Injuries, wear-and-tear and exhaustion haven’t ended the Texas Rangers’ AL West hopes yet, and they have one last chance to prolong their season.
Despite losing sluggers Joc Pederson and Josh Jung within the last two weeks, the Rangers have kept pace with Houston in an ugly division race. Both teams won on Saturday night and remained tied atop the AL West, though the Astros own the head-to-head tiebreaker.
And while Texas’ 7-2 victory over the Twins might not immediately grab your attention, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker nonetheless called his team’s effort an “incredible fight.”
“Multiple guys banged up who did not want to come out of that game,” Schumaker said. “They knew what was at stake. It all started with [starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi], and what he provided was just insane. That was one of the gutsiest performances I've seen in a long time. That's what it's all about. I’m proud to be a manager of this team. That was just fun to watch and be a part of.”
With hours to go until the Rangers and Astros respectively close against the Twins and Athletics, here’s what you need to know about the AL West’s playoff picture.
What is the Rangers’ magic number to make the playoffs?
Technically, the Rangers don’t have a magic number. Instead, the reality of their situation is simple: Beat the Twins and hope the Astros lose to the Athletics.
Anything else, and the Rangers will miss the postseason for the third straight year. Unlike the NL Wild Card race, none of the other tiebreakers apply here. Houston holds the head-to-head tiebreaker, so they’d automatically clinch the AL West.
While writing this, we started thinking about the since-retired Game 163 format, and whether baseball fans should feel robbed that the AL West won’t come down to one final showdown in Houston. Personally? We’re fine with the season series being the ultimate tiebreaker in division races. The Rangers had 13 chances to defeat the Astros, and they failed to take advantage.
As for the argument that the MLB playoffs are worse off with a non-winning team earning a spot, who cares? The main reason the AL West, AL Central and final Wild Card seed all went down to the wire was because of how mediocre the Junior Circuit was all season. Take your problems up with the Blue Jays and Mariners, both of which saw significant regression after reaching the ALCS last year.
Oh, and speaking of the AL Central …
MLB playoff picture: Rangers would face the White Sox in the Wild Card Series
Once the Guardians clinched the AL Central, that guaranteed the AL West champion being the No. 3 seed and hosting the White Sox in the Wild Card Series. Whoever wins the best-of-three set will then play Cleveland in the ALDS. You might not like it, but you know what they say: Que sera sera. Whatever shall be shall be.
Elsewhere in the American League, the No. 4 Yankees host the No. 5 Red Sox in the latest chapter of a once-heated rivalry. The winner of that series gets No. 1 Tampa Bay in an AL East clash.
Rangers’ projected playoff rotation, lineup ahead of the Wild Card Series
Jung’s right hand fracture presents a major problem for the Rangers, who lost Pederson to a left hand fracture earlier this month. Talk about tough luck, especially given that Jung leads the Rangers with an .827 OPS in nearly 450 plate appearances.
As of Sept. 27, here’s what we’re expecting the Rangers’ Wild Card Series lineup to look like:
Position | Player |
|---|---|
RF | Brandon Nimmo |
LF | Wyatt Langford |
SS | Corey Seager |
1B | Jake Burger |
3B | Ezequiel Durán |
2B | Nicky Lopez |
C | Danny Jansen |
CF | Evan Carter |
DH | Alejandro Osuna |
Now, let’s look at the rotation. Jacob deGrom started on Friday night, so his being ready to go on Tuesday is likely a tough ask. We imagine that the two-time NL Cy Young winner would instead take the mound on Wednesday, with Eovaldi following in a potential Game 3.
So who would start Game 1? If there were ever a time for Kumar Rocker to justify going No. 3 in the 2022 draft, it'd be Tuesday night.
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