Now chasing a playoff spot, here’s the Rangers’ three most important remaining series
The Texas Rangers woke up somewhere on Wednesday that they hadn’t been since April 8.
On the outside looking in on the MLB postseason.
Talk about a harsh wakeup call.
Coupled with the Rangers’ 14-1 loss vs. the Houston Astros on Tuesday, the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics 7-1 later that evening to leapfrog Texas in the American League standings and slide into the league’s sixth playoff seed. The Rangers, now a half-game back of the Blue Jays for the third-and-final Wild Card spot, would miss the playoffs if the regular season ended today.
Baseball Reference’s algorithm still gives the Rangers a 68.4% chance at making the playoffs, but just a 17.7% chance at winning the American League West. FanGraphs views the tumbling Rangers less favorably with a 56.6% chance to make the playoffs and a 9.6% chance to win the division. The Blue Jays, for reference, have slightly worse odds than the Rangers according to both outlets.
So, absolutely, we’re saying there’s a chance. The Rangers will just have to take care of their own business in the final three weeks of the regular season to capitalize.
Every remaining game and series is an important one to the Rangers at this stage. A 4-14 skid cost them any chance at a comfortable September. That’s not to say that certain remaining matchups don’t carry a bit more meaning and could have larger ramifications than others.
Here are three key series left on the Rangers’ schedule.
Record: 42-97, fifth place in the AL West
Why this series matters: There isn’t exactly a nice way to say this, but, here’s the situation: when you need a soft landing after a pretty hard fall, you call Oakland. The Athletics are in contention to be baseball’s worst team (though the last-place Kansas City Royals have made a push, too) are 21-71 vs. teams with a record of .500 or better. Texas is 7-3 this season against Oakland and won each of the season’s first three series. This three-game series in Arlington gives the Rangers a chance to rebound from a series loss to Houston and to build back some momentum. There’s no if’s, and’s or but’s about it: the Rangers can’t waste this opportunity against a tanking opponent.
Record: 77-62, third-place in AL East
Why this series matters: Plain and simple: the Blue Jays are now the Rangers’ biggest threat to a playoff berth. The Tampa Bay Rays seem well on their way to the AL’s top Wild Card seed, and the Mariners and Astros seem poised to battle for either the AL West crown and the league’s second Wild Card seed. As things currently stand, Texas and Toronto are set to duke it out for the sixth-and-final postseason spot. This three-game series in Toronto present a chance for the Rangers to control their own destiny. Sure, it’s conceivable that the Rangers are leading the Blue Jays in the Wild Card standings by the time the two play in Canada next week, but Toronto’s light schedule against Oakland on Wednesday and Kansas City after that make that less viable. Either way, there’s plenty to be gained and lost north of the border. If the Blue Jays are still leading in the Wild Card, the Rangers could have a chance to close the gap or leapfrog them. If the Rangers are leading, they’d have a chance to widen the gap.
Record: 77-61, second in the AL West
Why this series matters: There’s three ways to look at this series from afar. The optimistic view: depending on how both Texas and Seattle play these next three weeks, the final series of the regular season could present the Rangers one last chance to vie for (or, hey, even protect) a division lead. The tempered view: these four-straight games vs. a division opponent might be the Rangers’ last-best chance to either clinch a Wild Card berth or hold off a team on its heels, like Toronto. The pessimistic view: if things continue to bottom out, it could be the last time this Rangers team plays this season. It’s hard to envision a scenario where this isn’t a decisive series, one way or another.
