Texas Rangers Primed for Playoff Push

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Just when it seemed all hope was lost, the Texas Rangers put together a trade for Cole Hamels and begin a 3-game winning streak. They now seem primed for a playoff push.


The Texas Rangers are back to being a .500 ball club. That may be good news or that may be bad news depending on your perception. What’s undeniable is with the win last night against the AL West leading Houston Astros, the Rangers are back in the hunt.

The Texas Rangers still stand six games behind the Astros, but as the Star Telegram’s Gil LeBreton pointed out this morning, the Rangers are 45-37 since May 3rd. In that same time the Astros are 42-41, so this isn’t an impossible gap to close.

A playoff wild-card match-up still seems like the most realistic possibility for our Texas Rangers as they sit only a couple games out of the final wild-card spot. The wild-card hasn’t been kind to the Rangers in the past, but you have to believe their chances improved exponentially with the addition of Cole Hamels.

Hold off on mortgaging the homestead and betting it all on this roller coaster team. If the Rangers have taught us anything, it’s that things can change on dime. But this Texas Rangers team has plenty of reasons for optimism…

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Back from Tommy John, Martin Perez looks to re-establish himself as one of the Rangers’ top arms. After getting utterly shelled by the Yankees last week, Perez turned in one of the Rangers’ most dominating performances of the season, pitching 8 1/3 scoreless innings with only 80 pitches (61 strikes). If Perez can regain his form and become the consistant starter he proved to be once before, he could be a key player down the stretch.

Yovani Gallardo as struggled with command as of late, but the ground-ball-producing right-hander, may be turning things around as he just picked up his first win in six games. Gallardo was the Rangers best pitcher for a long stretch this season, and he can do it again provided he locates and keeps his pitch-count down.

As Christian Blood discussed this afternoon, Derek Holland is mounting an injury comeback of his own this summer. His rehab starts haven’t been pretty, but at least he’s getting into the mix. Holland has proven to be a strong playoff pitcher in the past, if he can bounce back he’ll be a valuable asset down the stretch.

The bullpen showed their intestinal fortitude on Tuesday by getting out of two ugly jams and blanking the red-hot Astro bats when it meant the most. The bullpen will never be seen as an asset, but (minus Tanner Scheppers) they are becoming less of a liability.

The bats are coming back at just the right time as well. Adrian Beltre clearly isn’t 100%, but over the past seven games he’s sporting a .429 BA. Mitch Mooreland and Prince Fielder have been steady forces all season and Shin-Soo Choo, Elvis Andrus, and Josh Hamilton are all trending upward as well.

This may not be overwhelming evidence that the Rangers are going to be a playoff team, but it certainly is reason for optimism given all of the “bad” this team has suffered.

The Texas Rangers are clearly moving in the right direction, and things only look to get better, making the Rangers primed for a playoff push.

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