Many Texas Rangers fans that I talk too are starting to give up on the 2014 Texas Rangers. The injuries that this team has sustained (see here) along with the fact that the Oakland Athletics are unstoppable has made a good portion of the Texas Rangers fan base lose all hope for this team. I am not there personally yet, and I will tell you why.
The Texas Rangers are currently 7th in the wild card race. Now I know what you are thinking: seventh place in any race is not a good thing, but lets look at who is ahead of them. Even though the Texas Rangers are the seventh team looking for two wild card spots, they are only 2.5 games back. The teams in front of them are playing at the same level as the Texas Rangers; around .500 ball. Now, the Texas Rangers could have done themselves some big favors by defeating the Indians this weekend, but at least they can salvage the series today by winning.
This Texas Rangers team is what I would consider down but not out. They are up against it with the amount of injuries they are dealing with, but they seem to be dealing with it very well. On last nights episode of The Ranger Report Podcast on Nolan Writin, Brett Nicholas of the Round Rock Express said he thought it was testament to the coaching staff and the depth that the Texas Rangers have in their organization. I tend to agree with Brett.
Don’t give up on the 2014 Texas Rangers yet. There is still a very long way to go in the season and this team has a way of just kind of hanging around, and if they can do that long enough to start getting guys like Derek Holland, Geovany Soto and others back, they could just find themselves contending for a wild card spot come September. It wouldn’t surprise me if they did.
