The Mariners are of course currently chasing one of the more elite hitting baseball teams in the Rangers. While the two teams are quiet opposites in design, it currently stands to reason that while the Mariners have kept up with the slumping Rangers, a second half resurgence is in order for our rivals from the south. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities where they run away with the division after the all-star break. Getting Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler back in the starting line-up, fully healthy only stands to help the Rangers.

But as the season goes on and I sit down and actually take a look back at last season, the Rangers didn’t exactly standout as much as they had in my mind. They took advantage of a lot of key match ups. Part of what helped them is they were 32-25 against a meager AL West last year and then went 14-4 playing against bad inter-league teams such as like Pittsburgh, Houston and catching Milwaukee during injuries.

This a lone accounts for a 46-29 record which in a way doesn’t seem “dominate” despite being 17 games over .500. I’m not saying they were bad by any means, good teams beat bad teams. Isn’t that the saying? But then you look at their record against teams above .500 (Minnesota, Chicago, Tampa Bay, New York, Boston and Toronto) they were a combined 23-30. So while they weren’t a bad team, maybe they weren’t as impressive as we made them out to be and I think this year they are a bit more exposed.

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