Tommy Hunter

Some could argue that the Texas Rangers had a devastating offseason. That wouldn’t be too far from the truth.

The loss of key personnel (Cliff Lee), as well as losing guys to injury in spring training (Tommy Hunter), and the mix-up in the outfield—Nelson Cruz dropping the first fly ball because of Julio Borbon bumping into him in the home opener—the Rangers have a long season ahead of them.

Two games into this long 162-game season, however, the Rangers have had some great things happen already.

This is part two of a three part series where I am ranking the top 30 major league players on the Texas Rangers roster. In part one I covered players 30-21, which was mainly players on the fringe of the 25 man roster and younger players who will contribute at some point during the season. The players ranked 11-20 are not quite core players, but they are more so components of the Rangers. Every team has a few stars at the top of the roster and average players that fill out the bottom of the roster, but its the middle section of a team that puts a team over the top.

Game three of the World Series is in the books and the Texas Rangers are finally on the board.

A Mitch Moreland three-run home run, a solo shot from ALCS MVP Josh Hamilton, and solid pitching from starter Colby Lewis helped the Rangers put a 4-2 win in the books in Arlington on Saturday night.

After two demoralizing losses in San Francisco, fans here in Texas wondered if the Rangers were capable of coming back and tying the series.

Before the game yesterday, Cliff Lee facts were trending on Twitter (#cliffleefacts). Some of the facts were ridiculous, such as "Cy Young won five Cliff Lee Awards", and "Neftali Feliz does not have to come to the game when Cliff Lee pitches, because Cliff Lee needs no closer."

The earliest of Sunday's three MLB Division Series matchups will be between the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays, after Tampa notched a comeback win in Game 3 of the ALDS. Trailing 2-1 entering the eighth inning, the Rays got big hits from (among others) Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena en route to a season-saving win.

A few weeks ago, the Editors at the Bleacher Report asked me to write a piece on why getting Cliff Lee was going to make the Texas Rangers World Series participants.

To add Cliff Lee or not to add Cliff Lee, that is the question surrounding a lot of teams as the trade deadline is just a few weeks away.

For the Texas Rangers, however, the answer to this question has to be a resounding-no.

For one, the team is currently four and a half games up on the defending AL West champion Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and don't look to be slowing down any time soon.