Rangers’ Streak Provides Little Headway in Chase for Division

A ten game winning streak provided a glimmer of what this Texas Rangers bunch is capable of. It still hasn’t been enough to make up much ground on Houston.

A fortuitous thing happened on the way to the Texas Rangers’ jaunt to 2017 irrelevance. They hauled off and won ten in a row before Saturday night’s stumble in Detroit. Under almost every circumstance, a string of ten wins would be cause for immediate hype. This year, however, may not be the case.

The unfortunate aspect of this run of good fortune is the Astros’ unwillingness to cooperate. Now that statement comes with a bit of a caveat. The Cleveland Indians did us all a favor in sweeping them over the weekend. For the first time this season, a small ding has appeared in Houston’s seemingly impermeable armor. Couple that with last night’s win in Detroit, and the Rangers’ deficit is now 5.5 games.

Even then, the current state of affairs makes one wonder if the gap can realistically be closed. The short answer is absolutely. If 2015 was any lesson, then the Rangers can surely reel the Astros in. The real issue here is that, up to this point, Houston has proven to be a much stronger team this time around. It will take a herculean effort to claim a third consecutive division crown. The hole the Rangers dug themselves in April might have been too big.

With that said, what’s the more realistic goal? Well, any wild card position is a reasonable expectation. But the other looming problem is the June schedule. While the Rangers have feasted on the weaker American League sister wives recently, the month of June presents a whole new set of headaches. The cream puffs will be gone. The big boys and their blood-flecked canines will be ready to present a firm test.

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What this all means is that the Rangers must make as much hay as they can in the interim. May must finish strong in order to withstand anything June has to offer. If they can hang within five or six games of the division lead and stay toward the front of the wild card hunt through the All Star break, we’ll know a lot more about this team at that time. It also warrants mentioning that they’ll get the likes of Cole Hamels, Tyson Ross, and Adrian Beltre back during this period. When you have an improving team add those proven elements, it’d be easy to see them continuing their upward swing.

These are the types of issues I tend to forget about year-to-year.

This is what a major league season is about. It is a grind. It is a marathon with valleys and peaks and flat stretches. The Rangers are experiencing a peak at this moment. It is wise to let it ride as long and as far as possible.

I wrote the Rangers off. I left them for dead. As of this very moment, I was wrong. They deserve our attention, and I am willing to admit when I’m an idiot just as much as I’m willing to excoriate them when they’re playing poorly. This season is not over. I’m probably a bit too excited about a team that’s 5.5 games out of first place. But given their moribund start, the recent run of eleven wins in twelve games is a revelation. Baseball in the DFW Metroplex is fun again.

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The lesson here, as always, is that I’m a moron. I fell asleep on this bunch way too early. Granted, there were some extremely troubling patterns. The good news is that the Rangers have thus far pulled out of their doldrums and have thoroughly beaten the teams that are on their schedule. It’s a recipe for success. We will soon enough get a sufficient sample size versus teams with winning records.