With the Rangers' surprising season in the books, let's take a look at the season on a position-by-position basis.
2015 No. 1 starter
The guy: Cole Hamels
The wounded: Yu Darvish
The forgotten: Yovani Gallardo
Cole Hamels' final start before being traded to Texas at the July 31 trade deadline was a no-hitter at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and after a rocky start to his Rangers' tenure after that wild week of no-hitter and trade, Hamels turned in to everything the Rangers could've wanted from him.
Hamels made 12 regular-season starts with the Rangers and two in the postseason. In the regular season, Hamels went 7-0 in his final 10 starts — all 10 ending with Rangers wins — and carried that streak over to Game 2 of the American League Division Series against Toronto. Of course, he started Game 5, pitched well enough to win, but the Rangers ultimately lost the game and saw their season end.
Even still, Hamels was the rock-solid force you want at the top of a rotation for a contending team, and next year when Darvish returns from Tommy John surgery, it'll be a No. 1a and No. 1b situation atop the Rangers' staff.
Overall, we'll give this position a B before Hamels arrived and Yovani Gallardo was the No. 1. After Hamels' arrival, we'll go with a nice, solid A-.
