In Wild AL West, Texas Rangers GM Calls Astros 'Team To Beat'

ARLINGTON, Texas – It's August, and the Texas Rangers are still in first place in the AL West.

With 55 games remaining in the regular season, the Rangers showed they are all-in with their MLB trade deadline moves. But the defending World Series champion Houston Astros are nipping at their heels, a half-game back.

Whether it's gamesmanship or practicality, Rangers general manager Chris Young bluntly declared the Astros as the team to beat after recapping the deadline moves that includes former Cy Young winners Max Scherzer joining Texas and Justin Verlander returning to Houston.

"We didn’t expect this division to be easy. We realize there’s competition … obviously, Houston is the team to beat,"  Young said. "They’re World Series champions and they’ve played great baseball. Los Angeles has been a very solid team and weathered the storm while Mike Trout has been out. And Seattle was a playoff team last year. I don’t count them out by any means."

Yes, even the Angels and Mariners are lingering six games back with ample opportunity to muck up the Rangers' hopes down the stretch.

Here's a look at the AL West contenders and their remaining inter-division games:

You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

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