So as we all know, we have been struggling quite a bit with the Rangers this year (1-9 against them so far). I thought it was pretty interesting that if we don't take into account head-to-head games for both teams, it turns out that we actually are posting better record than the Rangers... See below stats: Houston Astros 46-31 (without taking into account games against Rangers) Texas Rangers 45-33 (without taking into account games against Astros) Pretty surprising stat to me, given how much we struggled this year not only against the Rangers but against all teams to begin the season. I honestly think the gap between the Astros and the Rangers is pretty narrow. If we can start doing better at head-to-head games against the Rangers and continue to play well, we should be able to catch the Rangers. I honestly think we have a better team. We just need to find a way to beat the Rangers in head-to-head games. Hoping that we can take a division lead in the 2nd half of the season. Go Astros!!
Rangers were one of the luckiest teams most of the season. Their rotation has been decimated by injuries and it's finally starting to show...they've been on a slump lately. Will be interesting to see how they do after the all star break. As long as the astros keep taking care of business I'm pretty confident we can catch up with them.
Darvish is set to come back july 16,holland comes back end of july, kela which is a very good bullpen arm comes back july 15 for cubs game. Rangers pitching is injury induced.they have alot of talent in the hitting department. Rsngers arnt going to lay ovee and die but our favorible july scedule can gain us some ground. However we have the harder august scedule
Keep in account rangers have had a Hardee scedule. Thier record goes far beyond luck. Yes they won some lucky ones but so have we. They are a very talented ball club thst has one the best gms in baseball. It's going to be a tough battery Rangers and astros share opponents except astros have played diamond back,ray. Rangers have faced blue jays and pirates. So they have had a marginal Hardee scedule.
Look at their record in 1-run games. The 2 AAAA guys they've called up to fill rotation spots have both been a disaster. I just hope they don't pull some sort of magic trade for another legit ace. They're trying to.
I think they'll make a move for Chapman, Miller, or another stud reliever, which would make them extremely dangerous. I really hope they don't.
It seems like we will be down by only 5 games in the loss column. Not a bad finish to the first half. Hopefully, we can come out strong in the second half (all of the teams we are facing in July have worse record than us) to overtake the lead.
They have the minor league depth to pull it off. The Astros do as well but there aren't really big arms out there worth getting in a bidding war over.
Going to be an interesting 2nd half. Just like last season when the Rangers were able to get Hamels, a player Houston wanted, these teams may again be going after the same guys at the trade deadline. Both teams are likely to be in play for any good starting pitching. The Rangers also will probably look to upgrade in the outfield and at catcher, as well as in the bullpen. I don't think Houston will be very active in the bullpen market (maybe a lefty but I doubt it), but I could see Houston bidding on catchers (Lucroy, Vogt, Norris) since Castro is a FA at year end and Gattis can go back to DH. I could also see Houston bidding on star OF since Gomez and Rasmus are pending free agents.
I'm writing an article that will have way more information on this, but the Rangers are not even close to as good as their record indicates. Barring some trade moves, the Rangers are in big trouble.
Me and a buddy of mine will be taking over and rebranding the Astros on scout site. Should launch sometime soon, so I'm excited about it. I'll post the article on here when it launches.
Here's the article I wrote about our AL-West race with the Astros, lots of stats at the beginning on why the Ranger's aren't as good as their record indicates. If there are any gamblers in here, I would seriously suggest taking the Astros to win the AL-West while the line is still so favorable.
Thanks man. Will hopefully be writing a lot Astros articles with an emphasis on the analytical and SaberMetric side of things, if anyone here has any interest.