Rangers have shockingly simple reason why they're suddenly homer happy

After looking like their season might be over, the Texas Rangers have won five of their last six games, and it’s not hard to figure out why. The offense has finally joined the right. While the pitching staff has been doing its part, the hitters have been doing very little, but that all changed in June. A team that was among the worst in the league in slugging in the first few months of the season is near the top in June. So what caused the change? Why are they slugging? Why are they suddenly homer happy? 

According to Rangers players, it is relatively simple. According to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, the secret is simply not talking about it. 

Rangers credit hush-hush approach for June power spike that’s fueled a better June

“I think there’s a lot of merit to that,” first baseman Jake Burger said after Friday’s game against the White Sox. Burger has slugged .513 since being recalled from Round Rock. 

“I don’t know how much we talked about it, but it was talked about,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said recently. “This was going to be a slug team. And guys set goals that maybe they should have backed off a little bit on. You start trying to reach those and you start chasing it. You’re compounding the problem. Maybe we did get caught up a little bit in it.”

If that was a solution, it was a great one. For June, the Rangers are third in all of baseball in home runs with 17. They’re tied at 5th with the Detroit Tigers in slugging with a .422 percentage.

Compare that to May, when they were second to last (ahead of just the Pittsburgh Pirates) with a .336 percentage. In April, they were 21st in the league. To say they’ve improved is an understatement. 

So now that they think they know the secret, how do they avoid messing it up by talking about it all the time? The season might hinge on the Texas Rangers finding the answer to that question next.