Maybe the Rangers luck is turning. Maybe the dark cloud over this franchise is slowly lifting. MLB held its first draft lottery yesterday. The Rangers came out way ahead. 

To discourage tanking, the players and owners negotiated a draft lottery. Players were tired of teams deliberately losing so they could secure a top draft pick.

So, they came up with a really complicated formula where every team that did not make the playoffs is in the draft lottery and could possibly end up with the first six picks.

The Rangers won. They would have been seventh overall had there not been a draft lottery. But, the spinning balls of fate popped up and Texas ended up with the fourth overall pick in the June lottery. 

Here are the results of first draft lottery. The number in parenthesis is where the team would have drafted had their not been a lottery. Oakland, Cincinnati, and Kansas City lost draft position. Minnesota, Texas, and Detroit moved up.

1. Pirates (T-1)
2. Nationals (T-1)
3. Tigers (6)
4. Rangers (7)
5. Twins (13)
6. A’s (T-1)
7. Reds (4)
8. Royals (5)
9. Rockies (8)
10. Marlins (9)
11. Angels (10)
12. D-backs (11)
13. Cubs (12)
14. Red Sox (14)
15. White Sox (15)
16. Giants (16)
17. Orioles (17)
18. Brewers (18)

This will be the third year in a row the Rangers have a top four draft pick. They selected Jack Leiter in 2021 and Kumar Rocker in 2022.