2. Texas Rangers
Is there a lineup hotter than the Texas Rangers right now in all of baseball?
A team that just got off an 11-game winning streak, the Rangers are rolling right now in the AL West and own a 4.5 game lead in the division over the Angels.
Josh Hamilton is hitting near .500 in his 20-game hitting streak and the rest of the lineup around him is responding.
For the first time all year, the Rangers lineup (seen below) is completely healthy and all playing together and the results show that.
Justin Smoak and Matt Treanor are the only players not hitting over .280 in the starting lineup and even they are performing above average as of late (.279 and .269 average in the last 14 days, respectively).
Ian Kinsler is performing well. Michael Young is replicating his career year from 2009. Vladimir Guerrero is having a resurgent year. Nelson Cruz is playing like a beast, even with 2 DL stints.
Julio Borbon and Elvis Andrus are dominating in their second years in the league. There is just no weakness in this lineup.
This lineup had a ton of talent coming into the season and it is showing it's muscles in the month of June.
Come playoff time, we could be talking about this being the best lineup in all of baseball.
Lineup:
1. Elvis Andrus
2. Michael Young
3. Ian Kinsler
4. Vladimir Guerrero
5. Josh Hamilton
6. Nelson Cruz
7. Justin Smoak
8. Matt Treanor
9. Julio Borbon
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The Rangers started off the year struggling with injuries and consistency in their lineup.
Now that everyone is healthy, the lineup is in a great rhythm and is on a torrid pace over the last few weeks (.849 OPS in the last 28 days).
The key for this team is health.
The team with the best pitching in the playoffs usually wins the World Series, but I don't know about that this year. There are some special offenses this year that could be the difference between champions and runners up.
Let's see who I think will make the playoffs this season.
AL West: Texas Rangers
AL Central: Minnesota Twins
AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Wild Card: New York Yankees
The Red Sox will overtake the Yankees by the end of the year when they get healthy and it will be a dogfight in the playoffs.
The Rangers might be able to add a pitching piece before the deadline and could be a tough out in the playoffs, no matter who they face.
We all know the Twins are always tough, so you can never count them out of any race.
All I know is that no matter which teams make the playoffs in the AL, it will be an ultra-competitive October.
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