Another Move for Texas Rangers in MLB Power Rankings

The Texas Rangers sit tied for first in the American League West going into a weekend series with the World Series champion Houston Astros.

Another week and another climb by the Texas Rangers, who came into Friday tied for first place in the American League West.

Winning another series – this time against the Kansas City Royals – played a role in the Rangers (7-5) taking a jump in the second ESPN MLB Power Rankings of the regular season.

Texas is up to No. 12 after debuting a spot lower after the first week and three rungs higher than the preseason rankings. While there’s a lot of season to play, the early returns on the Rangers are reason to think that this is a different squad than years past.

From ESPN:

Texas shook off a series loss to the Cubs by taking one from the Royals this week as Andrew Heaney – the lesser-known free agent pitching signee by the team – made some history when he struck out nine straight batters on Monday. If Heaney can find his rhythm with his new team, it could go a long way toward the Rangers finding their way back to the postseason.

The Rangers open a series against their in-state rivals on Friday that probably will go a long way to deciding next week’s rankings. The defending champion Houston Astros (6-7) dropped four places to No. 6 this week.

The rankings from the rest of the AL West: Los Angeles Angels (13), Seattle Mariners (15), and Oakland Athletics (30). The Angels are tied with Texas atop the division.

ESPN touched on the propensity of the Texas staff to gun batters down. Jacob deGrom set a new franchise record for strikeouts in the first three starts with the Rangers and Heaney set another club mark for consecutive strikeouts.

From ESPN:

So far, Texas is one of the top strikeout pitching teams in baseball, thanks in part to Jacob deGrom's 11-whiff performance last week. deGrom, Heaney and Nathan Eovaldi will all have to perform for the team to have a chance.

The Rangers did suffer a setback this week losing star shortstop Corey Seager to a hamstring injury.

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