Texas Rangers aren’t done, yet

Despite selling at the trade deadline and a significant deficit in the AL West standings, the Texas Rangers have not raised the white flag yet.

When the Texas Rangers sold Yu Darvish away to the Los Angeles Dodgers, many saw it as an act of surrender. It only makes sense. Normally, when a team sends away one of their top players, it’s to give up on the “now” and shift focus to the “later.” But with 45 games left between now and the season’s end, this Rangers team still sits right in the thick of it all and there are three reasons why they can still get to the playoffs.

They’ve improved their standing

Just two weeks ago, Texas was 5 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals for a wild card slot. With a record of 50-55 and their top pitcher on his way to Hollywood, all hope seemed lost for 2017.

They found themselves in the midst of a four game losing streak where opposing teams had scored 28 runs. But once the August 1 loss to the Mariners ended, things seemed to change. In the past 11 games, the Rangers are 7-4 and they looked really good in their series win over the Astros over the weekend and equally impressive Monday night beating Detroit.

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Now, instead of trailing by 5 1/2 games, they only trail by three. Of course, the tough part for them is that they still have five teams in between them and the Angels, who occupy that second wild card slot. They still have to pass the Royals, Twins, Mariners, Rays and Orioles. Of that group, the Rangers will only play the Mariners. They’ll also play the Angels during that stretch, but it’s tough to make up ground on teams you don’t play.

The fate of the Texas Rangers does not lie in their own hands. They’ll have to rely on other teams to win against the ones in front of them.

But, it doesn’t hurt that they’ll play the Angels 10 times and the Mariners seven times in the last 45 days. The chance is there to take the number of teams in front of them from six down to four. That would at least increase their odds, which look even better if some recent trends continue.

They’re hitting a lot better

Since the trade deadline, the Rangers have batted .268 as a team. Across the lineup, they’re making better contact and hitting the ball to the gaps with authority.

Their strikeout rate doesn’t look much better than the season average, but “how” they’re making contact has been the key. On balls in play, the Texas hitters went from hitting .265 in July to .315 this month.

Slugger Joey Gallo has a .275 batting average for August. Only Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins has hit more home runs this month than Gallo. In fact, Gallo’s eight puts him on pace for 16 this month, which would shatter the nine that he hit in the month of May as his best month this season. Then there’s Gallo’s .900 slugging percentage and 1.296 OPS this month, which are both out of this world.

There’s also Delino DeShields, who has a .267 average in the six games he’s played this month. He doesn’t have the sample size that Gallo does for August, but just look at what he did over the weekend against Houston to see how well he’s playing right now.

Finally, catcher Robinson Chirinos has placed an emphasis on getting on base and it shows. His monthly OBP more than doubled from .195 in July to .393 in August. The same can also be said for his batting average, which raised to .304 this month from .132 in July. Yet, hitting is still only part of their success.

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They’ve pitched a lot better

From starters to relievers, this pitching staff has flat-out gotten it done in August. Opposing hitters are batting just .211 against the Texas Rangers staff this month and the team ERA improved more than a full run from July to 3.51.

The most noticeable difference comes from the bullpen, where they’ve locked down opposing hitters to a .183 average in August. That’s translated to a 2.30 bullpen ERA for the month.

Leading the way for the bullpen pitchers this month has been Matt Bush. Following his scoreless inning Monday night, Bush has an August ERA of 0.00 in 6 1/3 innings. Opposing hitters are batting an anemic .050 with only one hit against the reliever.

As for the starters, Cole Hamels has set a high bar by allowing no earned runs in 16 innings over two starts. In those games, he’s averaged eight innings pitched with just 3 1/2 hits, 1 1/2 walks and five strikeouts per start. He’ll try to continue that trend when he takes the hill Wednesday night in the series finale against the Tigers.

Next: Texas Rangers all-achievement team

All said, the Rangers are hitting (and pitching) on all cylinders for the month of August. They’ve gained 2 1/2 games in the wild card standings and both the pitching staff and lineup have come together at the right time. That’s why it’s time for a bold claim. It would have sounded far-fetched just two weeks ago, but it’s time to say it. This team will surprise some people and take a wild card spot. Laugh all you want, but when the season wraps up on October 1, come back and read this again. Consider yourself warned. This Texas Rangers team is for real.