Last season, one of the glaring deficiencies for the Texas Rangers was their tendency to make stupid outs on the bases after being so good on the bases and so aggressive in their 2010 and 2011 World Series runs.
While they're not falling into the same frustrating pickoff outs at the hands of Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus, two of their better baserunners, like they did in 2012, the Rangers are having their issues on the bases again this year, and that was very evident over the weekend in Minnesota.
Chalk it up to tiredness from their lengthy, time zone-hopping road trip if you want, but the Rangers were awful on the bases over the four-game series, which the Rangers split with the Twins.
In the four games, the Rangers were thrown out on the bases eight times — stretching singles to doubles, going first to third, caught stealings, rounding a base too far and getting thrown out on the retreat, you name it, the Rangers did it.
In straight steals, the Rangers are having some success, going 12-for-16 so far this season with Andrus a perfect 5-for-5, but being thrown out stealing isn't the only way to hurt your team on the bases and the Rangers must remedy their baserunning blunders to be successful in the long run.
