How does a team lose four of its best players and actually get better?

Without Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Evan Carter, and Nathan Eovaldi, the Rangers have run off a string of six wins in a row. They’ve won nine out of ten games. They’re getting hits with two strikes. Going the other way. Scoring with two outs. Scoring late. Coming from behind. Winning in extra innings.

And now it looks like they are going to lose Adolis Garcia for a while. Does this mean the Rangers will never lose again?

In the category of “Baseball Makes No Sense,” this is at the top. But maybe complacency had set into the lineup. Maybe a shakeup was due and rather than coming in the offseason, it’s coming now. 

Or maybe it’s just one of those inexplicable things. Like wormholes in space. Or the Kardashians. 

Texas is still a game and a half away from Seattle in the wild card. But with only the Mariners in front of them now, it’s feasible. 

While what the Rangers are doing with all these injured players is remarkable, the Mariners fading at the end and not making the playoffs is expected. Some laws of baseball are indisputable.

Can this broken-down jalopy of a team keep winning? Cody Freeman, Michael Helman, Alejandro Asuna, Dylan Moore, they’re all nobodys or cast-offs that have nothing to lose, so they aren’t losing.

In some ways it doesn’t make sense. In other ways, it makes all the sense in the world. They’re playing for their future. Not resting on their past. 

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