Bud Selig could have done everything possible to hurt the Rangers: Support an undesirable ownership group, throw enough roadblocks to keep Cliff Lee away from the team, and the 2010 Rangers would still be going to the playoffs. Simply because the competition failed to show up.

They lead the Angels by 10 games as we head into the final 4. For all the love Cliff Lee's K-W ratio gets, he's 4-6 with a 4.25 ERA for the Rangers. Make Harden/Feldman/Holland take those starts and you lose what, one game? 2 at the absolute most.

Sometimes at the end of a game you second guess, think "what if X had happened". I do it for seasons too. Like 2006. What if the Angels had pulled out a 1 run game against the A's early in the year, and then on the final day of the season (an extra inning loss) somehow got one more runner on base so Tim Salmon could hit his 300th homer, and force a one game playoff?

But not this year. To get the Angels ahead of the Rangers I'd have to fill a book with things that would have to turn out differently. Congratulations Ranger fans. Enjoy your postseason.

Exactly, AROM. It's a good thing that Greenberg & Ryan bought the Rangers, and it's a good thing for us that they're in the playoffs, but the two things are pretty much unrelated. Thanks for your congratulations, and y'all can go back to kicking our butts again next year :)

Right. The Rangers won because they had the best players, by far. They aren't exactly sneaking into the playoffs on the last day. How about just giving them some credit.

Now the NHL, they now how to handle a bankruptcy!

The Rangers are the only AL west team this year that could both hit and defend. The only complete team. To start the year, the Angels looked to have a good offense but no D, and the A's and Mariners had the D but no O. Since August and the rise of Peter Bourjos, the Angels have been a great pitching and defense team, but the offense tanked.

Thanks for your congratulations, and y'all can go back to kicking our butts again next year :)

I'll hold you to that :-). Worst thing is, the Rangers did it by putting together I team that I couldn't hate. I cannot force myself to root against Vlad. And I liked Oliver too.

Not saying I'm rooting for the Rangers, because there are things I like about all 4 teams in the playoffs, but not against them either. Without a strong rooting interest maybe I'll relax a lot more while I'm watching this year's playoffs

Bud Selig could have done everything possible to hurt the Rangers

Naw, he only hurts franchises moving to Washington (see MLB ownership of Expos), not those that have moved from Washington.

I find it odd that Vlad has not been a 'story' this year.
When you gat a combination of
- team did not do so well last year
- team wins this year
- new guy comes to the team and has a good year

The new guy gets TONS of credit. I could sitre lots of examples (and so could y'all).
I can't think of one counter-example similar to Vlad.
But he has received very little MVP press. Maybe it's because Hamilton was their best player until he went down, but still, that didn't stop the uber-luv for Lonnie Smith in 82 or Vince Coleman in 85, or...

Holy ####....I knew Bourjos was known for his glove, just because the first time I heard of him (I think) was in June or so when AROM (maybe) was plotting his call-up to shore up the defense. His numbers are off the charts. Is he really that amazing or just very good with a twist of statistical good fortune?

In less than 1/3 season, he is +16 runs by TZ, +13 runs by +/-, +8 by UZR.

He has been that good. Maybe even more. I've watched just about every game, and if I had the time to break down every play and tally up the actual runs saved he'd be at least +13, +16.

That said, I don't think anyone alive could keep up the pace. He's had the right mix of difficult but catchable balls to field.

You could be the 2nd coming of Willie Mays but if every ball hit to center was a line drive just over the heads of the infielders or a high pop fly medium deep that hangs for 7 seconds, you would not make any more catches than Adam Dunn would playing center. He's saved a couple homeruns. But to do that you need not only ability, you need a flyball hit over the fence but not by more than 2 feet or so, and not hit hard enough that there's no time to get back there.

Yeah, where would the Rangers be without Cantu and Molina hitting so well down the stretch?

Vlad was being mentioned as an MVP candidate around midseason (.319, 20 HR, 75 RBI), but his second-half slump (.277, 9 HR, 37 RBI) has dropped him out of consideration.

Glad that Vlad ended up where he did -- at least this way I still get to see my favorite Angel player in the playoffs.

In less than 1/3 season, he is +16 runs by TZ, +13 runs by +/-, +8 by UZR.

Alas, in less than 1/3 of a season, he is -12 on offense. :-) Gary Pettis without the OBP.

And clearly Francoeur is a type of player we've never seen before -- he needs to be traded every 3 months ... 354/353/521, 135 OPS+ with the Rangers.

Francoeur in his first month (or so) with a team:

July 7 to Aug 6, 2005: 397/405/781
July 11 to Aug 10, 2009: 298/327/442 (OK, not as good as I recall, he got hot later)
Sept 4 to Sept 29, 2010: 354/373/521 (sorry, that 353 earlier was a typo)

the fans of the reds are the ones who should thank bud.

Alas, in less than 1/3 of a season, he is -12 on offense. :-) Gary Pettis without the OBP.

At least he's got some pop though, 5th homer tonight. I still think he can be Doug Glanville on offense.

Kendry Morales did more for the 2010 Rangers than Bud Selig

He did, but the hard cold truth is that this Angel team fell far short enough that a healthy Kowbell could not have made up all the difference. If we had as solid a team as say, the Twins, we could have survived the loss of a star 1b. I believe ( and fervently hope) that Reagins recognizes this and does more to improve the team than just get Kendry back.