No One Wants to Win the American League West
The American League West is a division that will be open for the taking in 2024.
However, after watching the first four months of the season, it appears no one wants it.
So far, the Angels, Mariners, Rangers, and Astros have led it.
The Mariners and Astros are fighting for it right now.
Every time they get close, the Rangers go on a long losing streak and fall behind again. The team just completed a 1-5 road trip.
The Mariners made some moves at the trade deadline, and so did the Astros and Rangers. The Mariners won the deadline between the three teams.
Pitching has carried the Rangers all of 2024, but it has failed in the last six games or so.
With their barely sentient offense and tepid defense, they have to have good pitching.
The Mariners can’t seem to have a long winning streak as well, and the Astros did, but now they are the same: lose some, win one.
All three of those teams could win the West, but who wants to? It has been frustrating to watch the 2023 World Champs struggle so badly in 2024.
It is quite amazing that they are still in the race. The Rangers had one of the best offenses in baseball in 2023, so it’s hard to figure out why they have dropped off so much.
The Rangers picked up a catcher, a minor league pitcher, and a major league pitcher at the trade deadline when they needed a right-handed power bat.
Fans are frustrated, and rightfully so. The division is wide open, and the Rangers can’t take advantage of the situation.
The Rangers will not play a team with a losing record until the end of August, and they have an extremely tough schedule to play in August.
They have Boston, Houston, the New York Yankees, Minnesota, Pittsburg, and Cleveland before finally finishing the month with the White Sox.
I’ll be surprised if the Rangers can pull off a record of .500 during that stretch. It all depends on how Seattle and Houston do during that stretch, but the Rangers could still be fighting for first at the end of August.
I learned in 2023 not to underestimate the Bruce Bochy effect so that they could come out of this, but the trend says they will not.
The Rangers have been trending down the entire season, and there is no reason besides Bochy to think that is going to change. However, I have seen strange things happen.
Somehow, the Rangers, despite being bad at baseball in the last few months, are still in the hunt for a division that no one seems to want to win.
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Categorized:Rangers The Ranger Report