Texas Rangers Odds of Making American League Playoffs Continue to Rise

There are six playoff spots in the American League. Half of those are spoken for by clubs with a 99.9% chance or better of making the postseason, according to FanGraphs.

Fourth on that list are the Houston Astros at 96.9% odds of reaching the playoffs. Here’s where it gets interesting. As sure as it seems that the reigning World Series champs will be in position to defend their crown, the AL West is hardly decided.

The streaking Texas Rangers (82-64) entered Friday just a half-game behind Houston (83-64) in the division. The Seattle Mariners (81-65) are just 1.5 games back. The three teams are separated by just one game in the loss column.

The Rangers’ playoff probability has soared up to 88.2% during their six-game winning streak, which included a four-game sweep of one of the contenders they were chasing. Were. The Toronto Blue Jays – outscored 35-9 by Texas this week – now trail the Rangers by 2.5 games and are on the outside of the three Wild Card spots.

Seattle has the next best playoff odds at 80.4%. The Blue Jays are down to 33.9%.

Despite the AL West being so close, the Astros are 63.1% favorites to win the division. The Mariners are 18.9%, with Texas at 18.0%. The Rangers, though, are projected to win 90.0 games, which means finishing 8-8 in their last 16 contests. Houston’s win-total projection is 91.9, with Seattle at 89.3.

The three AL playoff locks are the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays from the AL East, and the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins.

The Rangers open a three-game series Friday night at the nearly-eliminated Cleveland Guardians with Jon Gray on the mound.

The complete AL West and Wild card races, along with games remaining for the clubs in contention, are available here.

You can follow Art Garcia on Twitter @ArtGarcia92.

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