The rankings So much for the thinking that the Rangers would wither in the summer heat.
In their past 16 home games, the game-time temperature has averaged 32 degrees — and Texas is 11-5 in that stretch. The Rangers moved ahead of the Red Sox in the wild-card race over the weekend, and pulled even with Boston in the National Post’s latest American League rankings (voted on by baseball writers John Lott and Jeremy Sandler and editors Jim Bray and Guy Spurrier). Records and statistics are through Sunday’s games. Last week’s rankings are in parentheses. 1. New York Yankees 74-44 (1) Have posted four winning streaks of at least seven games 2. Los Angeles Angels 70-45 (2) Morales (.385 for August) has hits in 45 of past 51 games 3. Boston Red Sox 66-51 (3) 12-17 since all-star break, trailing Texas for wild card 3. Texas Rangers 66-50 (5) 106 steals rank third in MLB 84% success rate is first 5. Tampa Bay Rays 63-54 (4) 95-43 home record since start of 2008 is best in the majors 6. Detroit Tigers 62-55 (6) Reliever Lyon is 5-1, 0.77 with 29Ks in past 21 outings
7. Chicago White Sox 60-58 (7) Waiting for Peavy, desperate Sox try Freddy Garcia again