It's safe to say now, barring some kind of epic meltdown and disaster, the Texas Rangers will win the AL West and head into the postseason to face the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox or possibly even the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS.
With a week and a half remaining in the regular season, the Rangers bullpen has had its chances to get in some quality work over the past two days against the Seattle Mariners, who, full disclosure here, have one of the worst offenses in the history of Major League Baseball.
After dropping the series opener on Friday to Blake Beavan and the Mariners, 4-0, the Rangers came back Saturday and Sunday and chalked up wins that came down to the wire and subsequently, the back end of the bullpen.
Of course, the bullpen has been one of the bigger stories for the Rangers this season after Jon Daniels acquired Mike Adams from San Diego and Koji Uehara from Baltimore at the trade deadline to bolster what was by far the weakest part of the team.
Then there were the insane struggles closer Neftali Feliz went through leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.
Now, all seems to be calm.
In the past two games, Adams and Feliz have been perfect in their respective eighth- and ninth-inning roles.
Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
In those two games, Adams has pitched 1 2/3 innings with two strikeouts, no hits and no walks.
Feliz has pitched two innings with four strikeouts, no hits, no walks and earned two saves.
Uehara hasn't been as solid since his acquisition, but in his last five outings, he's allowed just one hit.
When the Rangers enter the postseason, they'll likely have the best bullpen in the American League playoffs, and that can go a long way.
