The Rangers have won back to back games 2-0 and 1-0 in which their starting pitchers were Joaquin Benoit and Chris Young. I wonder what the odds were on that.

BTW, that was their 82nd win today, so they'll have a winning record. That's pretty shocking too.

Hard to believe that this is the same team many predicted to lose 100 games this season!!! It looks like they aren't gonna quite make it but it has been an incredible run and they have been a blast to watch!!!

"When in an argument with another person, be the bigger man.......just tell them if they dont shut up then you will beat them severely because you are bigger than they are."
- Charlie Matzig

The season will most likely be decided in the next 3 games (their last 3 straight-up against Oakland). If they sweep, they're 2 back with 10 games left to go (6 against Seattle and 4 against Anaheim). But if they lose even one game Tues-Thurs against the A's, the thread that they're hanging by snaps.

Either way, I was predicting 100 losses (just like everyone reading this post did), so if they lose the next 13, I'm still ecstatic. Once they use some of the A-Rod savings to get a Carl Pavano type in here and trade Soriano for some more arms, we should be primed to take back the West next year.

Kudos to the Rangers on a much better than expected season.

But the fallacy of your statement is that you are assuming all else stays the same. Would it completely shock anyone if Kenny Rogers had a big falloff next year? Would it completely shock anyone if one of the stud infielders gets injured or is otherwise not as effective? Of course it's always possible that those guys will be even better, but (trust me, as an Astros fan) it's never wise to assume that additions = improvements.

Besides, everyone knows you'll have to can Showalter before the Rangers take the WS, a la Yankees and Diamondbacks.

Yeah, I agree. The unforeseen can always be a big player in crushing seasons.. but we also have potentially big players who have either been injured the whole year, or have only contributed part of the season. Of the pitchers, we'll have full seasons (barring more injuries) of Colby Lewis, Juan Dominguez (who shutout the Yanks in their house), Chris Young (who pitched 6 innings in today's shutout of the Angels), Ricardo Rodriguez, and a likely callup of future-stud John Hudgins, among others. We will just have so many more options next year (possibly including fan favorite Rusty Greer returning after 5 years of injuries to DH and former All-Star Justin Thompson trying to complete his comeback) so that if there is a decline in players that were productive this year, we should have plenty of alternatives.

Not saying that we'll be that much better than this year, but the odds surely are a lot better.

As a 20 year loyal Rangers fan, I want to believe we're on track to lead the division, but reality isn't on our side. Unless we can somehow get a top notch starter in here, next year will be a battle for 2nd place at best. Kenny Rogers won a lot of games for a guy with a 4.77. Was Ryan Drese's year a breakout or a fluke? Who fills out the rest of the staff?

The offense should be fine; we have Ian Kinsler coming up to sub in for Alfonso, another year of likely improvement from the other 3 infielders, and more quality young outfield players than any organization in baseball. Should one of the key cogs hurt something, we have depth in the minors to cover that. Don't forget that we lost Gerald Laird early in the year and he was playing very well at the time. He should improve. Other than Rogers, we don't have any veteran players that should be in decline that played a major role. Brian Jordan, Gary Matthews, Eric Young were all role players that can easily be replaced.

The players that are the biggest ? marks are Barajas & Drese. Noone else really did anything terribly unexpected this year. Hopefully, Drese is the real deal & Barajas will either maintain or not be needed as much.

Besides that, even if the the 2 ? marks work out, we need another quality starter to contend. The A's are too deep in starters & the Angels won't have near as much trouble attracting a quality free agent. I can't believe we haven't traded Mench/Soriano for a starter yet. I hope we can find the right guy.

To assume Drese will have the same type year next year I think is very wishful thinking.

Rogers didn't even pitch all that well *THIS* year -- he just got lots of run support and some lucky breaks.

Rangers should have moved Soriano for Kazmir a month ago.

Mench was expendable a month ago, but has more or less solidified his spot in the outfield next year with his performance lately. Your outfield will likely be Nix, Mench and (hopefully) a solid bat.

nix, mench (lf) and texiara (rf). with adrian gonzales moving up from AAA to play first. although, big tex might not have the arm to play right. not sure.

bloomer, how can you say next year you're already thinking we are 2nd place at best? man, this team is young and only going to get better. i think we'll address the starting rotation this offseason. might be a little easier to attract a really solid free agent pitcher with the team you can put behind him. look for soriana to be traded in the offseason for some pitching help. i think mench might be here to stay. but man, this season has got to have you excited about next year!

The thing about the pitching is that we will have so many more options coming back next year that can help us, that's it's almost like we've already added players for next season.

Take for example Ricardo Rodriguez, Juan Dominguez, Colby Lewis, Jeff Zimmerman, maybe Justin Thompson all coming back from injuries. Stud draft pick John Hudgins will get a shot in spring to make the rotation. Odds are that either R.A. Dickey or Joaquin Benoit will figure something out over the winter. And we'll have potential full seasons from Ryan Drese and Chris Young. Plus the Gambler. Plus FA acquistions and Soriano bait. We're gonna be at least contenders for the West next season, no doubt.

You only trade Soriano if you can get Mark Prior/Curt Schilling type of pitching talent. Otherwise, let this infield gel together another year...they did fine...all Sori just needs to find time with some infield instructors...i have this gut feeling...if the Rangers trade Soriano...it will end up being like the Harold Baines trade...might i remind u we gave up Sosa in that trade. Dont repeat history. The infield will become the best in baseball in 1-2 years...its already one of the best offensive infields in baseball.

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You only trade Soriano if you can get Mark Prior/Curt Schilling type of pitching talent.

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Hahahhahahaa.. You are serverly overestimating Soriano's value to *ANY* big league club.

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Otherwise, let this infield gel together another year...they did fine...

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Michael Young volunteers to move to a new position so that Soriano can lead the league in errors AGAIN -- in addition to playing half-ass lazy baseball... That's fine to you?

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all Sori just needs to find time with some infield instructors

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This isn't some AAA call-up. We're now seeing the completion of Soriano's 4th full year as a major league fielder -- if he hasn't learned how to field by now, he's not going to.

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if the Rangers trade Soriano...it will end up being like the Harold Baines trade...might i remind u we gave up Sosa in that trade.

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And he was moved by the White Sox soon thereafter... What's your point? Every team has trades they wish they could have back.

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The infield will become the best in baseball in 1-2 years...its already one of the best offensive infields in baseball.

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And it still would be sans Soriano. Kinsler's doing fine and will be ready in a year. Now, picture this season (and the next 5) with Kazmir in the rotation. Now *that* is a team that people fear.