Schedule Sets Up for Texas Rangers, Playoff Odds Rise

What a difference two wins can make.

The odds of the Texas Rangers reaching the playoffs inched back over 50% thanks to back-to-back victories over the Oakland Athletics at Globe Life Field.

The Rangers have a 48.9% shot at claiming a Wild Card and 3.5% chance of winning the American League West, according to FanGraphs. (The Houston Astros at 81.7% are the overwhelming division favorites.) Overall, the probability of Texas reaching the playoffs is 52.3%.

Before the brief winning streak over the lowly A’s, Texas had less than a 40% postseason chance.

“Every win counts at this point, so it doesn’t matter who it comes against,” Corey Seager said. “You just need to win games.”

The teams with better Wild Card/playoff odds than the Rangers are the Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, Astros, Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners. Of those six teams, the Orioles and Rays of the AL East have essentially a 100% chance of making the playoffs, and with it clinching one of the three Wild Cards.

Minnesota, with 99.6% odds to win the AL Central, has another spot pretty much locked up. Same goes for Houston at 98.9% to make the playoffs.

That’s four of the six AL playoff positions spoken for. That leaves two Wild Cards. The Blue Jays and Mariners have 79.0% and 68.5% chances of making the playoffs, respectively. Seattle’s chances were over 88% going into Friday, but a three-game losing streak has taken its toll.

What gives the Rangers even more hope is the upcoming schedule. Texas has four games at Toronto starting Monday night and seven games left with Seattle – all in the last 10 games of the regular season.

The opportunity is there for those playoff odds to keep climbing.

You can follow Art Garcia on Twitter @ArtGarcia92.

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