ARLINGTON, Texas — Two of the best teams in the American League faced off this week, and one showed just how strong their squad is. The AL West leading Texas Rangers hosted the AL East leading Tampa Bay Rays for three games and showed everyone that this season is not a fluke after sweeping the set.
Is this an ALCS preview? Possibly. Brice Paterik of Locked On Rangers and Ulises Sambrano and Kevin Weiss of Locked On Rays recorded a series review to discuss that scenario and discuss the two AL powerhouses.
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From the start, Paterik talked about this being a crucial series between the teams but also said that even though the result was a three-game sweep by the Rangers, “I don’t think it told us much more about either of these teams. I don’t think the Rays are frauds by any means or the Rangers are absolutely the best team in the American League at this point,” Paterik said before asking, “I’m curious. Which of these two teams do you feel confident about heading into the playoffs as they currently stand before they make any big deadline moves?”
Sambrano answered, “Right now, on July 19th, it would have to be the Rangers.”
After the sweep by the Rangers, the Rays are in a first-place tie with the Baltimore Orioles. It’s the first time another team has reached first place in the AL East all season, while the Rangers are still ahead of the Houston Astros in the AL West by four and a half games.
And the Rays don’t have time to dwell on the sweep by Texas because, on Thursday night, they’re welcoming those same Orioles into Tropicana Field for a four-game set. As for the Rangers, they’re hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers in Arlington for a three-game weekend set before traveling down to Houston for a series that starts on Monday.
Both teams have tough schedules going forward, and after the Rangers finish in Houston, the Rays will be playing the Astros in Houston beginning on July 28.
As for the series that just ended, Texas won on Monday night via a walk-off wild pitch thrown by Pete Fairbanks. Then on Tuesday, they scored late in a close game to pull ahead and not relinquish the lead, and in the finale. It was a 2-0 game until Texas scored three in the bottom of the eighth and ended up winning 5-1.
The Rangers are now riding high on a seven-game winning streak, while the Rays have faltered recently and are only 3-11 in July. A far cry from their astounding 23-6 record to open the season's first month.
So which of these teams will be the best in the American League come October? We still have the trade deadline to get through, and both of them could easily get a lot better, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
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