|
The Rangers left Seattle with a 4 1/2-game lead in the American League West, with nine to play. The magic number is six, and their mantra is simply to keep winning as many games as possible. But there are other matters to consider while Texas enjoys an off-day in Oakland. Here are eight things that might be on the Rangers' minds through the end of the season and beyond. 1. Clinch early: The Range football pools rs will end the season with a three-game series against the Angels in Anaheim that starts next Monday. Both teams have the front of their rotation in line to pitch that set. C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis and Matt Harrison are scheduled pitch for Texas, and Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana are slated to go for the Halos. The Rangers want to wrap up the division before they go to Anaheim, especi football pools ally since the AL Division Series starts on Friday, Sept. 30. Clinching early will allow them to rest their players, and more importantly, line up their rotation for the playoffs. Right now, if Wilson pitches on Monday in a meaningful game, he would either have to pitch Game 1 of the ALDS on three days' rest or be held back for Game 2. If he does pitch Game 2, he would still be able to start Game football pools 5, if necessary, because there are two travel days built into the series schedule. Derek Holland, whose last start is scheduled for Sunday, could end up pitching Game 1 of the playoffs if Wilson can't go. By the way, if the Rangers need a one-game tiebreaker with the Angels on Thursday, Sept. 29, then Alexi Ogando is in line to pitch that game. 2. Finish ahead of Detroit: The two teams with the be football pools st records get home-field advantage in the first round of the AL playoffs. So the Rangers would have to finish ahead of either the Yankees or the Tigers for them to open the playoffs at the Ballpark in Arlington. Texas is one game behind Detroit and four behind New York. If the Rangers finish with the same record as either the Yankees or the Tigers, they lose the tiebreaker. Both teams won their s football pools eason series against Texas. Right now, the most likely scenario is the Yankees having the best record in the league, with the Wild Card coming out of the AL East. So between the Rangers and the Tigers, the team with the better record would host the Wild Card winner in the first round of the playoffs. Also, under that scenario, the Rangers would have home-field advantage in the AL Championship Seri football pools es if they beat the Wild Card team and the Tigers beat the Yankees in the first round. So Texas needs to finish with a better record than at least Detroit. 3. Set the rotation: The Rangers will only need four starters in the playoffs. Somebody will have to move to the bullpen. That's most likely going to be Ogando, although nothing has been finalized. Ogando would give them another power right-han football pools ded arm in the bullpen and somebody who could pitch multiple innings in the middle of the game. Much will depend if manager Ron Washington feels he needs a right-handed starter or a lefty against a particular team. A right-hander might be preferable against the Tigers. But it's clear the Rangers have positioned themselves for Ogando to be in the bullpen, at least for the first round. 4. Set the bu football pools llpen: The Rangers have some interesting decisions facing them in the bullpen. If they go with a seven-man bullpen, it will include Neftali Feliz as the closer, Darren Oliver as the left-handed setup reliever, plus Mike Adams and Mark Lowe as the right-handed setup men. The extra starter -- whether it's Ogando or somebody else -- would be the fifth reliever. That leaves two spots. Left-hander Mic football pools hael Gonzalez would be one, given the Rangers' desire to have two left-handers in the bullpen. The final spot could come down to Koji Uehara, Scott Feldman, Yoshinori Tateyama or Darren O'Day. However ...5. Decide 25th man: This could come down to either Matt Treanor or an extra reliever in the bullpen. Texas will carry at least 13 position players. It will have Yorvit Torrealba and Mike Napoli a football pools t catcher, infielders Mitch Moreland, Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre, Andres Blanco and Michael Young, and outfielders Josh Hamilton, David Murphy, Nelson Cruz, Endy Chavez and Craig Gentry. Do the Rangers want one more? Treanor's presence would allow them to comfortably use Torrealba and Napoli in the same lineup, especially when a left-hander is pitching for the other team. That might football pools have been one motivating reason to reacquire Treanor from the Royals on Aug. 31. But the Rangers have been willing to use Torrealba and Napoli in the same lineup even without a third catcher. They might feel they can get more use from an extra arm in the bullpen. 6. Choose a catcher: With a left-hander on the mound, both Torrealba and Napoli could end up in the lineup, one at designated hitter and football pools the other at catcher. With a right-hander on the mound, Moreland would be in the lineup at first base and Young at DH, meaning the Rangers will have to make a choice at catcher. In September, Napoli has been used more often than not over Torrealba. He remains one of the Rangers' hottest hitters and has done a superb job calling games. Torrealba may have the advantage of having the better throwing football pools arm and controlling the opponent's running game, but that probably won't keep Napoli's bat out of the lineup. 7. Win the batting title: There are all sorts of individual goals and records out there as the season comes to a close. Few, if any, are foremost on anybody's minds. But they are out there, and high on the list is Young's attempt to win his second batting title. He is hitting .331 after g football pools oing 0-for-5 on Sunday, and he's still two hits short of 200 for the season. Adrian Gonzalez leads the AL with a .333 average, and Miguel Cabrera is at .331. 8. Extend the manager's contract: This probably won't get done after the season, if at all. But it needs to be considered. Washington is finishing the first season of a two-year contract, which is likely to include a second straight division football pools title. That alone should be worthy of at least another year on the contract, if not more. football pools
|