Jim Cowsert – USA Today Sports
It’s going to come down to the final game of the season tomorrow to determine if the Texas Rangers will even make the postseason. They are currently battling it out with the Cleveland Indians and the Tampa Bay Rays. Two of these teams will make the postseason as the wild cards and play one game to determine who advances.
The Rangers have closed the gap the last two days by defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, while the Rays have slipped up against the Toronto Blue Jays, making the 162nd game of the major league baseball season very exciting.
The Rangers have been a pretty consistent team throughout the course of the season; finishing in the top ten in almost every major category in pitching and hitting. But when it comes to sabermetrics, the Rangers excel in a few categories that could guide them to a World Series if they are able to get in.
First off, they are third in baseball with a 17.3% strikeout percentage. Surprising for this team but they do not strikeout a lot and obviously putting the ball in play is good because you never know what could happen.
They are also seventh in the league in speed score (SPD). This is a measure of efficiency of base running and takes into account stolen base percentage, frequency of attempts, percentage of triples and run scored percentage. Guys like Elvis Andrus, Leonys Martin and Alex Rios do a good job of when they get on base, they steal bases and they score runs. Efficiency with your base runners is key to sustainable postseason success.
These are the numbers the Rangers need to continue to push if they are going to make a run in October. Now it’s just a matter of if they get in or not.
Zach Slotter is a contributor for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @zslot6, Like his Facebook page and add him on Google.
