Like last season’s American League champion Kansas City Royals, the 95-win Texas Rangers don’t particularly have a specific specialization that make them stand out from the rest of the playoff field. Rather, the team just executes fundamental baseball extremely well.
On offense, Texas is led by a couple of veteran hitters that have continued being solid cornerstones for the franchise. Both Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre finished the regular season hitting over the .300 mark, with Beltre notching his fifth-career 100-RBI season (third with the Rangers) with 104 runs driven in.
The pitching staff, meanwhile, has been anchored by steady closer, Sam Dyson. The righty out of South Carolina’s 38 saves for the season ranks third in the American League, and he’s even fresh off a sizzling September heading into the playoffs by sporting a superb, season-best 0.81 ERA for the month along with eight of his 38 saves and a couple of winning decisions to boot.
Weaknesses
Perhaps the Rangers have leaned too much on Dyson to bail them out of sticky situations. Their plus-eight run differential is the worst amongst all playoff teams, which means they often find themselves in games that are too close for comfort.
Besides former World Series MVP, Cole Hamels (15-5, 3.32 ERA, 200 strikeouts), Texas doesn’t have a very intimidating starting rotation that most great World Series-winning teams are made of. The trio of Martin Perez, Derek Holland and A.J. Griffiin each have earned-run averages of above 3.40, with Perez and Holland both finishing with losing records for the season.
Japanese sensation Yu Darvish (7-5, 3.41 ERA, 1.12 WHIP) was a nice boost to the rotation since coming back from injury, but his true potential in the majors has yet to materialize and he could very well be blinded by the brightest of lights in his MLB postseason debut.
2016 Key Team Stats:
Category
Stat (MLB Rank)
Runs
761 (#7)
Batting Average
.262 (#6)
On-Base Percentage
.321 (#15)
Saves
56 (#1)
Opponent Batting Average
.260 (#20)
Writer’s Prediction
For the second-consecutive season, the Rangers get eliminated in the ALDS by the Toronto Blue Jays, who prevail from the wild card round over the Baltimore Orioles.
