You may think I’m crazy or way off base, and maybe a litle delusional, but when you’re playing three games with one of the teams ahead of you in the Wild Card race followed by four games with one of the teams right behind you, it may be the most important week in 2017 to date for the Rangers.
They Yankees come into town with a 5 game lead over the Rangers for the first wild card spot, and they have the opportunity to pretty much put the Rangers away with a sweep in Arlington. The Rangers also have a chance to jump the Yankees with a sweep. So there is your worst/best case scenario.
After the weekend series, the Rangers square off with a division rival who is hot on their heels for the Wild Card, the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners are a game and a half behind the Rangers. Four games can make a huge difference in the standings, one way or another.
To continue the line of thought, they follow that series with the Angels and the Mariners again. The Angels are 1.5 games ahead of rhe Rangers in the race. The next 11 games are crucial to making rhe post season, as this will be the Rangers last real opportunity to help themselves.
They have to push forward without Yu Darvish and without Adrian Beltre. Elvis is having a career year. Young players are stepping it up. After the first half of the season, I would have never thought thet would even have a chance to be in this position. It is impressive what the team has pulled together and done. It has been a successful second half, even if rhey don’t make the post season, but how sweet would it be if they did?
It is time to sit back and see what this team is actually made of when it all counts. The post season has started for the Rangers ladies and gentleman, and it is going ro be a fun ride!
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