Rangers' panic meter is inching up, but it's still too early to be overwhelmed with concern

Trying to figure out where this Texas Rangers team is going is an infuriating task. Over the past couple of weeks, they've gotten healthy, ripped off four straight series wins, hit the .500 mark on June 11 for the first time since May 1, and then lost two out of three to the Boston Red Sox before getting swept by the Minnesota Twins. Oh, and with that, the injuries began piling up again.

Even after overcoming one of their most frustrating trends, the inability to come back from an early deficit, by putting up a six-spot in the first inning of Friday's series opener against the San Diego Padres, the offense couldn't carry over that momentum to help support a surprisingly good Mackenzie Gore start on short rest yesterday.

It can all make you feel as if your head is spinning. Every time the club takes one step forward, it feels like the next move is walking two steps backwards. Is Texas really stuck in quicksand, though?

The cop out answer is that it's too early to tell. Nearly half the season is in the books, so it might feel as if we've seen enough to make a judgment. However, if the Rangers are stuck in neutral, so too is the rest of the division, and the American League as a whole.

The Rangers are still just two games back of the division-leading Seattle Mariners. Seattle's been searching for a spark themselves as they have undertaken a much-ballyhooed strategy of picking-backing their starters. It hasn't done much for them as they've gone 2-3 since picking up the experiment with their full rotation and 3-7 over their last 10 games to fall to 39-39 on the year.

As for the final AL wild card spot, Texas is part of a glut of five teams that are within 2.5 games back or less. It's easy to say that 11 of the American League's 15 teams are in competition for a postseason berth. There has been no thinning of the herd as we reach the season's midpoint.

Rangers insider Evan Grant's recent stock up-stock down report for the club specifically highlighted the insurmountable hill that an over-.500 record has become for the team.

"Every time the Rangers inch close to .500, they get smacked back down. Since May 2, they are 1-8 in games when they were within a game of .500. On the one occasion they won, they immediately lost the next two. You spend this much time right around .500 and chances increase that’s exactly what you are: A .500 team," Grant wrote.

 The question then is, should fans panic and resign themselves to the fact that an 81-81 finish is in the cards, leaving the team sitting home in Arlington yet again to watch the playoffs on TV? Not so fast.

The Rangers' panic meter should be no higher than a six out of 10

If we consider five as an average level of worry, then six would bring us to a light level of concern. That might seem strange as Grant (rightfully) points out that this feels just like a .500 team, and typically speaking, .500 isn't good enough to get into the October dance, much less make noise once the festivities are underway.

With that said, it's hard to objectively look at this Rangers' roster and say that there aren't reasons to believe.

The offense, for all its woes, has featured two guys who have been stalwarts all season in Josh Jung and Ezequiel Duran. They alone can't carry the water, but Wyatt Langford has put up a .950 OPS since coming off the IL. Jake Burger has started heating up and coming through in the clutch. Brandon Nimmo has a .326/.326/.478 line over his past 11 games. Guys like Elias Diaz and Nicky Lopez have been spunky additions that have stepped up while also doing the little things.

Get a healthy and productive Corey Seager back into that mix, and it's hard to say things look too bad, even if the offensive performance to date says otherwise.

The pitching side of things is more complex. Jacob deGrom has been mostly good, if not quite the dominant force we'd like to see. Nathan Eovaldi should still be trusted thanks to his ability to come through when the chips are down. As for Mackenzie Gore, Kumar Rocker, and Jack Leiter, there are varying levels of concern there.

Finally, the bullpen is also a bit of a mixed bag. Jacob Latz is not getting enough credit on the national stage for his shocking level of dominance. There are other encouraging pieces out there as well, but the underbelly of the unit is soft.

The biggest problem facing the Rangers is also the reason why you might feel as if they can hang around and get into the postseason.

The bad part of that scenario is that with so many clubs hanging in the race, it's hard to see where Texas goes to get help at the trade deadline, even if Chris Young is unexpectedly aggressive. However, the large cluster of mediocrity could mean that it doesn't take much to get into the playoffs, and once there, anything can happen.

It's starting to feel like 83 wins might be enough to secure a playoff spot. As getting over the .500 mark has proven to be the Rangers' white whale, there's reason to be concerned. Everything might simply come down to whether or not they can finally reach the winning record summit on the season's final day.

As things stand now, it's fair to be concerned, but not overly distraught. A lot can happen from here on out, but it really feels as if for things to turn out the way we hope, the Rangers will need to find some sort of sustainable spark.

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