The baseball franchise that calls Arlington, Texas home should be extra excited that their manager is no longer Buck Showalter. The last two teams that Showalter has left have gone on to win the World Series the very next season (1996 Yankees, 2001 Diamondbacks).

So if recent history continues its trend, the Texas Rangers may be the champions of baseball at the end of October.

Who’s to say that the Rangers shouldn’t be considered as a favorite to win it all? They certainly have a sporting chance at winning their division after going 80-82 a season ago; let’s not forget that the Cards only won 83 regular season games en route to winning last years World Series. While Texas hasn’t won a division title yet this century, it is always a battle down the stretch to see which team from the American League West will make it to the postseason.

And if Texas gets hot at the right time, they may be able to sneak into the World Series and pulverize a National League team that wouldn’t make the playoffs to begin with if it were in the American League. That being said, a lot needs to fall into place for this team to even have a shot at the playoffs.

In the late 90’s, Texas was almost always a lock for the playoffs. Since then, the team has often been on the brink of success, but hasn’t always found all of the right pieces. That isn’t to say they aren’t headed on the right track.

New Manager Ron Washington is said to be a “player’s manager” and may connect with a team that appeared to hardly even speak to each other under Showalter. Washington is said to have a lot of energy and connect well with a variety of players. Managers such as Ozzie Guillen and Jim Leyland seem to have a quality working relationship with their players, and we know how well that has panned out the past two years.