Credit: Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images
The Rangers did what they couldn’t afford to do when they were swept by the Houston Astros, practically ending their hopes for the AL West division.
This was their chance to get back into the division race or climb higher into the wild card hunt.
Following this series, they sit four games back of the Boston Red Sox for the final wild card spot and five games back of the Houston Astros and Seattles Mariners with nine games to play.What Went Wrong
PHOTO: Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images
The Rangers’ strength, the starting pitching, completely disappeared this series as they allowed 17 runs (14 earned) over the three games. This is a far cry from their usual dominant selves, and these performances came from their best pitchers in Leiter, Kelley, and deGrom. The team started in a hole in every game as they were forced to play catch up with the Astros.
The offense wasn’t much better as they could be described as streaky at best. They had moments where they would leave runners in scoring position and couldn’t break out like they had before. It seemed like they would get a boost from having Adolis Garcia back, but he struggled, going 1 for 9, instead of a team that he usually gets the best of.
The rest of the team couldn’t rally the magic that they had before as they didn’t manage to score more than five runs in a game. They couldn’t pick the pitching like the pitching had picked up the bats all year.
Outlook
The Rangers will face the Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins, and Cleveland Guardians in the final games. They will need to play near perfect baseball winning at least 7 or 8 of the 9 games and hoping that one of the teams in front of them trips up.
The Astros will face off against the Seattle Mariners followed by the Athletics and Los Angeles Angels. The Mariners will start against the Astros, then the Rockies, and wrap up with the Dodgers. The Boston Red Sox are the final team that the Rangers could overtake to make the playoffs. They take on the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers.
The most likely paths for the Rangers are the Astros sweeping the Mariners, the Mariners dropping a game to the lowly Rockies, and then the Dodgers sweeping or taking the series from the Mariners. However, the Mariners are hot right now, so it seems unlikely.
The other path would be the Red Sox struggling with their division rivals before matching up with a good Tigers team. If the Rangers won 8 of their 9 games, they would need Boston only to win 4 as they hold the tiebreaker over them.
It seems unlikely that the Rangers will sneak into the playoffs, but there is always a chance that the impossible could happen, and we could hold out hope that the “Little Rascals” have one more moment in them.
Tags: 2025 MLB Postseason Adolis Garcia AL AL West Angels Athletics Boston Red Sox Dodgers Jack Leiter Jacob deGrom Los Angeles Angels Los Angeles Dodgers Merrell Kelly MLB MLB Playoffs MLB Postseason playoffs Rangers Red Sox Texas Rangers
Categorized:Rangers