Texas Rangers Soaring in Power Rankings

The second-best team in baseball?

That’s where MLB.com put the Texas Rangers in its latest Power Rankings. The Week 9 edition had the Rangers jumping up three spots to the No. 2 position, behind just the top-ranked Tampa Bay Rays.

Per MLB.com:

The Rangers now have the best run differential in baseball after another fantastic week, and it is worth keeping in mind that, with the Astros starting to warm up, the Rangers may have to keep this pace going for a while.

Texas (+128) did overtake the Rays (+119) for the best run differential last week thanks to several impressive offensive showings and pitching performances.

As mentioned, the Rangers do have a race on their hands within the American League West. Texas (34-19) leads the division by 3.0 games going into Tuesday over the charging Houston Astros. The defending champs are 14-4 since May 9, while the Rangers are 8-2 in their last 10 games.

MLB.com ranked the Astros as No. 6, up one place from last week. The rest of the AL West: Seattle Mariners (10), Los Angeles Angels (16) and Oakland Athletics (30).

The Rangers have two games left on a nine-game road trip. Texas is 5-2 so far, already clinching a winning mark on the trek going into Tuesday night’s 5:40 p.m. CT matchup at the Detroit Tigers.

Martín Pérez (6-1, 3.83) is starting for Texas, with Alex Faedo (1-2, 4.15) on the mound for the Tigers. The Rangers lead the series 1-0 after Monday’s 5-0 shutout win.

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