Rangers cling to miniscule playoff possibilities as Twins arrive

The final week of the regular season will almost certainly come and go with little stakes for the Texas Rangers, starting with Tuesday’s opener to their three-game series against the Minnesota Twins in Arlington, Texas.

But it didn’t have to be this way. One week ago, the Rangers were riding high after winning eight of their first 11 games in September to work their way back into the American League wild-card race. They pulled within two games of Houston for the final spot in the postseason.

Since then, the Rangers (79-77) have been in freefall. They head into Tuesday’s clash riding a season-high, seven-game losing streak. Texas’ rotation, which has been on top of MLB in ERA for most of the year, has allowed more earned runs (22) than its offense has scored (19) during the ongoing swoon.

“Nobody could have anticipated losing seven after how well we were playing,” said Texas starting pitcher Merrill Kelly. “That’s kind of the funny-slash-terrible part about baseball.”

The Rangers trail Boston by six games for the second wild-card berth and trail both Houston and the Cleveland Guardians by five games for the final wild-card spot. Each team has six games left, creating a theoretical but beyond unlikely path which would require Texas to win out and two of the other three teams above to lose out.

“That’s baseball,” said Texas manager Bruce Bochy. “It’s hard to explain what happens, but it’s happened to us. You get in these funks, and it seems like you can’t do anything right. That’s kind of been the case here.”

At least the Rangers took their postseason chase deep into September. Minnesota (67-89) was mathematically eliminated on Sept. 13, but the Twins basically gave up on the campaign in July when they moved 10 players at the trade deadline.

The Twins head to Arlington on the heels of a 6-2 win over Cleveland on Sunday in their home finale. The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for Minnesota, which has gone 5-15 in September.

“It’s good for us to end (at home) on a better note,” said Twins shortstop Brooks Lee. “Still got six games left, so yeah, I think it’s a cool little cherry on top for the homestand. Now we’ve got to keep it going.”

The Rangers held their pitching decision until announcing Monday that left-hander Patrick Corbin (7-10, 4.33 ERA) will start Tuesday’s game. Minnesota will give the ball to right-hander Zebby Matthews (4-6, 5.97).

Corbin is 0-1 in September, but has delivered strong showings in his last two starts. He allowed one earned run on nine hits over 10 combined innings against the Astros and New York Mets before being tagged for three runs (two earned) in a one-inning relief appearance Friday vs. Miami.

He is 2-2 with a 6.65 ERA in four career starts against the Twins.

Matthews is 0-2 with a 9.88 ERA in three September starts, and his most recent outing was a disaster. Facing the New York Yankees last Tuesday at home, he allowed nine runs on 11 hits and two walks over just three innings in a game the Twins lost 10-9.

Matthews has never faced the Rangers in his 24-game MLB career.

–Field Level Media