Rangers Must Rediscover Home Dominance In Wild Card Race
ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) -- Most teams would relish the opportunity to return home with a wild card birth on the line -- but the 2013 Rangers might just be the exception.
Texas has struggled at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington this season -- relatively speaking -- and is on pace to win its fewest home games since 2008.
The dwindling win total can be largely attributed to the team's offensive "struggles" in the hitter-friendly confines in Arlington.
Texas is on pace to finish with the fewest runs and homeruns at home since 2007, when the Rangers finished 12 games below .500 and missed the Wild Card by a whopping 19 games.
The Texas lineup has been shutout six times in Arlington in 74 home games, three of them 1-0 losses. By comparison, the Rangers were not shutout once at home in 2012.
On the road, the Rangers have the best record in the American League (45-36), though their offensive numbers are nearly identical.
With the team's final seven games at home, the Rangers must rediscover their home dominance to have any shot at winning a Wild Card spot. Tampa Bay and Cleveland currently hold 1.5 and 2.0 game advantages over Texas, respectively.
"We know that we cannot just win one game and lose one game," said Elvis Andrus following Sunday's loss. "Our mentality has to be to go out there and win them all. That's the mindset we have right now."
Derek Holland opens a three game set against the Astros on Monday. The Angels then come to town for a four-game series to close out the season.
The good news: the Rangers have dominated the Angels and Astros at home this season, going 10-2. The bad news: even a similar effort might not be enough.
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