As the season gets nearer and rosters are pretty well established, more and more sites start releasing their predictions for 2020. So far, there’s no love for the Rangers.

Here are two 2020 forecasts. One from a Vegas betting site called Oddsshark.com, the other from USA Today.

Not that either has a crystal ball that is infallible but any Vegas betting site has to be taken with a little bit of respect because their entire existence is based on odds and not letting bettors beat the odds and not losing money. 

Both have the Rangers firmly finishing in fourth. 

It’s going to be hard to top Houston or Oakland. But this year will be a two-team race for third between Los Angeles and Texas. It will come down to Texas’s superior pitching versus Los Angeles’s superior hitting.

Usually the adage is pitching beats hitting, so the advantage should go to the Rangers.

But if they do finish fourth, it won’t be too surprising. They are not trying to be competitive in 2020. They are just trying to get to 2022 or 2023 when they can hope to be relevant. 

Here are both sites’ predictions. 

ODDSSHARK:

USA TODAY:

2020 is an Architectural Digest year. It’s about the new Ballpark. All Rangers fans can say about this year is, thank the baseball gods for Seattle.