With the number of regular-season games dwindling, the Texas Rangers are making a push to advance to their first postseason since winning the World Series in 2023.
The Rangers have won six in a row, and sit 1.5 games out of the final American League wild-card spot owned by the Seattle Mariners entering Tuesday’s games.
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The Rangers will have to have an outright better record than the Mariners or New York Yankees to claim the last playoff spot, as those teams have the tiebreaker by virtue of winning the head-to-head matchup this season.
The Rangers (72-67) do hold the tiebreaker over the Boston Red Sox (77-62), who own the other AL wild-card spot along with the Yankees (76-61) and Mariners (73-65).
The Rangers have been decimated by injuries as they push for the playoffs, having lost outfielder Evan Carter, second baseman Marcus Semien and ace pitcher Nathan Eovaldi — and now possibly outfielder Adolis Garcia.
The Rangers are waiting for more information on Garcia after he suffered a quadriceps injury that knocked him out of Monday’s 7-5 road win in 10 innings over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
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The Rangers’ wins have come in series against the Cleveland Guardians, Los Angeles Angels, Athletics and Arizona Diamondbacks, only losing once in 10 games against the four opponents.
While the Rangers have surged, the Mariners have begun to flounder, going 5-5 in the past 10 games and 6-12 in the past 18.
Over the past 15 games, the Mariners rank 24th in runs scored, 26th in batting average and 28th in hits, while the Rangers have ranked in the top three in those categories over the same time frame.
The Rangers have two more games against the Diamondbacks, at 8:40 p.m. Tuesday and 2:40 p.m. Wednesday, before returning home for a three-game series against the AL West-leading Astros starting Friday.