Happy weekend everyone. I’m sad to say that this will be my last article of the 2016 season. I will be focusing my energies on producing and hosting Major League Fantasy Football Weekly, every Saturday at 1pm EST until mid August when we move over to Tuesday nights.



It’s been a pleasure writing about the AL and NL West divisions so far this season and I want to leave you with my final thoughts. There are 3 West Coast teams that I believe have what it takes to make the postseason in 2016 and here is why:

San Fransisco Giants:

Prediction: NL West Champions

When you have 3 dominant SP in your rotation who are all pitching well at the same time, good things are going to happen. The Giants are

30-19 and have a nice 5 game lead over the Dodgers for first place in the NL West.

The offense is deep, led by Buster Posey and Hunter Pence who are dynamic players when healthy. With big seasons from Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Matt Duffy and Joe Panik, this lineup will provide more than enough run support for the starting rotation.

The Big 3: Dominant:

1) Bumgarner 2) Cueto 3) Samardzija

The Rest: Getting Better

4) Peavy 5) Cain

This team should avoid any long losing streaks and will make their way to the postseason this year. I believe they will win the NL West Division and worst case they can squeak out a wild card spot. Come playoff time, they can ride Madison Bumgarner through the wild card game and can win series with the big 3. I would like to see them add one more arm to the back end of the bullpen to join Cassila, Romo and Strickland.

Seattle Mariners:

Prediction: AL Wild Card (4)



They currently sit in first place in the AL West but are looking over their shoulders at the Rangers. Seattle has a solid pitching staff led by “King” Felix Hernandez. Felix is followed by Iwakuma, Walker, Miley and Karns in the rotation and their new closer Steve Cishek has been excellent thus far.

Their lineup is quite good as well. MVP candidate Robinson Cano, veteran slugger Nelson Cruz and 3B Kyle Seager are the driving force of this line up, with newly acquired Nori Aoki, Adam Lind and Leonys Martin providing a much added boost as well.

Overall, the Mariners are a balanced club with star players who can keep them in the playoff hunt all season. Texas is a better team IMO and will overtake them in the AL WEST in the near future, which may force Seattle to go add a bat at the trade deadline.

Texas Rangers:

Prediction: AL West Champions



This team is loaded with talent as I have stated in many of my previous articles and they’re poised to make some noise in the American League this year. They were a scary playoff team last year and that was without the services of Yu Darvish. Darvish will return this Saturday and should give the Rangers rotation a huge boost.

This season has started well for Texas and a lot of it is thanks to the emergence of young Phenom Nomar Mazara. It certainly also helps to have consistent pitching in the rotation. Cole Hamels hasn’t lost a decision since joining the team last July and Martin Perez along with Colby Lewis has provided quality starts.

With consistent pitching, production from Beltre, Fielder, Odor, Andrus, Desmond, Choo and youngsters Mazara and Gallo, the Rangers have the scariest lineup in the AL West. Jurickson Profar, who is a former #1 prospect, was called up to replace Odor while he serves a 7-game suspension for his altercation with Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista. Their bullpen has been shaky at times, however the issue seems to be redirected since Shawn Tolleson was removed from the closer role. Sam Dyson is currently closing out games for Texas and his set up man spears to be Matt Bush. Bush has fantasy value on leagues that reward Holds and/or Inherited Runners Stranded.

The Rangers will ride a deep lineup and 2 aces to the playoffs and similarly to the Giants, those aces (Darvish and Hamels) will be expected to take them to World Series.

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(Click the RED link below to listen)

Major League Fantasy Baseball Weekly: Join Lou Landers and Kyle Amore live on Thursday May 26th, 2016 from 8-10pm EST for episode #15 of Major League Fantasy Baseball Weekly. This will run every Thursday as a live broadcast that will take live callers at 323-870-4395. Press 1 to speak with the host. Our Thursday night show will do some weekly recaps, player updates, and preview the coming week end games.

Our guest this week is Phil Weiss. Phil Weiss’s resume includes working as a CPA with a large public accounting firm as well as private industry (Fortune 500), specializing in international corporate tax planning. Chief Financial Analyst for an Independent RIA.

Media Experience: Frequent guest on CNBC and Bloomberg television. Multiple appearances on Bloomberg radio, local and national radio. Regularly quoted in Wall Street Journal, Reuters, New York Times, AP, thestreet.com, local news, Financial Times.

Phil has also coached baseball, has been playing fantasy baseball for over 25 years, and has been with Major League Fantasy Sports for almost 4 years.

You can find our shows on I-Tunes. Just search for Major League Fantasy Sports in the podcasts section. For Android users go to “Podcast Republic,” then download that app, and search for “Major League Fantasy Sports Show”