2010 was the greatest season in Texas Rangers history. 

I know that is not saying a whole lot, but to me, it is remarkable anytime a team that has been around as long as the Rangers have—50 seasons dating back to their Washington Senators days—accomplishes the greatest anything in their team’s history.

The Rangers won their first postseason series. They reached their first World Series. Though they lost, they established a newfound credibility under their new ownership. Led by 2010’s American League MVP Josh Hamilton, the Rangers will likely contend for the foreseeable future.

Only one team’s 2010 season turned out better than Texas’s. 

Led by a pitching staff with powerful arms and equally eccentric personalities on the rest of the team, the San Francisco Giants won their first World Series since moving to the Bay Area, exorcising any ghosts that remained from their 2002 collapse to the Angels. 

Two nice teams. Two nice seasons.

But in 2010, the Giants and Rangers shared more in common than just their World Series appearance, something greater than capturing their respective league pennants. 

Each team had a losing streak of six or more games.

Amazing, right? (If you don’t believe me, feel free to check out baseballreference.com.) Even Avril Lavigne is thinking "What the hell?" right now. 

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

On April 14, the Texas Rangers were 5-3. One week later, they were 5-9.     

Setting the tone for their World Series win, San Francisco one-upped Texas this time as well. 

Six games wasn't enough for them; beginning June 26th, the future champions lost seven straight. 

“Somehow”—quotations stressed for sarcasm—both teams survived their insurmountable losing streaks. 

Newsflash: This year, the Boston Red Sox will do the same.

Look, I get the “sky is falling” mentality amongst Red Sox fans. This is a team with unusual expectations.

Of ESPN.com’s 45 MLB experts, 33 picked them to win the World Series. Nine of the 12 who did not, picked the Sox to lose in the World Series; the other three had them winning the AL East. 

Think about that for a second: Not a single ESPN.com MLB expert expects the Red Sox to miss the playoffs. Red Sox fans do not root for the Red Sox anymore. We root for the second-coming of the Yankees.

And with that comes magnified scrutiny. I get it. But people, please. A six-game losing streak is a six-game losing streak is a six-game losing streak. It does not matter when it occurs, be it the first six games, last six games or 61 through 66 six games.

It is all the same. 

Fans love to create narratives because the reality that the variance of a 162-game season delivers unusual statistical anomalies just isn’t a sexy enough plot line. Instead, we say the Red Sox “are succumbing to the pressure” or that they “aren’t as good as we thought” or that they “lack team chemistry.”

Whatever.  

If the Red Sox "overcome this losing streak" and make the playoffs, they would not be accomplishing anything extraordinary, considering both World Series teams did the exact same thing JUST LAST SEASON.

If they don't, it will be because New York and someone else was a better baseball team over 162 games. Six games is not enough to start changing opinions.

This is not to say the Red Sox are without flaws. Jon Lester is the only starting pitcher who I have confidence in (I like Buchholz a lot, but the major league innings jump from 2009 to 2010 concerns me this season), and Terry Francona vehemently refuses to play his nine best hitters.

Somehow, a 35-year-old Marco Scutaro with his career line of .266/.335/.383 has earned a lifetime achievement award grasp on the shortstop position while Jed Lowrie rides the bench. 

I imagine that those concerns will work themselves out. (John Lackey is worthy of his own column, one I envision writing shortly after the Yankees smack him around Fenway Park this afternoon.)

But my greatest worry is whether or not the pieces in their lineup fit.

The Red Sox’ two best hitters are Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis, and it is not close. When creating each game’s lineup, Francona should begin by writing their names into the third and fourth spot of the order and take it from there.

Taking it from there must include figuring out what to do with Carl Crawford. The Red Sox have three players to fit into two lineup spots in front of Gonzalez and Youkilis. The solution is simple really.

Crawford “looks like a leadoff hitter” in every way but performance. Against left-handed pitching, his career line (.270/.315/.381) is practically identical to Scutaro’s. His .741 OPS away from domes is not a misprint.

As Ed Lover would say, “C’Mon Son!”

Crawford should bat seventh where his speed can be utilized, and his inability to get on base would be less of a hindrance. Unfortunately, the mega contract he signed forces the Red Sox to bat him second or third. As a result, his value will be marginalized by the at bats he takes away from Gonzalez and Youkilis.

Signing Carl Crawford improved the Red Sox. Signing Carl Crawford to one of the biggest contracts in baseball history was ridiculous. These two statements are not mutually exclusive.

But no matter what Tito decides to do with the lineup, with Lackey on the mound today, it is practical to expect this losing streak to reach seven games. 

No sweat.

That just means the Red Sox have a chance to be the second-straight team to win the World Series despite a seven-game losing streak in the regular season.

Now if that streak reaches eight…

Well, I got nothing.