The Texas Rangers are looking incredibly hot right now. They’re definitely the favorites to finally win their first World Series in franchise history.
First, we need to face the fact that pitching has not been the strong point of this postseason. However, the Rangers have had the best pitching so far of the teams remaining. Texas has a team ERA of 4.01 followed by the St. Louis Cardinals at 4.33, the Detroit Tigers at 5.04 and the Milwaukee Brewers at 5.47.
I know that the argument could be made that perhaps ERA is not the best way to measure their success. However, I tend to think that it is a relatively solid measurement in this case because it does show that the Texas Rangers are allowing fewer runs than any other team right now in the playoffs. This will obviously be important if they want to win the World Series.
Second, Nelson Cruz is simply on fire right now. Even though his average is only at .212 for the playoffs, he has five home runs and 11 RBI in nine games. He has been getting huge hits and making a huge impact on the Rangers. While a higher average would obviously be ideal, the run production is what is important here. If he is capable of getting big hits, that will definitely help the Rangers as they progress towards the World Series.
Finally, even though the Texas Rangers have been outscored by the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers so far this postseason, the Rangers offense scored the third most runs in baseball during the regular season. They have a very powerful lineup led by, of course, Nelson Cruz, Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli and Ian Kinsler.
Combining this potentially powerful lineup with the fact that they have allowed the fewest runs of any remaining team seems to indicate that the Texas Rangers should be the favorites to win the World Series right now.
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