How the Rangers are Doing in Close Games

It sometimes seems like the Rangers are blowing a lot of close games, or that they can’t hold a lead, which occasionally they can’t. I thought I would would look into it and see how the Rangers have fared in close games in the first two months of 2014.

One Run Games:

The Rangers have played in 14 one run games so far in 2014, and they have a record of 10-4 in those close contests. They have knocked off teams such as Seattle, Phily, Houston and Minnesota. Their record in one run games shows me that their bull pen has not been as bad as it has seemed. Joakim Soria blew his first save of the season earlier this week against the Twins, and if he had not then the Rangers would be 11-3 in one run games. Even though the offense has struggled, the Rangers still seem to be able to get just enough pitching in the close ones to have a winning percentage of .714 in one run games.

Two Run Games:

The Rangers have somehow managed to be terrible in 2 run games, only playing in five of them so far this season and having a record of 1-4 (.200 winning percentage). It is amazing to me sometimes how just one more run can make such a huge difference in the way a team approaches a game, but so far the Rangers have not had a good approach when down by two. OF course five games out of fifty plus means that they have not been in that situation very often in 2014.

Three Run Games:

The Rangers are 6-1 in games decided by three runs so far in 2014, which is again back on the good column. A lot of times there is no rhyme or reason to why teams perform like they do in certain situations, but for some reason the Rangers have fared well in one run and three run games while not faring well in 2 run games.

The truth is, when a team struggles to score runs at a consistent pace, like the Texas Rangers have for most of the season, they are going to be in more close games. The Rangers have played in 26 close games so far in 2014 out of 54 games total. That is almost half of their games, and they have a record of 17-9 in those games. So as much as we all fret and stress about those one run games, the Rangers have a .653 winning percentage when a game is decided by three runs or less in 2014. I’ll take the close games with those kind of odds, even if it stresses me out!