In Wild AL West, Texas Rangers GM Calls Astros 'Team To Beat'
ARLINGTON, Texas – It's August, and the Texas Rangers are still in first place in the AL West.
With 55 games remaining in the regular season, the Rangers showed they are all-in with their MLB trade deadline moves. But the defending World Series champion Houston Astros are nipping at their heels, a half-game back.
Whether it's gamesmanship or practicality, Rangers general manager Chris Young bluntly declared the Astros as the team to beat after recapping the deadline moves that includes former Cy Young winners Max Scherzer joining Texas and Justin Verlander returning to Houston.
"We didn’t expect this division to be easy. We realize there’s competition … obviously, Houston is the team to beat," Young said. "They’re World Series champions and they’ve played great baseball. Los Angeles has been a very solid team and weathered the storm while Mike Trout has been out. And Seattle was a playoff team last year. I don’t count them out by any means."
Yes, even the Angels and Mariners are lingering six games back with ample opportunity to muck up the Rangers' hopes down the stretch.
Here's a look at the AL West contenders and their remaining inter-division games:
- The Rangers (61-46) have six against the Angels (Aug. 14-16 in Arlington and Sept. 25-27 in Anaheim), three against the Astros (Sept. 4-6 in Arlington), and seven against the Mariners (Sept. 22-24 in Arlington and Sept. 28-Oct. 1 in Seattle).
- The Astros (61-47) have three games remaining against the Angels (Aug. 11-13 in Houston), three against the Rangers (Sept. 4-6), and six against the Mariners (Aug. 18-20 in Houston and Sept. 25-27 in Seattle).
- The Angels (56-53) have three against the Astros (Aug. 11-13 in Houston), six against the Rangers (Aug. 14-16 in Arlington and Sept. 25-27 in Anaheim), and seven against the Mariners (Aug. 3-6 in Anaheim and Sept. 11-13 in Seattle).
- The Mariners (55-52) have seven games remaining against the Angels (Aug. 3-6 in Anaheim and Sept. 11-13 in Seattle), seven games remaining against the Rangers (Sept. 22-24 in Arlington and Sept. 28-Oct. 1 in Seattle), and six games remaining against the Astros (Aug. 18-20 in Houston and Sept. 25-27 in Seattle).
You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.
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