A Texas-Sized Fraud

Two months into the season and the Angels just can’t seem to catch those pesky Rangers who maintain a narrow 1.5 game lead over the Halos in the American League West.  Every time the Angels get close, Texas somehow manages to keep just in front.  Will the Angels ever be able to overtake the upstart Rangers?

In a word, “yes.”  As it turns out, the would be new kings of the AL West are sitting on a throne of lies and could soon see their reign come to an end once they are exposed as frauds.

Why the long face Ranger fans?  Oh, right, you’re team is a fraud.

As much as Texas might want to fancy themselves the team to beat in the American League West, but they don’t exactly have the resume of a c0ntender in the making.  Consider this wonderful track record for the Rangers:

• They have won a single series against a team over .500 all season long
• That series win was over the Athletics (29-26) who the Rangers have also lost a series to, so it almost cancels itself out
• Texas has played the third easiest schedule in all of baseball thus far this season
• The Rangers are just 10-16 on the road, the fourth worst mark in the American League

In other words, the Rangers probably aren’t good because they can’t beat anyone good.  Compare that to the Angels who stand just a game behind the Rangers even though they have played the third hardest schedule in major league baseball but they have still managed to win four series against winning teams (two against Toronto, one against Oakland and one against the New York Yankees).  The Angels aren’t much better on the road at 12-15, but they aren’t that bad either.

The only difference between the teams, really, is expectations.  The Halos are perennial contenders, so them being at 28-28 right now is considered a shocking disappointment (unless you are a PECOTA die hard).  Meanwhile, the Rangers are supposed to be a burgeoning young club, so their 28-25 record and perch atop the AL West makes them media darlings as the little team that could.

Methinks the future will pain a different story.  Before the season ends, that divergence in schedule difficulty will even out.  The Angels will get a few weeks where they can build their record against a string of cupcakes, while the Rangers will be getting their heads beat in by the real contenders in the American League.

One could certainly argue that Texas could bolster their roster by trading some prospects from their bountiful farm system, thus setting them up to get better as the year progresses and more capable of taking on their tougher schedule.  That line of thinking would certainly make sense if Texas could add so much as one more cent to their payroll.

Thanks to their super sketchy owner Tom Hicks, the Rangers apparently owe a lot of people a lot of money who he just doesn’t feel like paying back.  Now he is trying to sell his team and pawn off his debt to a new group of owners headed by Nolan Ryan.  Turns out that little transaction isn’t going so well and it could take awhile before everything is settled and the Rangers are free to spend again, so they shouldn’t be counting on adding any reinforcements at the trade deadline.

Once the temperature in Texas and the AL West race heats up in a few weeks, the Rangers might still be clinging to first place, but they are setup to whither once again and make way for the real kings of the AL West, the Angels, to take their rightful place on the throne that has been fraudulently usurped.