Will the Texas Rangers be able to hang on to the top spot in the AL West?

The Texas Rangers have surprised many fans, including their own die-hards, by making it to June on top of the AL West. Their bats have been insanely hot, racking up an MLB-leading average of 6.3 runs per game this season. Their bullpen is on fire, even with the loss of Jacob deGrom for the season, and Nathan Eovaldi has been one of the most lights-out pitchers in all of baseball.

While much of the focus around the league has been on the record-setting start to the season that Tampa Bay is currently enjoying, Texas has managed to largely slip under the radar. Their 41-23 record is second in baseball to the Rays, and yet the spotlight lingers on the Dodgers, the Yankees, and in fact almost any team apart from the Rangers.

Texas are in the middle now, however, of their biggest challenge so far. Having lost two of three games away to Tampa, they were in danger of letting that first-place spot slip from their grasp. They have been saved only by the fortuitous (for Texas) collapse of the Houston Astros, who were swept by the Blue Jays and lost two of three to the Guardians, allowing that gap at the top of the AL West to remain static at 5.0 games.

The Rangers are now starting a four-game home series against the Angels. While 2023 has been yet another season of struggles and miasmas for Los Angeles, they sit only two games adrift of Houston and taking this series from the Rangers could catapult them to within touching distance of the division lead.

And while the Angels have their own struggles to attend to, they are more than capable of knocking the Rangers down a peg or two. But should Texas get past the Angels intact, they will face the resurgent Toronto Blue Jays, who look to finally be finding a groove before squaring off with the Yankees in the Bronx. Few teams in baseball can be more fearsome than the Yankees at home, and even when they are finding it tough to string together wins, they can always strike.

July is no better for Texas, when they will have to face the Dodgers, the Padres, rematch the Rays, and play the Astros twice. If Texas manages to stay on top of even half of those games, they should still be either in first or within a game or two of it, and that in itself will be something of a miracle that even the most faithful in Arlington dare not speak aloud.

The struggle to stay on top of the league may be out of the Rangers’ hands in the end, with the trailing Astros facing a decidedly more forgiving schedule that includes the A’s, Reds, Rockies, and Nationals over the same period.

Injuries may be the key. The Astros, Yankees, and Dodgers are all post-season hopefuls who are getting players back from the IL and beginning to show results. Texas started strong and with the loss of deGrom, their bullpen is one injury away from serious trouble. Much may ride on the mid-season free agency window and what moves Bruce Bochy intends to make.