Locked in a divisional stalemate and reeling from a three-game skid, the Texas Rangers must outpace the Houston Astros down the stretch.
Through Sunday, Sept. 27, Texas Rangers fans are also fans of the Athletics.
It's an unlikely pairing, to say the least, but Texas needs one of their American League West rivals to take care of business against the Houston Astros.
Going into the Rangers' series finale against the New York Mets on Thursday, Sept. 24, Texas is currently tied with Houston at the top of the division.
Both teams sitting at 78-80 isn't a good sign for the Rangers as they do not have the head-to-head advantage against the Astros.
With just four games remaining, the Rangers know they need to finish at least one game ahead of the Astros in order to win the division and make the playoffs.
Remember, the Rangers are currently three games back of the Chicago White Sox in the AL Wild Card race, so there's still a chance they can make the playoffs if they don't win the division, but those odds are getting slimmer by the day.
Rangers need Athletics to take down Astros
Rangers fans aren't going to be greedy and ask the A's to sweep the Astros in their four-game series, but that sure would be helpful with the way this Rangers team has been playing.
Three straight losses simply isn't going to cut it, but it's not like the Astros have been that much better recently, either.
Dropping the series finale to the Toronto Blue Jays was one thing, but then allowing 13 runs to the Mets in the first two games of the series is another.
This Rangers offense hasn't scored more than three runs in a game since Saturday, Sept. 19, and that's a huge problem.
While yes, the A's sweeping the Astros would be amazing, it still does nothing for this Rangers team if they go 0-4 the rest of the season.
There are a ton of scenarios where the Rangers can still make the playoffs, but the simplest is by going 4-0 the rest of the way and hoping the Astros don't do the same.
Obviously, the Rangers don't need to win all four, but if they find themselves doing so along with the Astros, that would at least give them a way better shot at passing up the White Sox in the Wild Card race, assuming Chicago loses one of their last four.
Keep in mind, the White Sox also have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Rangers.
