Texas Rangers Look To Complete Dominance Of Texas

Before the 2016 MLB Season started I am sure that you heard a lot of hype about one young team in Texas. Heard they were on the up and up with such great young potential about to take the league by storm. That team team was not the Texas Rangers, it was the Houston Astros and let’s just review how that has gone.

Let me hit you with a fun stat here, 15-3 is the record for the Texas Rangers in games against the Houston Astros this year and that really is the difference between these two teams. If you were to take those games away from each teams overall record then the Rangers would be 72-56 and the Astros would be 72-55.

This is insane that the season series record has been so dominate for the Rangers who seem to just have an extra tick of confidence when playing the Astros. There is no way to explain it besides the “Never Ever Quit” motto is a belief. After back-to-back come from behind wins in consecutive nights the players who were interviewed last night after the win all said something along the lines of they believe they are never out of a game.

Manager Jeff Banister has instilled this belief in a simple 3 worded phrase that is packed loaded with so much ammunition at this point. I’m sure that the Houston Astros have nightmares about the Texas Rangers because they have literally been the only difference between them making the playoffs or not.

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With one game left against the Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers are electing to give Yu Darvish the day off and will send Derek Holland out to the mound to attempt and secure the 16th win of this 19 game season series.

The Rangers have an 11.5 game lead on the 3rd place Astros within the division and have pushed the Astros back 4.5 games in the wildcard standings. Basically impossible to make the playoffs is the boat the Astros are now in solely because of the season series vs the Rangers.

Isn’t this sweet to hear as a Texas Rangers fan? While pushing the magic number to 8 more wins, the Texas Rangers have exerted their dominance on an in-state rival. Not only have they exerted their dominance but they are literally the difference maker for the Houston Astros 2016 season.

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And yes it does make it a bit sweeter that the Rangers have inserted former Astro Carlos Gomez into the outfield and he has been producing better than when he was with the Astros. Maybe it is the culture, clubhouse, or the “never ever quit” belief but whatever it is, it’s working. So, what are we really supposed to say here, have fun enjoying Houston in October? Hope you enjoy the beach?