The Houston Astros keep leaving the door open for the Texas Rangers to win the American League West.
The Rangers keep refusing to walk through.
The Rangers will look to avoid a costly sweep on Thursday afternoon when they face the New York Mets in the finale of a three-game interleague series in Arlington, Texas.
Right-hander Kumar Rocker (5-11, 4.47 ERA) will start for the Rangers against Mets left-hander Zac Thornton (5-5, 3.40).
The Mets dealt another blow to the Rangers’ playoff hopes Wednesday night, when former Texas second baseman Marcus Semien hit the tie-breaking homer in the eighth inning of New York’s 7-2 victory.
Despite the defeat, the Rangers (78-80) remain tied for first place with the Astros atop the AL West thanks to Houston’s 6-5, 10-inning loss to the Seattle Mariners later Wednesday night.
The Rangers also are still in the race for the final AL wild-card berth, trailing the Chicago White Sox by three games.
Thus, the most realistic path to the postseason for the Rangers remains winning the AL West. But Houston won the season series over the Rangers 9-4, which means Texas would need to take the division outright.
The Astros are just 8-12 since Sept. 1 — a span in which the Rangers have gone 10-10. With a chance to establish themselves as the division favorite over the past two games, Texas has been outscored 13-5 by the Mets (73-85), who have been under .500 since April 11.
“We have to play perfectly the rest of the way,” Rangers first baseman Jake Burger said. “Obviously, we don’t want to be in this situation where we’re at now. But we have to go out there and try and get four wins.”
The role of spoiler has become familiar for the Mets, who are 26-19 since trading eight veterans before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. New York has won series in that span over the Rangers as well as the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays along with the Cleveland Guardians, San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies, all of whom are on the verge of locking up playoff spots.
“That’s all we can do right now — we’re not in it, so we want to definitely play our best baseball,” said Semien, who played for the Rangers from 2022 through 2025 and helped them win the World Series in 2023. “I told the guys we look like we’re playing free, and I think that’s to our advantage right now.”
Rocker didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent start last Friday, when he gave up one run over 4 1/3 innings in the Rangers’ 7-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Thornton earned the victory last Friday after allowing two runs over six innings as the Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3.
Rocker has never opposed the Mets, who selected him in the first round of the 2021 draft but did not sign him due to concerns about his shoulder and elbow. He underwent shoulder surgery in September 2021 and was drafted by the Rangers in the first round in 2022 before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023.
Thornton has never faced the Rangers.
–Field Level Media
