Rangers Within Striking Distance of AL Wild Card After Athletics Sweep

The Texas Rangers head to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks with momentum as they try to work their way into the final AL Wild Card berth.

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) delivers a pitch to the Los Angeles Angels during the second inning at Globe Life Field. | Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers hadn’t swept the Athletics in a decade, and they picked the perfect time to do it.

The Rangers (71-67) head to Arizona with a three-game sweep of the Athletics, an 8-2 record in their last 10 games and prime position to try and catch the Seattle Mariners in the American League Wild Card race. With Sunday’s win, the Rangers are now 2.5 games behind the Mariners for the final berth and moved ahead of the Kansas City Royals as the “first team out” of the wild card playoff.

Where Rangers Stand in AL West Race

Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

Just catching the Mariners won’t help the Rangers. Texas cannot end up tied with Seattle in any scenario because the Rangers played so poorly against the Mariners, Seattle has the tiebreaker if both teams end up in any tie. But, with their recent surge, the Rangers are giving themselves as much opportunity as possible to make up the gap.

The AL West race is tightening too. On Sunday, the Rangers and the Mariners both won while the Houston Astros lost to the Los Angeles Angels. Houston still leads the race, but the Mariners are just 2.0 games back and the Rangers are now just 4.5 games back. For Texas, catching the Astros might be a bit easier than catching the Mariners, even though the Rangers will have to leapfrog both to win the division.

Texas has six head-to-head meetings with the Astros starting this weekend at Globe Life Field. Following that, the two teams meet again at Daikin Park in Houston on Sept. 19-21. It gives the Rangers a shot at directly cutting into Houston’s lead without help from anyone else. But it also could help Seattle.

Texas Rangers Playoff Race (as of Aug. 31)

Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

AL West Race (after Aug. 31)

Houston Astros: 75-62 (lead division; magic number to clinch: 24)

Seattle Mariners: 73-64 (2.0 games behind)

Texas Rangers: 71-67 (4.5 games behind)

Houston Astros Remaining Schedule (25 games): Sept. 1: vs Los Angeles Angels; Sept. 2-4, vs. New York Yankees; Sept. 5-7, at Texas; Sept. 9-11, at Toronto; Sept. 12-14, at Atlanta; Sept. 15-17, vs. Texas; Sept. 19-21, vs. Seattle; Sept. 23-25 at Athletics; Sept. 26-28, at Los Angeles Angels.

Seattle Mariners remaining schedule (25 games): Sept. 1-3 at Tampa Bay; Sept. 5-7 at Atlanta; Sept. 8-10, vs. St. Louis; Sept. 11-14, vs. Los Angeles Angels; Sept. 16-18 at Kansas City; Sept. 19-21 at Houston; Sept. 23-25, vs. Colorado; Sept. 26-28, vs. Los Angeles Dodgers.

Texas Rangers remaining schedule (24 games): Sept. 1-3 at Arizona; Sept. 5-7 vs. Houston; Sept. 8-10, vs. Milwaukee; Sept. 12-14, at New York Mets; Sept. 15-17 at Houston; Sept. 19-21 vs. Miami; Sept. 23-25, vs. Minnesota; Sept. 26-28, at Cleveland.

AL Wild Card Race

New York Yankees: 76-61 (3.0 games ahead)

Boston Red Sox: 76-62 (2.5 games ahead)

Seattle Mariners: 73-64 (last berth)

Texas Rangers: 71-67 (2.5 games behind final berth)

Kansas City Royals: 70-67 (3.0 games behind final berth)