Texas Rangers Jump Houston Astros in MLB Power Rankings

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The Texas Rangers certainly aren’t anywhere near the pace of 2023, when they spent essentially the entire season leading the American League West.
It’s been a struggle for the reigning World Series champions, but the last week did offer some positives. The Rangers created some distance over the Houston Astros while remaining in striking distance of the division-leading Seattle Mariners.
Those positives lead to Texas jumping four spots to No. 15 in the latest MLB Power Rankings from MLB.com.
The Rangers had two scheduled off-days this week, and the rest looks to have refreshed them: They went 4-1 on the week and have elbowed a little bit of room between them and the Astros for second place in the AL West. They’re still quite a bit off last year’s pace: They’re currently one game under .500 (going into Monday), and on June 3, 2023, they were 37-20.MLB.com
The Rangers were a season-low No. 19 just a week prior and had been leapfrogged by Houston. The Astros fell three spots to No. 18 in the latest rankings.
José Abreu returned to the Astros’ lineup after being sent down to the Minors (for the first time in his entire career) after a very difficult stretch. It hasn’t gone well in his first week back: He’s 3-for-15 since returning, though he did finally hit his first homer of the year on Saturday. (That 3-for-15 still did raise his batting average.)MLB.com
As far as the rest of the AL West, Seattle is No. 10 followed by the Oakland Athletics (26) and Los Angeles Angels (27).
Texas opened a three-games home series against the Detroit Tigers on Monday at Globe Life Field.
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Art Garcia (@ArtGarcia92) has watched, wondered and written about those fortunate few to play games since the 1990s. Award-winning stops at NBA.com, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and San Antonio Express-News dot a career that includes extensive writing for such outlets as ESPN.com, FOXSports.com, CBSSports.com, The Sporting News, among others. He is a former professor of sports reporting at UT Arlington and continues to work in the communications field. Garcia began covering the Dallas Mavericks right around Mark Cuban purchasing the club in 2000. The Texas A&M grad has also covered the Cowboys, Rangers, TCU, Big 12, Final Fours, countless bowl games, including the National Championship, and just about everything involving a ball in Texas.
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