Rangers sweep of the Blue Jays, ascension to first place comes at a brutal cost

The Texas Rangers finished a four-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays, which was an event with seismic implications for the team's playoff hopes and the American League playoff picture as a whole. Entering the weekend, Toronto was one of the teams that Texas was looking up at in the wild card chase, and as a result, the club not only knocked the Blue Jays down in the standings, but also leapfrogged the Seattle Mariners for first place in the AL West.

It wasn't always pretty. There were times when the Rangers jumped out to early leads, only to watch their run production stall, while some of the weaker parts of the bullpen let Toronto back into games to make things uncomfortable. In the end, however, Texas persevered.

This isn't a statement of victory as much as it is one of clarity. Trying to figure out where this team stacked up against the rest of the mediocre American League has been a fool's errand for much of the season. As we are now just over a month from the trade deadline, it now looks as if the Rangers can be buyers.

But as getting to this point was a team effort, Jake Burger has been great at driving in runs, Brandon Nimmo has been heating back up, Elias Diaz and Nicky Lopez are doing the little things, the rotation has seen great performances out of MacKenzie Gore and Kumar Rocker, and much more recent happenings, there has been one man in the middle of it all: Wyatt Langford.

Langford took a couple of games to get going following his activation from the IL on June 5, but soon he started erasing any and all doubts his slow start to the season had created. By the time the Rangers rolled into Toronto, he had been playing like that darkhorse MVP candidate everyone had hoped to see.

Unfortunately, Langford tweaked his hamstring and missed the two final games of the Blue Jays series. The injury was serious enough to land him on the IL, and per Skip Schumaker, he'll be out at least until after the All-Star break.

And Langford wasn't the only injury scare that Texas suffered as it closed out the sweep of Toronto.

Wyatt Langford's injury is a big blow to the Rangers, but he's far from the only concern

The margin for error for the Rangers was incredibly thin on Sunday as the Blue Jays tied the game 2-2 on a Nathan Lukes two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth off of Cole Winn. The Rangers would then take the lead on a wild sequence that followed Josh Jung's double, when Jarred Kelenic came in to pinch run for the third baseman and scored from second on a wild pitch.

Corey Seager then struck out to end the inning. Tyler Alexander took the ball in the ninth looking to close out the victory, and after recording the first two outs, watched as Alejandro Kirk drove a ball to deep right field that could have been trouble. Brandon Nimmo raced back and made a leaping catch before crashing hard into the wall, with his shoulder taking the brunt of the force.

Early indications are that Nimmo is okay, but he was evaluated by the trainers after the game, and we'll have to hope that nothing crops up later. Losing him alongside Langford would be a huge blow to the offense and could derail the progress the Rangers have made.

In the meantime, Evan Carter is back to replace Langford on the active roster, despite only playing one game on his rehab assignment at Frisco. He did go 2-for-2 with a walk in that contest. One of those hits was a homer, and both came against left-handed pitching. That's good news, but it would have been nice to see him get more time to build up after his struggles.

He's vowed to prove that he's more than just a stellar defensive outfielder now that he's back. If he can do that, it'll be a game changer. We'll believe it when we see it.

The pressure on Carter will be high. No one needs to go on the sort of tear that Langford was on, but someone does need to replace his presence in the lineup. The logical choice would be Corey Seager, but his availability will be limited for the time being, and his performance since coming back from the concussion has left something to be desired.

It feels like this is just the Rangers' luck. As soon as things begin to break right, they get punched in the gut. There is a flip side to that, though. If they're able to survive all of these blows, they'll become a unified and battle-hardened force to be reckoned with. The adversity is here yet again, and it's up to Texas to determine how it will respond.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow