Identifying Biggest Weakness for Rangers Heading Down the Stretch

As the Texas Rangers get set for a massive series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the team is trying to chase down the Houston Astros in the American League West.

The Rangers have been playing some good baseball of late and have hit their stride at the right time before the trade deadline. A strong stretch resulted in the front office believing in the team’s chances to make a run, and they decided to be aggressive buyers.

With a couple of needs, it was shocking to see that the most significant addition that the team made was to bring in veteran starter Merrill Kelly. The rotation of the Rangers has been one of the best in the league this season, but Kelly will certainly make it even better.

Even though Texas has improved upon a strength recently and are playing well, there are some concerns for the team heading down the stretch. Like most teams in baseball, the Rangers aren’t perfect, and their flaw could end up being a problem.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the Rangers’ biggest weakness down the stretch being their inability to close out games.

“However, Texas does not have a single pitcher with 10 or more saves—even the Rockies have a guy with 11 saves, for crying out loud—and failing last week to address a clear deficiency at closer immediately bit the Rangers in the backside.”

Even though the bullpen has been much better than expected this season for the Rangers, closing out games has been an issue, as anticipated. Over the winter, Texas lost closer Kirby Yates to the Los Angeles Dodgers in free agency.

Due to the team being a bit tight financially, it came as no surprise to see Yates leave, but finding a similar caliber replacement wasn’t going to happen. Furthermore, they also lost David Robertson from last year, who was a solid setup man for the team.

It has been a little bit of a committee so far for the Rangers in the ninth inning, and that is far from ideal. As Texas tries to chase down the Mariners and the Astros in the AL West, they have to do a better job of trying to close out games.

With a couple of good closers dealt at the deadline, the Rangers might regret not getting aggressive to try to solidify what has been an area of weakness.

As the team heads into the final two months of the campaign, it will be interesting to see who, if anyone, establishes themselves as the closer. If they continue to struggle in this area, it will likely doom them.