ARLINGTON, Texas — FanDuel Sportsbook listed the Texas Rangers at +142 to win the American League West on Thursday, after a 3-1 win over the New York Mets at Globe Life Field. The Houston Astros are listed at -168.
After Tuesday’s games, FanDuel had Houston at -250 and Texas at +205. Before accounting for the sportsbook’s margin, Thursday’s prices carry implied probabilities of about 62.7% for Houston and 41.3% for Texas. On Tuesday night, those figures were 71.4% and 32.8%.
The line has moved in both directions this week. Before Tuesday’s games, Texas was a -156 favorite and Houston was +134. The Rangers then lost 6-3 to the Mets on Tuesday while the Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 7-0, leaving the teams tied at 78-79.
On Wednesday, Texas lost 7-2 to New York for its third straight defeat. Later that night, the Seattle Mariners beat Houston 6-5 in 10 innings, tying the game on a bases-loaded walk and winning it on a one-out single. Thursday’s win moved Texas to 79-80, a half-game ahead of Houston (78-80).
Houston won the season series 9-4. If the teams finish with the same record, the Astros win the division on the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Rangers manager Skip Schumaker spoke with reporters before Thursday’s 1:35 p.m. CT first pitch. Houston was not scheduled to play until 8:40 p.m. CT.
“I think everybody was pretty locked into that game last night,” Schumaker said. “We still have a shot. That’s all you wanted. We went to bed feeling a little bit different than we did after a tough loss [earlier in the] night.”
“We’re grateful to be in the spot to be able to watch a game last night and to feel good about coming into the ballpark the next day after a loss,” Schumaker continued. “That doesn’t always happen. Not every team is in that position. I feel like today is going to be a good day.”
Houston Astros Open Final Series In West Sacramento
Houston opens a four-game series against the Athletics at 8:40 p.m. CT at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, Calif. Right-hander Peter Lambert (8-10, 3.70 ERA) starts for the Astros. A Houston win would tie the teams at 79-80 with the Astros holding the tiebreaker.
Texas has three games left, all at Target Field against the Minnesota Twins (75-84). The Rangers are 34-44 on the road this season.
Josh Jung hit a two-run homer in the first inning Thursday and went 3-for-3 with a walk. He spoke with reporters in the home clubhouse after the win, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reported.
“It just gave us life,” Jung said. “If you go down a game, that’s tough. So Seattle coming back and winning that game, everybody was just like, ‘Deep breath. We can still do this thing.’”
Kumar Rocker allowed 1 run over 5 innings, and four relievers retired 12 of the final 13 Mets hitters. Corey Seager added a solo homer in the sixth.
“There’s still a pulse,” Schumaker said after the game. “As long as we still have a pulse, we’re good to go. We have that. That’s the fun part about where we’re at right now. … But we have to win. That’s the other part of this thing. I said that last night, if we don’t win, it doesn’t matter. The scoreboard watching is more fun when you win.”
Wild-Card Race And The AL Central Line
FanDuel lists the Cleveland Guardians at -156 to win the AL Central and the Chicago White Sox at +132. On Tuesday, Cleveland was -116 and Chicago was -102.
A Houston win Thursday would leave the Rangers three games behind the White Sox in the wild-card race, The Dallas Morning News reported. Chicago holds the tiebreaker over Texas.
“Again, we still have a heartbeat, still have a pulse,” Schumaker said. “I felt like we’ve come out to play the game with our chest out and our chin up, and we’re letting it fly. That’s the main thing. We gotta play loose and play our style of baseball … if we play our brand of baseball with the way that they feel right now collectively, we’re going to be OK.”
Jacob deGrom (11-10, 3.86 ERA) starts Friday’s opener in Minneapolis against Twins right-hander Joe Ryan (6-10, 3.83) at 7:10 p.m. CT. The series continues at 3:10 p.m. CT Saturday and 2:10 p.m. CT Sunday.
