The Texas Rangers (and everyone else’s for that matter) schedule was released Monday. The Rangers, being from the AL West division, are going to have to do a whole lot of traveling. The odds of them being successful went down due to the travel. While the Texas team has some great pitching and some good hitting for the 2020 sixty game season, travel means several things. They have more opportunity to be exposed to the virus. Jet lag will also play a part in the 2020 season.
The Rangers were pretty low on the odds charts when a full season was in play. A sixty game season has not improved those odds. The Rangers are near the bottom of teams expected to win according to the odds makers. Being totally honest, they are usually low. On the plus side, the Rangers are slight favorites in their opening game of the season according to SportsBettingDime, as they face the Rockies. Joey Gallo has tested positive for COVID-19, hopefully he will make it back soon. When more players start going down to injury or sickness, the Rangers odds will continue to go down.
Can the Rangers beat the odds? The short answer is yes. I spoke with Chris Halicke on the podcast Monday, and he agreed that the Rangers probably have the best rotation in the West division on paper. Not very often does “on paper” translate to “on the field” however. The talent is there, but will the health and fortitude to play a sixty game season be there? They have to play the games to figure that one out.
If you are like me, I like it when the odds are stacked against the Rangers. In 2010, the Rangers came out of nowhere and won the American League Penitent. Jeff Banister led the team to several successful season when the odds were not in his favor. The odds are not the end all for a season played by real people. Back to the travel. The Rangers will play all of their games minus Houston in different time zones. Arizona, Colorado, San Diego, Oakland, Seattle, Los Angeles. All very far from Texas.
My personal belief is that the Rangers could be successful, no matter what the odds say. This should be a very fun season for baseball fans and betters alike. We will take some time to break down both the AL West and the NL West over the next few weeks here and on the podcast. It really should be an exciting season, one like we have never seen. One we will never see again.
