Yesterday’s news that the Rangers let go beloved pitching coach Mike Maddux came on the heels of last week’s announcement that Rangers’ hitting coach Dave Magadan was let go. When I heard that, I wasn’t sure what the bigger news was. That the Rangers fired their hitting coach, or that they even had a hitting coach. Who knew?

Well, now that the Kansas City Royals are playing in their second straight World Series, they are certainly the cream of the crop in the American League. And the Rangers, and their new hitting coach, have their work cut out for them if they intend to close the gap.

Here is a position-by-position comparison between this year’s Royals and this year’s Rangers:

Catcher:
Royals: Salvador Perez
Rangers: Robinson Chirinos, Chris Gimenez
Advantage: Royals

First base
Royals: Eric Hosmer
Rangers: Mitch Moreland, Mike Napoli
Advantage: Royals

Second base:
Royals: Ben Zobrist
Rangers: Rougned Odor
Advantage: Royals

Third base:
Royals: Mike Moustakas
Rangers: Adrian Beltre
Advantage: Rangers

Shortstop:
Royals: Alcides Escobar
Rangers: Elvis Andrus
Advantage: Royals

Left field:
Royals: Alex Gordon
Rangers: Josh Hamilton
Advantage: Royals

Center field:
Royals: Lorenzo Cain
Rangers: Delino DeShields
Advantage: Royals

Right field:
Royals: Alex Rios
Rangers: Shin-Soo Choo
Advantage: Rangers

Designated Hitter:
Royals: Kendrys Morales
Rangers: Prince Fielder
Advantage: Even

Looking at this, one thing is obvious. The Rangers better find a really really good pitching coach.