The Texas Rangers did a lot of scoreboard watching on Tuesday night, and they were never disappointed.
Texas' game against Seattle, a 9-6 Rangers win, was the last game of significance to end, as Shawn Tolleson struck out the game's final batter just after midnight. Along the way, they watched as the following teams all lost: Yankees, Twins, Astros, Angels, Rays, Indians.
In case you aren't counting, that is four teams who are chasing the Rangers in the AL Wild Card (Angels, Rays, Indians, Twins), the team the Rangers are chasing in the West (Astros) and the top Wild Card team (Yankees), and they all lost on the same night while the Rangers won.
The result? Most importantly, the Rangers moved to within a game of the AL West lead. They saw their lead over the Twins for the second wild card spot increase to 2 1/2 games, and they saw the gap between themselves and the Yankees to host the AL Wild Card closed to four games.
Of course, the Rangers aren't thinking Wild Card right now, and they shouldn't be. Catch the Astros, and they don't have to worry about playing the one-gamer, where anything can happen, but instead can sit back and prepare for a best-of-5 series in the ALDS.
