numbers but haven't had No. 1-like seasons yet in the majors.
As for the other two teams in the West, their aces are pretty clear-cut with Felix Hernandez one of the top pitchers in all of baseball and Brandon McCarthy the ace in Oakland by default.
So who's got it all together in the American League West when it comes to a pitching ace? Here are the rankings.
1. Seattle — It would also have been easy to stick Los Angeles right-hander Jered Weaver here, but he doesn't quite have the resume of Seattle right-hander Felix Hernandez. Not many pitchers do. The 2010 Cy Young Award winner has been an All-Star each of the last three years. Last season was a down year by his standards as he went just 14-14 and posted an ERA of 3.47, his highest since 2008. Still Hernandez pitched more than 230 innings for a third consecutive season and struck out 222 batters. A lack of run support continued to be an issue for Hernandez last year. In 14 of his starts the Mariners scored two runs or less. Hernandez pitched his best in those games too, as his ERA was 2.94 but his record was just 3-9.
2. Los Angeles — Right-hander Jered Weaver was as dominant as any pitcher in baseball in 2011, going 18-8 with a 2.41 ERA in 33 starts for the Angels. Weaver, who finished second to Justin Verlander in the Cy Young Award voting, set career highs in wins and innings pitched. He also matched his career mark for complete games and shutouts. Weaver has done well in big starts too. Twice last year he beat the Rangers. He also had wins over New York and Tampa Bay. One of the only factors keeping him from matching Hernandez is his level of consistency. Weaver won his first six starts of 2011 but then dropped his next four decisions. In those starts, he allowed at least three runs in every one. If the emotional Weaver can even out the highs and lows, he can surpass Hernandez as the best pitcher in the West.
3. Texas — Maybe the most fluid of the rankings just because there's no exact pitcher for this spot. But because of track record, right-hander Colby Lewis has earned it. Lewis has been the most consistent pitcher the Rangers have had in the last two seasons. Sure he allowed 35 home runs and had a 4.40 ERA in the regular season in 2011, but he also won 14 games. And you have to factor in that Lewis has a postseason record of 4-1 with a 2.34 ERA. That's what makes him different than Derek Holland or Yu Darvish. Holland has shown flashes of brilliance, including his Game 5 start of last year's World Series. But he hasn't done it on a consistent basis. Darvish has dominant stats in Japan but we don't know how that will play in the majors yet. So Lewis is the Texas ace for now.
4. Oakland — The once-vaunted Oakland pitching staff that included Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson is no more. Gonzalez and Cahill are gone and Anderson is hurt. That leaves former Rangers' pitcher Brandon McCarthy as the team's ace and Opening Day starter. That's a lot of weight on McCarthy's fragile shoulders, but for the first time he showed he could carry it in 2011. McCarthy set career highs in starts, innings pitched and strikeouts while winning a career-high nine games. McCarthy went 9-9 in his 25 starts with a nifty 3.32 ERA and five complete games despite two stints on the disabled list. Another strong season for McCarthy sets him up for a big payday as he's eligible to be a free agent after the season. But the way Oakland deals pitchers before paying them, chances are he may not be with the Athletics in August.
