Tom Petty isn’t the only one singing Free Falling

Just a little over 10 days ago (June 16) the Texas Rangers playoff hopes were well and alive.  They were only 2.5 game behind the Cleveland Indians in the wild card race with the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Angels sitting at the top.

Since then the Texas Rangers have been on a free fall to the bottom of the standings.  They are currently only 1 win better than the Astros, commonly referred to as the Lastros, and 3 wins better than the last place Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rangers have now lost 8 games in a row.  That’s something they haven’t done since near the end of the 2005 season (Monday, Aug 8 to Tuesday, Aug 16).  If they lose again tonight that will match a 9 game streak dating back to 2003 (Friday, May 30 to Sunday, Jun 8).   If you want to dig deeper into this mess, the last time the Texas Rangers lost 10 in a row was back during the 1995 season (Monday, Jul 17 to Wednesday, Jul 26).

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For fans, this current losing streak really comes as a shock.  After going to the World Series in 2010 my guess is many fans thought it was a one time affair.  But, the Texas Rangers returned to the big show again in 2011 and it looked like they could make playoff runs is in 2012 and 2013.

This year doesn’t appear the year.  Even players are probably starting to doubt it.   Right now they are in one of the toughest spots they have been in over the last several seasons.  They are losing and they can’t find a way to win.

You do have to give the Rangers credit for the work they’ve done up until now.  They managed to maintain a record at .500 and stay in the race.

It seems that the spark the new guys like Rougned Odor, Luis Sardinas and Nick Martinez gave them early on is starting to wear off now.  And there are reasons for that.   For example, in the case of Nick Martinez he’s a great pitcher but right now he’s struggling.  That probably because of a few reasons.  One, he still young and developing.  Also, now that he’s pitched a little bit in the majors teams have been able to watch him most.  They have made adjustments against him.

In my opinion I think that has happened to an extent to all of the new guys the Texas Rangers have brought up.  Most have done well, some even saw a nice spike in their stats.  But, as teams are able to see these guys they are able to make adjustments.  Yes, great players are able to counter those adjustments, but some of the players on the team are fresh off the farm system.

With just over 2 weeks until the All-star break, the Rangers really must work to get back to .500.  At that time they should have back several veterans that could give them the stability they need.  But, if they continue this free fall, this might be a season where the young guys get time to develop to allow the Texas Rangers to re-tool this team.