After stealing Corey Kluber from the Indians, the Rangers have a pretty formidable top of the rotation. 

But is it enough to make up the twenty-game deficit between them and second-place Oakland?

The talking heads on MLB Network Radio don’t think so. They still rate them as the number three team in the west, neck-and-neck with Los Angeles.

The Rangers got 45 wins from their starters last season. Lynn had 16 of those, Minor 10. That’s 19 wins from the rest of the bunch. Kluber averages 16 wins a season, Gibson averages 12, Lyles 8. That’s 36 wins. And, if they just reached their norm, that’s 17 more wins the Rangers can expect from their rotation.  

That, of course, does not translate to 17 more wins as a team than last year because the bullpen picked up wins at times when the Rangers starters failed. But it does give a good indication of how much better this rotation is.

Yet, even if this team won 17 more games than it did last year, it’s still falling sort of catching Oakland. 

But, right now, they are a better team than they started with last season. That’s encouraging.