Rangers’ recent collapse makes them look like a former division rival in trouble

The Texas Rangers are in real trouble. The defending World Series champions were just swept by the Philadelphia Phillies earlier this week and fell below .500 for the first time since manager Bruce Bochy took over the club in 2023. But if the recent Rangers’ streak of bad play looks somewhat familiar, that’s because Texas fans saw it earlier this season with one of their team’s biggest rivals.

Remember those struggling Houston Astros? Yeah, they don’t really wrestle anymore. In fact, with Texas having lost nine of its last 10 games and Houston winning seven, the teams are now barely separated in the AL West standings.

There are two ways to look at this. If you’re an optimistic Rangers fan, you knew the Astros couldn’t stay in the basement of the AL West forever and understood it was only a matter of time before Houston rallied and doesn’t make the race for the division title any more difficult.

The pessimistic fan, however, now dreads the fact that Houston has inserted itself into the AL West conversation and once again poses a threat to the Rangers’ title defense.

But the Astros are starting to get several players back due to injury – something the Rangers hope to see in the near future. Houston suffered similar injuries to their starting rotation, but with Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier returning from the IL, the Astros suddenly look more like the team that has been in the ALCS for seven seasons consecutive.

As for the Rangers, Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, Cody Bradford, Jon Gray and Tyler Mahle are all on the IL. As of May, the Rangers pitching staff has a collective ERA of 4.65. When Houston was dealing with a rash of injuries to its pitching staff, the Astros owned a 5.10 ERA in April.

Sorry, Rangers fans, but it looks like Texas is in a similar situation to what the Astros faced earlier this season. Now, two months into the 2024 campaign, both teams have nearly identical records. Maybe the Rangers can now follow the Astros’ lead and start stringing together wins as their pitching staff (hopefully) returns to full strength.

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