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9/19 - 9/25

I think this will be the final report for 2014. I'd like to have all the stats for this year in the wiki, but it's too much effort since no website will provide splits for just two days. Next season it would make a lot more sense to do this report on a Monday, because on Mondays they're always either off or are beginning a new series. Very often on Thursdays they're playing the first game of their weekend series, and it's weird to have that one game in the report.

By the way I did not sleep very much last night and am very tired today, so in the comments let me know if I've made any mistakes.

Here is how the the AL West has gone over the last week:

So the team played well again this week. They won two of three games against the Angels, swept the Astros in three games, and have won the first game of a four-game series against the Athletics. As a result we can kiss the first overall pick goodbye as well as the other spoils that come with being the worst team in baseball. It's still technically possible for the Rangers to get it, but it's very unlikely. In fact, if the Astros lose the rest of their games and the Rangers win out...well, here are the reverse standings:

Colorado had a worse record than Texas last year, so they hold the tiebreaker. Houston will pick 2nd because of the Brady Aiken fiasco, meaning that if the season ended today the Rangers would have the 4th pick, and if Houston and Texas end up with the same record, Houston would pick ahead of Texas. It's possible if unlikely that the Rangers won't even pick in the top five. Other teams have more practice tanking, I guess. Fuck them.

Transactions:

Games:

So, offensive production was down a little this week compared to last, but it doesn't matter a whole lot when you don't give up any runs. 2.6 runs per game is awfully stingy, especially when you consider they did allow eight runs in one game in their loss to the Angels. They've only allowed seven runs in five games since then.

Over the last 13 games, the Rangers have only allowed 30 runs. That's nothing short of amazing.

Team Hitting and Pitching:

It's interesting that the hitters managed to put up more fWAR than the pitchers did this week. Looking at these numbers it looks like the Rangers probably should have scored more runs than they did, and should have also allowed a few more runs. But that's the way it goes sometimes. The offense was good and the pitching was great. Probably best to leave it at that.

Individual Hitting (10 PA Min):

Adrian Beltre and Ryan Rua kicked some serious ass this week, while Sardinas and Odor were very good. Smolinski was productive, but the rest of the hitters didn't really do a lot. Andrus and Martin both struggled and Adam Rosales remembered that he's Adam Rosales. Anyway it's very nice to see Rua, Odor, and Sardinas have consecutive strong weeks at the plate.

Starting Rotation:

Lewis had the only bad start of the week, and that was the lone loss suffered at the hands of the Angels. His other start was very good even if he did walk too many guys. Everyone else was terrific.

Bullpen:

That's a lot of walks, but that's also a lot of strikeouts. They didn't allow any runs hardly which is the most important thing. The 1.47 ERA overstates the bullpen's production this week but they were solid.

Robbie Ross continues to be hittable. I'm souring on him. I think Cotts must be used up. It's unusual for him to get only one inning in six games even if they are looking at the younger guys. The best news from the pen is the continued dominance of Nefty Feliz.

Only three games remaining. I'd like to see more of Patton and Claudio. There's really no point in seeing any more of Tolleson (who has had a great year and has nothing left to prove), or Ross and Cotts (I think we know what they're about at this point).

Conclusions:

I love to watch the Rangers' young guys play well and I feel sorry for those who lost interest in the team. As bad as the second half has been at times, there have been some really bright spots and of course they're winning right now which is fun.

Yeah, it kind of sucks about the draft position but in my opinion there's no use it getting too upset about it. Plenty of great players have been picked at #4 or #5 and later, obviously. It's up to the scouts and the front office to find their guy and then develop him.

Finally, if you ever get bored this winter and want to look back at the stats from this year, all of these reports have been archived in the wiki. LINK