At 40-41, the Rangers have reached the halfway point of the season. Eighty-one games down. Eighty-one games to go.
It’s been a slog. It’s been the tale of two half-seasons. The Rangers have gotten dominating pitching. In the fifty-five years the team has been in Arlington, this is the best the pitching has ever been.
The Rangers have gotten remedial hitting. Up and down the lineup, it’s like watching somebody who is just picking up a bat for the first time learning to make contact.
Only one team has better pitching than the Rangers. That’s not one team in their division or one team in the American League, it’s only one team in all of baseball. The New York Mets. And it’s close. New York’s team ERA is 3.21, Texas’s is 3.25. In fact, the top four in team pitching are New York, Texas, Detroit, and Philadelphia. The Tigers have the best record in baseball, the Mets and Phillies are battling for the lead of the N.L. East. The Rangers are floundering in fourth.
That’s because only three teams are worse offensively than the Rangers. The Rockies, Angels, and White Sox. The Rockies and White Sox are dreadful. Chicago set the record for most losses all-time in 2024. Colorado is about to break that record. The Angels are owned by Arte Moreno, so they will never be good.
So there you have it. This is an elite team pitching and a dreadful team hitting. If only they could get some consistency offensively.
But, as frustrating as this has been, the Rangers are lucky that the playoffs have been expanded. Right now they are sixth in the American League wild card race. The top three wild card teams make the playoffs. As bad as they’ve been, Texas is just a-game-and-a-half from that third and final wild card slot. With eighty-one games to go.
It’s worth noting that last year three teams that were under .500 at the halfway point made the playoffs. So, there is hope.
The Rangers just need to do what they have not been able to do in the first eighty-one games. They need to hit. Simple as that. Seemingly impossible as that.
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