54-53

Rangers sweep Astros. 

The AL West standings might read that Houston holds a 5 game lead on the Rangers, but its 60-49 record is really only 4 games better than Texas in the loss column. Thanks to the home sweep, as well as the Angels playing some pretty awful baseball of late, the Rangers have made up a considerable amount of ground over the last week. 

As for the wild card race, Texas is ultimately fighting 5 teams for two spots, assuming they don't tear off a massive run and take down the AL West crown altogether. Currently, the Angels (57-50, +1.0), Blue Jays (57-52, WC2), Orioles (55-52, -1.0), Twins (54-53, -2.0), Rangers, Rays (54-55, -3.0), Tigers (52-55, -4.0) and White Sox (51-55, -4.5) are at least within 5 games of the second spot, but I'm assuming Detroit and Chicago to be non-factors. 

I'm not a scout, but the talent separation among most teams in contention seems to be marginal. The Blue Jays probably have the best roster, top-to-bottom, and the Angels have the best player, but Minnesota and Baltimore and Texas and Tampa are a veritable wash. The baseball season consists of 162 weighted coin flips, but there's so much parity in 2015 that 86 or 87 wins might be just enough to get it done. Can the Rangers go 33-22 over their next 55 games? Of course they can. But the same can be said for every other team in the vast American League wild card pool.

Also, that was a really fun series against the Astros.  

Cheers.