50 Games in

[FWHORN]

Rangers play game number 50 tonight. 31-18 is a great start and has them 6.5 games up on the Angels and holders of the best record in baseball. The Angels after a slow start seem to be finding their form and are currently on a 7 game winning streak themselves to get back to .500 at 25-25.

Josh Hamilton has been best player in the league through the first 50 games and if he keeps it up he is a legit triple crown threat. Darvish has proven to be all that and the Rangers have a solid rotation top to bottom.

Detroit who I thought was odds on favorite along with the Angels is a pedestrian 23-25 but the central is weak so I still think the Tigers turn it on and win that division. The Tigers and Angels are the two teams (along with the Rays and Yanks that you always keep an eye on) that I check the box scores on every night after the Rangers.

I still think the Angels are the team to beat and with 113 games left there is a lot of baseball still to play. Long California road trip starts later this week and as we head into the long hot summer Ranger baseball should give us a lot to talk about.

 

[Hook 'Em Danno]

Yep, agree on all points. The great start is helping me get over Game 6 (not quite over it yet though). I hope they can keep it up. Other than Darvish, the starting rotation creates some anxiety just about every time they take the hill and Wash still makes some head-scratching bullpen moves on a regular basis. All-in-all, a great start to what I hope will be another great year. Time will tell.

 

[HornHuskerDad]

^Good point, Eric. The starting rotation for the Angels was supposed to be their strength, and it's been something of a disappointment so far. Their bullpen is an acknowledged weakness. The offense is starting to produce, and that's led to the current winning streak.

Another fact to consider is that the wild card teams may all come from the East this season, unless the Angels can start winning a bunch.

HHD