Season record: 38-33
Week 12 record: 4-3
Series record: 12-5, 6 splits
The Rangers have had a weird season with injuries. Almost every time a player has come back from an injury, we’ve had the talk of “Well I guess the Rangers will have to choose between Forsythe and Santana.” And every time, they’ve gotten out of making that decision, mostly because of another timely injury. Obviously, we don’t want any of them to be injured and we’d all want them to never be injured but that’s not gonna be the case. And sense they can’t all be 100% healthy all season, it’s nice that at least the timing is working out and it seems like that’s the case again.
Both Nomar Mazara and Hunter Pence are back home with injuries and it’s looking like one if not both might end up on the in the Injured List, however the good news is, Willie Calhoun has been on his rehab assignment and sounds like will be coming to the Majors instead of staying in Nashville. Before these injuries there was talk of Willie coming back this week so hopefully that’ll help fill one spot.
Mazara will be getting an MRI on the back of his left knee, Pence will also be getting evaluated for his groin.
The Rangers four game series in Boston was super important. It was on the road, they had a two game lead on Boston going into Fenway, and Boston is the defending World Series Champs. At the beginning of the season, I would’ve laughed in your face if you told me they had a chance at winning even one of those games... maybe I would’ve done that a few weeks ago too.
But they Rangers took the first two games from Boston, split the series, and then went to Cincinnati and took the first two games in that series for a series win. And their first winning road trip of the season.
So Boston was a big series that would potentially show us if the Rangers were contenders, they needed to at least split the series considering who it was a against and where the games where. Now they’re home and playing a four game series against Cleveland, again another series to prove if the Rangers can be contenders.
And this series might mean just a little more for the Rangers considering it’s a home series. I’ll take a split, but I really think they need to win it. Especially to give them space within the wild chard chase.
Currently, Boston and Texas are tied for that second wild card spot because the Red Sox are on a five game winning streak. Cleveland is coming into Arlington with just a half game separating them from Boston and Texas.
Boston is in Minnesota for a three games series against the current AL leaders. If Boston loses there and the Rangers can win at home, that can give them a couple games back in the lead for that second spot. Which looking ahead in their schedule would be a nice way to go into playing the White Sox and Detroit before facing Tampa Bay, who keeps going back and forth with the Yankees for their division and the first wild card.
Also this week is the end of the Rangers long 21 games in 20 days stretch (which they get the 24th off and then go for another 13 games straight before the quick three day All-Star Break) and all this to say, last week against Boston was important but this week against Cleveland could be even more so.