One of the most brutal things in baseball is the dreaded "20-in-20" stretches on every team's schedule. Twenty games in 20 days is the most allowed by the MLB collective bargaining agreement, and guess what? After the Texas Rangers' day off on Monday, they'll embark on such a stretch as losers of five straight games.
Things aren't looking good for Texas, who squandered a chance on their recent nine-game road trip to get back into the thick of the division race and are now 11 1/2 games out of first place and 4 1/2 games out of the second AL wild card spot with not much hope on the horizon.
The Rangers start their marathon stretch with two series at home before hitting the road for two series at Baltimore and at the New York Mets, then they return home to the face the Houston Astros.
Don't look now, but by the time the Astros (3 games back of Texas) get to Arlington on July 7, the Rangers might be looking up at them. Then they'll host the Angels before the all-star break, which will be much needed.
But it looks like, at this point, it won't really matter.
