Texas Rangers swept out of contention by Houston

The post All Star break doldrums continued for the Texas Rangers over the weekend. As a result, they will be sellers as the trade deadline approaches.

The Texas Rangers have been learning a lot about turning points for the past few series. Last week, a critical turning point in extra innings provided the difference between possibly winning a four-game series against Houston, or splitting it and killing any semblance of momentum. This week, they’ve learned how a bad week can essentially kill your hopes of contending for a wild card spot.

This is where the Rangers find themselves after being swept by the Astros over the weekend. Worse yet, they’ve lost seven games in a row and have gone from the thick of the wild card race to 6.5 games back of the second spot and fading. They’ve been outhit, out-pitched, and generally outplayed by a couple of good teams here lately, and the talent gap between them and the class of their division has become woefully apparent.

Now, we can debate whether or not the two-game sweep they endured at the hands of the Diamondbacks came from a team significantly better than them. Arizona is just 50-50 after all, virtually the same as the Rangers (50-49). But the results don’t lie. During that series, Texas was outscored 28-6. That was over two games! It looks like a lopsided football score. Suffice to say, the D-backs embarrassed and throttled the Rangers on their home turf.

Not to be outdone, the Astros more or less had their way with Texas this weekend. It was almost comical, but Friday’s third inning provided a microcosm of the Rangers’ recent woes. Starter Mike Minor gave up back-to-back-to-back home runs that ballooned Houston’s lead from 1-0 to 4-0. From there, the game was essentially over. Sure, the Rangers rallied before losing 4-3, but the home run binge just underscored how difficult it’s been for the pitching staff of late.

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It’s disheartening more than it is disappointing. A swoon like this was likely inevitable. This team wasn’t ever supposed to contend, but the fall from grace has still been jolting. What makes it difficult to watch is that all facets of the team game are faltering. Whereas Minor and Lance Lynn were once stalwarts of the rotation, they now cannot keep runners off base or baseballs in ballparks. The once-prodigious offense is giving away a lot of outs via strikeout and cannot score at the pace they’d established in the first half of the season. The long and short of it is that the Rangers have simply fallen apart.

Of course, this alleviates any notion of the Rangers being buyers at the upcoming trade deadline. Visions of sneaking into the postseason tournament have given way to yet another late summer of (probably) meaningless baseball. It’s not over over, but it’s close, and that means that names like the aforementioned Lynn and Minor might be dealt, not to mention players like Hunter Pence or Nomar Mazara. In fact, the only “untouchable” might be Joey Gallo. In any regard, it’s safe to assume General Manager Jon Daniels will certainly be fielding offers on many fronts in the coming days.

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So, in the grand tradition of Rangers’ baseball, it was fun while it lasted. Sure, the team might be able to pull themselves off the mat and back into some semblance of contention. But if you’ve been following them at all this year, the writing is most definitely on the wall. The time has come to sell. They’re probably not as bad as the last seven games would have you believe, but they’re certainly not as good as advertised during the first half of the season, and that’s a shame.

Published on 07/22/2019 at 11:01 AM
Last updated at 07/22/2019 at 10:12 AM

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