League | American League |
---|---|
Sport | Major League Baseball |
Founded | 1969 |
Teams | |
No. of teams | 5 |
Championships | |
Most recent AL West champion(s) |
Texas Rangers (7th title) |
Most AL West titles | Oakland Athletics (16) |
The American League West is one of three divisions in Major League Baseball's American League. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams currently only reside along the west coast and in Texas, historically the division has had teams as far east as Chicago. From 1998 (when the NL West expanded to five teams) to 2012, the AL West was the only MLB division with four teams. The current champion of this division is the Texas Rangers. In 2013, the Houston Astros went from the National League Central to the AL West. That move gives all six MLB divisions an equal five teams and both leagues an equal 15 teams.
† – Due to the players' strike, the season was split in two. The Athletics won the first half, and they defeated the second-half winner, the Kansas City Royals (50 – 53 overall record) in the postseason.
§ – Due to the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike, starting on August 12, no official winner was declared. The Texas Rangers were leading in winning percentage at time of the strike.
* – They defeated the California Angels in a one-game playoff for the division title, 9 – 1.
* – Since the 2012 season, each league has had two Wild Card winners. The qualifiers play a single-game playoff to determine who will face the top-seeded team in the American League Division Series.