Rangers' repeated lost opportunities could be end of playoff hunt

The Texas Rangers entered this weekend series against the Seattle Mariners knowing they had a chance to make a dent in the AL West race. Instead, Bruce Bochy’s squad is even further away from the division crown. They’re even further away from the Wild Card. And according to Fangraphs, they’re even further away from having a chance at the postseason.

It’s not just that the Rangers lost two of three to the Seattle Mariners. It’s that two of those losses were in extra innings. It was that the team had a chance to sweep the M’s and couldn’t do what they needed to do in regulation or extra innings.

RISP meltdown: Texas Rangers clutch struggles costly in series versus Seattle

Things started to go south for the Texas Rangers on Friday, when they not only lost 7-6 but didn’t lose until the 12th inning. That means of course they could have won in the bottom of the 9th, 10th and 11th. But didn’t score a run in the 11th or 12th frame.

How did they manage to do that? They went an incredible 3-20 with RISP. A problem that’s reared its head plenty is back in a big way.

On Saturday, the Rangers avoided a sweep by winning 3-2 in the 10th inning. Still unable to win in regulatio, at least they managed to get a victory and they were 1-2 with RISP.

However, Sunday afternoon saw the same old problems return, losing 6-4 in 12. They matched the Mariners 2 runs in the 10th, but couldn’t score in the 11th and were outscored 3-1 in the 12th.

The Rangers were once again putrid with RISP, scoring 2 hits in 15 ABs. On the weekend, a weekend Bochy’s squad needed to at least take two of three from Seattle, they went an obscene 6-37 with runners in scoring position that comes out to a .162 average with RISP in the series.