The Arlington Boys – Predictions 2007
The Rangers snapped back to reality in 2005 after putting together a casual season in 2004 that saw them finish 16 games over the .500 mark while earning 24 points from sponsors. I expected them to drop further in 2006 when they let go of 2 established starters in Kenny Rodgers and Chris Young, but they did improve a game. The Rangers obviously didn’t have the foresight to know that Rogers would be one of the AL’s top left-handers last season. How could you? Now Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla have emerged as the aces of this squad. Millwood was 16-12 last season and Padilla was 15-10. They were the only Rangers pitchers with 10+ wins and 162+ innings pitched. The Rangers clearly have several holes in their starting rotation, and despite a potent lineup, it will prevent them from gaining ground in the American League.
I’m not going to waste time letting you in on a huge betting trend that has produced winning results in 6 out of the last 7 years. The Rangers are doing great in the second game of a home series after winning the opener. In fact, they prevailed 21 of 28 times in this situation in 2004 and 2005. This could be some good information to help you find your spots to carry the Rangers within your division.
The Arlington guys have been known to take pitchers deeper than any other lineup in the game. In 2005, Mark Teixeira had 43 bombs, Dellucci had 29, Mench had 25, Blalock also had 25, Young added 24 and Barajas slugging 21. 2006 wasn’t so great for Rangers sluggers. Teixeira had 10 fewer bombs last season. Blaylock hit nine fewer back-and-forth trippers and Young also hit 10 fewer. With Mench now in the National League and Dellucci making a couple of stops now since his breakout 2005 season, the Rangers have lost a bit of popularity. However, this lineup is still scary and very capable of breaking stretches where it can generate eight or nine runs a game and crush teams. A lot of these guys also hit for a high average, which makes it very difficult for opposing pitchers.
Bad teams are often branded as bad teams and punters will go against them consistently, even if they are on their home ground. The Rangers are a team you’ll want to take a second look at when they play at home. They were impressive 66-38 at home in the 2004 and 2005 seasons against teams outside their division. Texas was also a very solid home team in 2006 and did very well against baseball’s toughest division, the American League Central, with a 25-15 record. But unsurprisingly, they could struggle down the road against non-division teams. This lineup can make us a lot of money in Arlington. If the Rangers continue to dig deep at home, we can continue to take them to the bench.
Rangers have the ability to get very hot. His home run hitting becomes contagious. It’s ridiculous to have 6 guys in your lineup with 20+ bombs like they did in 2005, but with the holes in the pitching staff, I don’t think they have what it takes to get past the A’s or Angels in this division. Hopefully losing several key bats won’t change the identity of this team. The Mariners will still be weak and the Rangers should handle them, but it all comes down to pitching and Texas seems to be paying to take out Rodgers and Young.