The 2023 Texas Rangers are at the 100-game mark and sit in first place in the AL West, the first time that’s been the case since 2016.
Texas holds a three-game lead over the Houston Astros after an up-and-down week that saw the Rangers sweep one of baseball’s best teams, then lose one of their best players to injury.
The race is on, not just in the West, but across the American League. Here’s where things currently stand in the AL playoff picture.
Playoff reminder: In the still-relatively-new MLB playoff format, six teams from the American League and the National League each make the playoffs, with the top two seeds from each getting what equates to a first-round bye and awaiting the winners of two wildcard series.
Division leaders
AL East — Baltimore Orioles, 61-38
This is the first episode of this series in which the Tampa Bay Rays have not been the team listed above.
But the Rays are in a bit of a spiral, having lost seven of their last eight after being swept by the Rangers and dropping three of four to the now first-place Orioles.
Baltimore, on the flip side, is sizzling, with 25-year-old catcher Adley Rutschman posting an All-Star season.
AL West — Texas Rangers, 59-41
A strong week could’ve soured after the Rangers were blown out of their first two games against the Dodgers over the weekend, but a comeback win on Sunday pulled Texas out of its mini-skid and set up what is perhaps the biggest series of the season so far.
The Rangers will take their three-game AL West lead to Houston for three games against the second-place Astros. To add to the tension, Houston could be getting slugger Yordan Alvarez back from injury just as the Rangers lose All-Star shortstop Corey Seager.
The Angels, meanwhile, are still toiling around the .500 mark, maybe-or-maybe-not in Wild Card contention, with all eyes on the Shohei Ohtani deadline decision that awaits them.
AL Central — Minnesota Twins, 53-48
The Twins, for the first time in a while, have made some space between themselves and second-place Cleveland, their lead in the Central currently at three games after a sweep of the White Sox.
Wildcard standings
(Top three teams claim wildcard spots)
Tampa Bay Rays — 61-42, +4.5
Houston Astros — 56-44
Toronto Blue Jays — 55-45
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New York Yankees — 53-47, 2 GB
Boston Red Sox — 53-47, 2 GB
Los Angeles Angels — 51-49, 4 GB
Seattle Mariners — 50-49, 4.5 GB
Cleveland Guardians — 49-50, 5.5 GB
The Rays’ incredible start and +144 run differential provides them a nice golden parachute so their prolonged skid in which they lost the division lead still has them with a cushy 4.5-game lead in the Wild Card column. Expect plenty of see-sawing with the Orioles for the next two-plus months.
Other than that, it’s a gaggle of teams fighting for two WC spots, with the line between contenders and pretenders starting to solidify a bit. Not by coincidence, most of the former come from the best division in baseball, the AL East. The Blue Jays, Yankees and Red Sox have the upper hand, with the Angels, Mariners and Guardians starting to fall out of the race.
Twitter: @Coylio33
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July 24, 2023 at 09:20AM
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Stage set for AL West showdown between Texas Rangers and Houston Astros - The Dallas Morning News
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