The good news: The Rangers swept the Brewers. 

The bad news: The Rangers didn’t pick up a single game on the Mariners.

Making up ground, even a little, is so hard to do when you have to rely on the teams ahead of you to lose rather than beating them head-to-head as the Rangers were unable to do against the Mariners in ten of the thirteen games they played.

So now, no matter how much they win, they need other teams to do what they couldn’t do. And time is running out. Or, more aptly, games are running out. 

Texas has just fifteen games remaining. The Rangers are off today, then head to New York for three against the Mets before heading to Houston for three that are really really big. The Astros might not even be in first place when the Rangers get there.

But the Rangers might not be in the playoff picture, either. They might still be in third, trying to make up ground on the Astros.

All those games they squandered when they couldn’t hit in in April, May, June, and July are coming back to haunt them.

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