LA Angels vs. Texas Rangers: Three keys to a series win

The LA Angels are set for a two game home series vs. the Texas Rangers starting on Tuesday.

The LA Angels come into the contest with a 20-27 record, and the Rangers sport a 22-27 record.

While neither team is off to the start they want, it’s early, and both are still in it. These AL West division series are huge, and there’s three things that the Rangers do really well. That being said, there are three things that the Angels can do to prevent the Rangers from excelling in their strengths.

The first key to an Angels series victory vs. the Rangers: Don’t bat in the ninth

Obviously, no home team ever wants to bat in the ninth, but it would be a pretty daunting task to do so when playing the Rangers.

Ian Kennedy, the Rangers closer, is tied for the AL lead in saves this year with 11.

Betting on overcoming a deficit in the ninth would be a very poor plan for the Halos. In the last five games that the Angels have batted in the ninth, they have not scored a single run.

It’s simple: The Angels are not very good at hitting in the last inning, and the Rangers are very good at preventing teams from hitting in the last inning.

The rest of the Rangers’ bullpen is a pen they can hit. The rest of their combined ERAs is 4.33, compared to Kennedy’s 1.86. A 4.33 team ERA would place in the bottom third of the American League.

The Rangers starting ERA is 4.39, which ranks in the middle of the pack in the AL.

The Angels need to hit in this series, and their best shot is hitting starting and early relief pitching. If it comes down to trying to win a game with Kennedy on the mound, it’s most likely not going to end very well.

The second key to an LA Angels series victory vs. the Rangers: Keep the outfield from going long

The LA Angels’ outfield loves the longball.

The issue is that the Rangers say the same. The LA Angels are tied for second in the American League with 31 home runs hit by their outfield. They’re tied with two teams in the AL West, the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers.

Interestingly enough, the only team ahead of those squads is also in the AL West; the Oakland A’s. Their outfield has hit 35 bombs.

The rest of the Rangers lineup has only hit 27 home runs all season. That’s bad.

They’re not a powerful team if the Angels can take the outfield’s power out of the lineup. Even with the outfielders included, their slugging percentage is .385. That’s barely top 10 in the AL.

They will not hit for a lot of power when their outfield isn’t in it.

The Angels pitching staff has given up 1.49 jacks per nine innings this year, which is the third-most in the AL. That’s not acceptable, and Texas’ outfield will test the Angels.

The Angels’ staff needs to pass that test with a great grade if they want to get two wins in this important series.

They’ll need to keep runners close, and the offense better get their jobs done early in the ballgame.

The Angels could easily take two from this Rangers team. If they don’t follow this formula, however, it won’t be a successful series this time around.