The Texas Rangers are the hottest team in baseball as of May 17, as they won their eight straight game, improving to 21-20, a game over .500 for the first time all season.
On May 8, the Rangers were 13-20, in last place and 8.5 games out of first place. The hot streak started on May 9th against the San Diego Padres with an 11-0 shutout. Texas then took the series on a Game two 4-3 victory and a walk-off 5-2 win, when they scored five runs in the eighth and ninth innings combined, capped off by a Mike Napoli three-run bomb to end the game.
On May 12th, the comeback victories continued as the Rangers scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth against the Oakland Athletics, after trailing 2-1, to win the game 5-2. Joey Gallo was the hero on this night as he hit a three-run bomb of his own sending the Rangers faithful home happy for the fourth straight game. Texas swept the three game series improving their record to 19-20, while moving into second place.
After a day off on Monday, the wins kept piling up as the Rangers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 on Tuesday, with Yu Darvish tossing seven strong innings, allowing one run on four hits, with two walks and nine strikeouts to earn his 1st victory since April 29th.
On Wednesday, the Rangers took down the Phillies 9-3, earning their eight straight victory. Rookie Jared Hoying hit his first major league home run, while also finishing the game 4 for 4.
The only downfall to the streak, is the Rangers still trail the first place Houston Astros by eight games. Just a .5 game less than where they were on May 9th, when the streak began. To their luck, the Astros have also been one of the hottest teams in baseball winning their last nine out of ten games.
But it seems that the Rangers may be starting to finally turn their season around and possible battle down the stretch for a playoff spot. If the Stros’ don’t cool down, the Rangers may have to settle for the Wild Card spot. But in the postseason, anything is possible, so getting there will be key.
David Conde
David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.
You must be logged in to post a comment.