Rangers Stumble Into Crucial Stretch

With the eyes of Texas Rangers fans fixed firmly on the increasingly hot Angels, the once robust division lead gradually dissipated and disappeared completely last week.
 
Texas is playing the worst baseball, arguably, of the season. (One can make a case for the month of April, as well.)
 
Los Angeles is playing its best.
 
That’s why Texas dropped the first game of the series on Monday night in Arlington, despite numerous chances on offense. It is also why Texas is watching the Halos pull away somewhat, their lead to 2 ½ games.
 
It’s best not to look behind you in such situations; as Satchel Paige once said, “something might be gaining on you.”
 
This holds true in the case of the Rangers, who are now only a game ahead of the Seattle Mariners, a team who has gotten hot of late, winning their last two games and seven of their last nine.
 
Seattle, as you may remember, held the division lead for some time at the beginning of the season.
 
This translates in a crucial stretch for the Rangers leading up to the All-Star break in St. Louis.
 
Texas will play 12 games before the break; nine of those games come against division rivals (four against Seattle, five against Los Angeles).
 
If Texas is able to turn things around (particularly on offense), and get hot before the first half of the season ends, they will be a legitimate contender in the dog days of July.
 
If not, the Rangers will sink in the standings, fans will revolt, discarding any hope and resigning themselves to watching the calendar until Cowboys season.