Playoff Bound

A turbulent regular season, both on and off the field, culminates with the Rangers first trip to the playoffs in 11 years. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

The Texas Rangers (86-68) are officially the American League West Division Champions.

While the Rangers have held at least a seven game lead for the majority of the second half of the season, it hasn't been a smooth ride to this outcome.

Texas has dealt with everything from an epic battle for ownership of the team during the majority of the regular season, to key pieces of the offensive in-and-out of the lineup. Even the projected ace of the pitching staff coming into the season, Scott Feldman, was demoted to long relief in an all-around up and down season. None of that mattered Saturday afternoon, however, as an alcohol soaked Rangers team basked in the success of a division championship - 11 long years in the making.

"It's a proud day in Texas," said Josh Hamilton, an MVP candidate who has missed the last three weeks due to a pair of broken ribs. "It's been a long time."


The 4-3 division-clinching win over the Oakland Athletics (77-77), the only other team in the A.L. West with any sort of aspirations for the division crown, was delivered by the most unlikely of heroes. Jorge Cantu, homer-less and RBI-less in 24 previous appearances with the team, picked the perfect time to break out of his slump, giving Texas a homer and a pair of RBI - including the go-ahead solo home run that put the Rangers on top for good in the eighth inning.

"There's no better feeling in baseball," said Ian Kinsler, who finished the game 2 for 3 with a run scored. "We just got Cantu a couple of months ago and he came up with a humongous hit for us. It was a great team effort today and it's the way we've been playing baseball all year. We just seem to pick each other up constantly."

The other unlikely hero in the ascension this season is the Rangers' pitching staff. No one could have imagined coming into the season the way this pitching staff has carried an inconsistent offense, with or without Hamilton in the lineup, all year long. The staff earned run average (ERA) for the season is currently 3.90, which would be the lowest cumulative ERA for the Rangers since 3.82 in 1990 - when Nolan Ryan was the ace of the pitching staff, not the owner. If the ERA stays below 4.00, it will be the first time that's happened since the team moved into the Ballpark in Arlington in 1994.

"The offense has been hot and cold throughout the year," said Hamilton. "But the pitching staff has kept us in games and the defense has helped us win them."

Three Rangers' starters (C.J. Wilson-14, Colby Lewis-11, and Tommy Hunter-13) have set career-highs in wins this season and each have an ERA of 3.83 or lower for the season. Combine that with a bullpen that has the fifth best ERA in baseball (3.37) with closer Neftali Feliz that set the rookie-saves record at 38, and you're looking at a formidable staff going into the postseason.

The Rangers will face either the Tampa Bay Rays or the New York Yankees in the American League Divisional Series but, for now, this team is just enjoying the ride.

"It's the most amazing thing I've ever been apart of," said Michael Young, who will make his first postseason appearance in his 11th season with the team. "We had a couple of stretches where we struggled, but we adjusted right away. We know that we're always, always, always going to come back."

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)