The Texas Rangers chose to make few moves at the trade deadline in hopes of a playoff push and potential World Series defense, but the team is now running out of time to make the playoffs in the competitive American League.
Texas was widely expected to be one of the largest sellers at the trade deadline after the team struggled to begin the season; however, a surge of wins leading up to the deadline resulted in the team standing pat outside of a few small trades, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Now, the team has 49 games remaining in the regular season and must begin stringing together wins to compete against the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros for a playoff spot.
The Rangers currently have a record of just 54-59 on the season and trail the Mariners by five games for the lead in the AL West division, while also sitting 1.5 games behind the Astros for second place in the division.
Winning the division will be the clearest path to the playoffs for the Rangers, as the team also trails the Kansas City Royals by 8.5 games for the final wild-card selection.
Seattle is currently on pace to win the division with roughly 85 wins, meaning the Rangers will have to finish the season with a record of at least 31-18 to compete for the top spot in the division and a playoff berth.
While this may sound like a difficult task for a team that has struggled to collect wins so far this season, the Rangers can make up a lot of ground when they face off against the Mariners and Astros in the coming weeks.
Texas will play the Mariners seven more times this season while playing the Astros two more times, which are the final two games of the Rangers’ ongoing series that began with a walk-off win Monday night.
These games will be the most important of the Rangers’ season as head-to-head wins will provide a significant bump in the standings, but losses could end the Rangers’ season before the playoffs even begin.