MLB Insider: No one saw this AL playoff picture coming

Each weekday morning and afternoon members of the Star-Telegram Sports department receive an email of the day’s most read stories. If it were a competition, the Dallas Cowboys would be running away with the title.

After all, who can resist a blog item about how much the third-string outside linebacker ate at breakfast?

But stories about the Texas Rangers, much like the Texas Rangers, have been rallying toward the top, including an interesting No. 5 on Friday’s most read list:

“Look for 75 wins in the Rangers future,” by the still alive-and-kicking Randy Galloway. From April 4.

Someone somewhere found the preseason column, posted it on the Internet, and decided to call attention to what a ridiculous prediction that was, some 5  1/2 months later and with the Rangers past 75 wins and suddenly in first place in the American League West.

All those clicks are greatly appreciated — greatly appreciated — but it’s safe to assume that almost everyone who clicked on the column link had a similar non-winning, non-contending preseason forecast based on that roster and with those injuries.

No one saw this coming.

No matter who was doing the predicting, from those who take bets in Las Vegas to local scribes to the national guys to those who rely on algorithms to forecast a season, they didn’t have the Rangers doing what they’re currently doing.

Preseason predictions, of course, are about as useful as the appendix, the hamate bone and that biceps tendon that popped in Robinson Chirinos’ left arm.

Players are allowed to improve during the course of a season, veterans or younger players. Injured players are allowed to get healthy. Minor leaguers are allowed to earn a promotion and make positive contributions.

And teams are allowed to try to address deficiencies and make over their rosters in the hopes of getting better. The Rangers, New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays are shining examples.

Conversely, players can struggle all season, key players can get injured and never come back, Triple A replacements can stink it up, and teams can make moves that backfire. The Washington Nationals, Miami Marlins, Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels have done as much this season.

The success stories are just as surprising as the failures. Each serves as a lesson to let a season play out, in some cases all the way until September and October.

The AL playoff picture isn’t done shaking out on multiple levels. The Rangers haven’t clinched anything, not with three more games left against the team chasing them, the Houston Astros.

The West could come down to the last week, and the curious scheduling is bound to be brought up. The Rangers finish with seven games at home, no fault of their own, and the Astros finish with six on the road. It happens.

But the Rangers get three home games against the Detroit Tigers, which is hardly as daunting as it looked according to those preseason outlooks. The Astros, meanwhile, close with three games at Arizona.

Interleague play. No designated hitter. A playoff spot on the line. And the D’backs, contrary to preseason forecasts, are a good team.

The entire AL playoff picture, aside from who wins the Central, is undecided. Kansas City will win that division, but the Royals’ recent slide and the Blue Jays’ recent surge has the top record up for grabs.

The Blue Jays, of course, still have to put away the New York Yankees in the East.

Minnesota, second fiddle in the Central, continues to figure prominently in the wild-card race. It’s entirely possible that the team that finishes second in the West — the Rangers, the Astros or the Angels — doesn’t make the playoffs at all.

The Angels look done, but they have a three-game series at Houston beginning Monday and play four games at Globe Life Park to close the season. The Angels are 7-9 against the Astros this season and 10-5 against the Rangers.

Prediction: Blue Jays win the East and finish with the best record, Royals win the Central, the Rangers win the West, and the Yankees and Twins are the wild-card teams.

But who knows? The season still has two weeks left. Players and teams are allowed to improve or fall flat, just as they are when all those preseason predictions are made in March and early April.

There’s no shame in being lumped with the vast majority who predicted the Rangers and Astros to be eliminated by now. Anyone who did shouldn’t be acting now as if they didn’t.

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 6:02 PM with the headline "MLB Insider: No one saw this AL playoff picture coming."