Rangers counting on weak strength of schedule ignores blunt reality

Texas Rangers brass let the trade deadline come and go without adding much of anything to the major league roster. It appears that he is counting on the second-easiest remaining schedule to be a big factor as the team sits 2.5 games behind the Astros for the AL West lead and 1.5 games behind the Guardians for the final wild-card spot.

That's all well and good, but we have all seen the Rangers play down to the level of their competition all season long. And if they were somehow able to prey on the weak slate of teams remaining and make it to the postseason, they certainly won't see any slouches in October. They have dropped six straight games and are struggling with the 48-65 San Francisco Giants.

The Rangers banking on an easy schedule won't help them make a deep October run

According to Tankathon, the Rangers' remaining strength of schedule ranks 29th out of 30 teams. It includes games against the Giants, Angels, Mets, A's, Orioles, and Blue Jays. They have a total of 23 games left against these squads that are well below .500. Their toughest remaining games are against the Brewers, Rays, Red Sox, and White Sox.

The problem with counting on the weakness of your opponents is that eventually, you are going to face a much tougher test in October, and that's assuming the Rangers, who are below. 500 themselves, are even able to earn a postseason spot.

The good news is that the team is expecting to get several players back very soon. Guys like Josh Jung, Jack Leiter, Jordan Montgomery, and Cody Bradford will come back, and ideally, they will be fresh and ready to make a run in August and September.

Getting those players back will be great, but it also assumes that the team's healthy players will remain that way. For a team that has been ravaged by injuries, they seem to be banking on the fact that all their key cogs will be raring to go over the next 60 days. It stands to reason that someone is going to get hurt before the season ends.

The Rangers need to stop viewing themselves as the strong team preying on the weak. This is a team that is mired in a lengthy losing streak. So who is actually taking advantage of whom here? The way they are playing right now, you can't consider them predators, but more like prey.

The bottom line is the weak schedule may have taken some of the urgency out of the trade deadline for Chris Young and the club. It makes the playoffs feel possible, even without the Rangers addressing obvious needs. But if the end result is getting bounced early on, one has to wonder what the point of it all really was.

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