The Texas Rangers have been a great example of how a single positive stretch in the season can turn things around.
Nobody look now, but the Texas Rangers extended their winning streak to five with Monday's 6-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians.
The win was the fifth straight road win, the first time for the franchise since 2018.
Texas is finally one game above .500 and has moved to first place in the AL West over the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros after struggling to begin the season. It has the American League's best record over the last month at 17-11.
As the All-Star Break quickly approaches, it's important to head into the stretch with momentum, and that is what the Rangers have done.
Whenever a team hits a midseason stride, they instantly become one of the teams to beat, as the Rangers seem finally to be putting things together.
One of the big reasons for the turnaround has been the major contributions from veteran designated hitter Joc Pederson.
Pederson has 10 homers and a .918 OPS for the team since May 26, and he is one of the sparks that turned things around.
The 34-year-old is not the only bat rolling for the Rangers, as the team has 48 runs and 94 hits in just the last ten games.
Any team is hard to beat when they have the bats rolling. If Texas keeps this up through the end of the first half, it could set them apart in the most competitive division in baseball.
The difference between first and fourth place in the AL West is only three games, but with the Rangers catching fire at the right time, it puts immense pressure on the rest of the division.
Especially knowing this is the first time since April that Texas has a winning record.
For the Rangers, the franchise is three years removed from winning its first-ever World Series, but has not appeared in the postseason since.
In the first couple of months of the season, it seemed the Rangers were destined to continue that recent drought.
However, since entering the winning streak, there seems to be new life, and according to Polymarket, the team's odds of clinching a postseason berth have jumped from 35 to 50 percent.
While that doesn't guarantee anything, it underscores how quickly things can change for better or worse in the league over such a long season.
After concluding the series with the Guardians, Texas will have a big home stretch for the last three weeks of the first half, including the final series against the Astros, which may have a significant impact on the division at the end of the season.
