Texas Rangers on Pace for Historic Failure

Just three years removed from a second consecutive appearance in the World Series, the Texas Rangers are on the verge of breaking a 41-year-old record.

With just 17 games left in the season, the injuries and poor play have resulted in the worst record in baseball. And if the Rangers can’t find a way to pick it up, it could end up as the worst record in franchise history.

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

The club has already broken the record for most players used in an MLB season. The Rangers reached that milestone when left-hander Derek Holland took the mound Sept. 2 against the Kansas City Royals, becoming the 60th player used by the organization.

It is a milestone the Rangers surely did not want to reach, considering it mostly stems from the incredible amount of injuries the team has sustained throughout the season. Texas currently has 17 players on the disabled list, seven of whom have been unavailable since at least May. Jurickson Profar and Engel Beltre are two players who have yet to see the diamond.

The countless injuries finally reached a point to where Texas decided to shut down Yu Darvish completely after finding inflammation in his elbow.

Once a .500 ballclub as of June 16, the team went on a downward spiral toward irrelevance. It proceeded to lose 22 of its final 25 games before the All-Star break and couldn’t find the win column much more after it. The Rangers are now 37 games under .500 and 14 losses shy of the club’s record of 105 defeats (since moving from Washington), set in 1973.

Injuries aren’t the only thing to blame. Underachieving play by everyone not named Adrian Beltre or Yu Darvish aided the injury bug in making this a horrendous campaign. Texas has the worst run differential in baseball (minus-161) and the second-worst team ERA (4.72).

It does seem like a long shot for the Rangers to tie or break the franchise record for season losses. However, the above numbers make it clear they are capable of doing so, and they have lost 10 of their last 11 games. Plus, 14 of the Rangers' final 17 games are against the competitive and hot AL West.

And after Ron Washington's resignation Sept. 6, the team will have to try and avoid the historic low with bench coach Tim Bogar at the helm.

All stats courtesy of MLB.com and ESPN.com.

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