September 04, 2015
One month later...
...the Rangers are 70 - 62, 4 games over .500. With 30 games left to play, their recent results put them on track to win 90. Their year-long record says Texas will win 86. The Houston Astros year-long record says they'll win 88. Their recent record says Houston will finish with 87 wins.
At the beginning of the season, either L.A.A. or Seattle were supposed to win the A.L. West. Oakland would come in third, Houston fourth with a record at or under .500, and Texas last; a few games behind Houston.
Even those of us who read Dave Cameron and said "ef you, Dave. Texas may not win the division this year, but they have a lot more talent than you give them credit for..." didn't expect anything better than 83 wins. And we would have been happy with 77. The Texas Rangers didn't have a winning record last year. In fact, they would have been the worst team in baseball if it weren't for the shakeup following the still-mysterious resignation of Ron Washington, which prompted the Tim Bogar-led Rangers to finish strong, jumping past Colorado and Arizona to finish 28th behind Minnesota and Houston.
Houston, incidentally, is leading the A.L. West (for now), Minnesota is in second in the A.L. Central and still fighting for a Wild Card berth, and Arizona is tied for third in the N.L. West with San Diego...not out of contention, and far better than the last place Rockies who are, once again, more than 20 games out of the division lead.
Still fighting for .500 ball, at the trade deadline Texas dealt from a deep bank of prospects to put in the winning bid for top-of-the-rotation Philly Cole Hamels, and then, like a bullied pre-schooler, shook their collective fists at the Astros.
"Just wait 'til Derek Holland gets back (again!) Just wait 'til Martin Perez makes a full recovery from Tommy John surgery! Just wait 'til our over-paid, under-appreciated, on-base-machine Right Fielder gets back from his months-long mental vacation! Just wait 'til our Rule-Five pick outfielder that you guys dumped gets back from his hamstring injury! Just wait 'til our General Manager proves once-again that, despite everything retired Dallas Curmudgeon Randy Galloway says, you *can* put together a lights-out bullpen with cheap trades from organizational depth and waiver-wire claims!"
We're not waiting anymore. The Rangers have been the second-best team in the American League since June, behind the unbelievable Blue Jays. Texas recently lost two of three to the Jays, and fans and players were pretty pissed off about it. The first game was won until the Texas closer, Shawn Tolleson, came one in the ninth and clearly had nothing going. He still managed to get two outs with a lead, but just couldn't hold it.
It was his second blown save of the year. Yes, Texas Rangers think they should have won the Toronto series. Of course, I'm sure Toronto says they could have swept.
The bottom line is, right now Houston is just in the way. Hard-core Rangers fans have long-celebrated the reasonable, analytic approach taken by the Texas front office, and therefore admired the work done by Jeff Luhnow in Houston. Texas fans know how good the Houston players are. Sure, they've been a bit lucky that so many prospects hit jackpot at the same time, and early to boot. But all the same...
Texas Rangers fans are eyeing Toronto. They're relishing a chance to stomp on New York. They want another shot at St. Louis.
The Houston Astros are just in the way.
At the beginning of the season, either L.A.A. or Seattle were supposed to win the A.L. West. Oakland would come in third, Houston fourth with a record at or under .500, and Texas last; a few games behind Houston.
Even those of us who read Dave Cameron and said "ef you, Dave. Texas may not win the division this year, but they have a lot more talent than you give them credit for..." didn't expect anything better than 83 wins. And we would have been happy with 77. The Texas Rangers didn't have a winning record last year. In fact, they would have been the worst team in baseball if it weren't for the shakeup following the still-mysterious resignation of Ron Washington, which prompted the Tim Bogar-led Rangers to finish strong, jumping past Colorado and Arizona to finish 28th behind Minnesota and Houston.
Houston, incidentally, is leading the A.L. West (for now), Minnesota is in second in the A.L. Central and still fighting for a Wild Card berth, and Arizona is tied for third in the N.L. West with San Diego...not out of contention, and far better than the last place Rockies who are, once again, more than 20 games out of the division lead.
Still fighting for .500 ball, at the trade deadline Texas dealt from a deep bank of prospects to put in the winning bid for top-of-the-rotation Philly Cole Hamels, and then, like a bullied pre-schooler, shook their collective fists at the Astros.
"Just wait 'til Derek Holland gets back (again!) Just wait 'til Martin Perez makes a full recovery from Tommy John surgery! Just wait 'til our over-paid, under-appreciated, on-base-machine Right Fielder gets back from his months-long mental vacation! Just wait 'til our Rule-Five pick outfielder that you guys dumped gets back from his hamstring injury! Just wait 'til our General Manager proves once-again that, despite everything retired Dallas Curmudgeon Randy Galloway says, you *can* put together a lights-out bullpen with cheap trades from organizational depth and waiver-wire claims!"
We're not waiting anymore. The Rangers have been the second-best team in the American League since June, behind the unbelievable Blue Jays. Texas recently lost two of three to the Jays, and fans and players were pretty pissed off about it. The first game was won until the Texas closer, Shawn Tolleson, came one in the ninth and clearly had nothing going. He still managed to get two outs with a lead, but just couldn't hold it.
It was his second blown save of the year. Yes, Texas Rangers think they should have won the Toronto series. Of course, I'm sure Toronto says they could have swept.
The bottom line is, right now Houston is just in the way. Hard-core Rangers fans have long-celebrated the reasonable, analytic approach taken by the Texas front office, and therefore admired the work done by Jeff Luhnow in Houston. Texas fans know how good the Houston players are. Sure, they've been a bit lucky that so many prospects hit jackpot at the same time, and early to boot. But all the same...
Texas Rangers fans are eyeing Toronto. They're relishing a chance to stomp on New York. They want another shot at St. Louis.
The Houston Astros are just in the way.
Posted by: Ben at
04:09 PM
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They want another shot at St. Louis.
I suspect you're going to have to wait until another year for that. Not because the Rangers won't be there (though, forgive me, I don't think they will be), but because the Cardinals won't.
The way the wild card is going to work in the NL this year, the Cards may have to play both the Cubs and Pirates before the NL championship round... I can easily see the Cards losing the NL Central to the Pirates, even being the 2nd wild card. If that happens, or even if they host the wild card game against the Cubs, St Louis will lose. One game, against Jake Arietta?
If they do win the NL Central, they still have to beat either the Pirates or Cubs... and both teams have done well against the Cardinals in the second half of this season.
Then if they survive that, they'll have to play either the Dodgers (eh) or the Mets. It seems unlikely that they'll manage to do all of that... they really don't scare me any more.
I suspect you're going to have to wait until another year for that. Not because the Rangers won't be there (though, forgive me, I don't think they will be), but because the Cardinals won't.
The way the wild card is going to work in the NL this year, the Cards may have to play both the Cubs and Pirates before the NL championship round... I can easily see the Cards losing the NL Central to the Pirates, even being the 2nd wild card. If that happens, or even if they host the wild card game against the Cubs, St Louis will lose. One game, against Jake Arietta?
If they do win the NL Central, they still have to beat either the Pirates or Cubs... and both teams have done well against the Cardinals in the second half of this season.
Then if they survive that, they'll have to play either the Dodgers (eh) or the Mets. It seems unlikely that they'll manage to do all of that... they really don't scare me any more.
Posted by: Wonderduck at September 10, 2015 09:20 PM (jGQR+)
2
There are good reasons to think Texas won't make it to the World Series; the biggest being that they have such extreme trouble hitting LHP. Hopefully their recent turn of fortune against Felix Doubront will help, psychologically. I don't know about the team, considering how much of it wasn't around in 2011, but I know Rangers fans feel snakebit by St. Louis.
Thankfully, the Cardinals have been due for some karmic re-balancing for a long time, and it looks like it may be happening finally.
Thankfully, the Cardinals have been due for some karmic re-balancing for a long time, and it looks like it may be happening finally.
Posted by: Ben at September 14, 2015 12:33 PM (DRaH+)
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