The Texas Rangers have a record of 49-27, which ties them for the most wins in the majors with the Giants (but the Giants have 28 losses) and passes the Cubs, who sit at 48-26. The Rangers also have a 10 game lead over now Houston in the division. But let us not get ahead of ourselves. The Astros had a huge division lead before the All-Star break in 2015, and we all know how that ended for them.
This year has been very reminiscent of the 2009, 2010 Texas Rangers with a lot of young players and some veteran talent to help the youngsters along. Except this team looks better than the back to back American League champion teams from 10 and 11. It is too early to say that this will continue, but this team looks stacked and they really have not had their second ace, Yu Darvish at all. They also have a totally ineffective Prince Fielder and Mitch Moreland, until recently for Moreland anyway.
So how are they doing it? This team really doesn’t ever quit, no matter what. The loss they suffered on Friday to the Red Sox could have been enough to derail the team, but they put it behind them and went right out and scored 10 runs the next day. Nick Martinez, A. J. Griffin and
Martin Perez all pitched well. If I would have told you in April that the Texas Rangers would be 49-27 near the end of June, and would be without Yu Darvish, Colby Lewis and Derek Holland, you probably would have thought I was crazy. But yet here they are.
We are just about the halfway point of the season numbers wise (they have played 76 games so far, 81 would be the halfway point), and while I now believe that the Texas Rangers are going to win the West, I do not think they are going to continue winning at the pace they have been. It would be very difficult to continue the way they have been playing so far in 2016. This team has been frustrating at times, but more often this team has been a lot of fun to watch on the diamond. I don’t think anyone would complain with 50 wins before the all-star break.
