Texas Rangers On Their Way to AL West Title by Dominating Division Rivals

In the different divisions in baseball, it is almost certain that the National East will go to the Washington Nationals and the NL Central to the Chicago Cubs.

It now looks as if the AL West will be going to the Texas Rangers as they hold a 10 ½-game lead over the second place Houston Astros after defeating Houston again on Saturday 12-4.

Entering their game on Sunday, the Rangers have just 26 games remaining. If Texas were to finish the season 8-18, Houston would have to go 19-8 to finish tied with the Rangers.

Those kinds of things are possible, such as what happened with the collapse of the Boston Red Sox during the 2011 season. Tampa was trailing by 9 games September 3 but they finished the season 16-8 and Boston ended their season 6-18. Odds are that will not happen however.

Of the 16 games remaining for Texas, 18 are against poor teams like the Rays, Brewers and Angels. Following their game on Sunday, Houston must play four against the Cleveland Indians and then three against the Chicago Cubs.

The Rangers have dominated their divisional opponents all season. Texas is 13-2 this season against Houston. Earlier last week, the Rangers quite possibly ended Seattle’s hopes of reaching the postseason with a sweep of the Mariners to raise their head-to-head record against their rival to 11-4.

That makes the Rangers a whopping 24-6 against two contenders for the postseason in their own division. The Rangers likely will win the AL West just due to their dominance against their fellow west rivals.

Texas has had an interesting season and is an interesting team. Earlier this season Prince Fielder was forced to retire and Shin-Soo Choo was lost to injury. The team’s current pitching rotation beyond Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels has not been that good, and Darvish has made just 12 starts all season.

Until they traded for a catcher, the Rangers did not have a productive one.

Not only have the Rangers excelled in head-to-head competition with the Astros and Mariners, but also in one-run games they have been incredibly successful.

The Rangers are 30-8 in games decided by a single run, which is the best in Major League Baseball history. Their closest rival is the Baltimore Orioles of 2012 at 29-9.

Of course, the season is not yet completed, but one thing is almost certain, the Rangers will be around to play in October.