Coulda Shoulda Woulda is Still Undefeated - Rangers lose 163rd game.

Opening Day starter Matt Harrison - gone for the year. Colby Lewis never made it back. Martín Perez broke his hand and missed 1/2 the season. David Murphy had the worst year anyone could imagine. He was so bad that the once big-time fan favorite was booed.  His at bats were even given to some minor league spare named Adducci.  Lance Berkman was a flop. Nelson Cruz was suspended for 50 games. Mitch Moreland was stunningly awful this year at the plate batting .230.  Elvis hit .230 most of the year.  Robby Ross burned up at the halfway point. Alexi Ogando hit the DL on two separate occasions. Neftali Feliz just made it back for a couple of ineffective outings late in the year. 

...and yet the Rangers win 90 games under Ron Washington for the 4th straight season. How??? They should never have been in position to make the playoffs...

1. Bullpen bullpen bullpen. Joe Nathan was as close to perfect a closer can be. He's the all-time save % leader in the history of the game and he proved this year, by only blowing 3 saves, that he's got way more left in the tank. Tanner Scheppers was amazing in the setup role. Neil Cotts gave the Rangers three guys in the back of the bullpen with ERA's under 2. That's unheard of and is mostly the reason for the chance to be in the playoffs

2.  Starting pitching. Yu Darvish would've been 18-5 with a 2.80 ERA if the Rangers wouldn't have lost four 1-0 games that he started. Couple that with leading the league in strikeouts and you have a serious Cy Young candidate. Holland was finally the bulldog we thought. Matt Garza was mostly steady when he got here. Perez was really good when he returned. Even fill-ins like Tepesch and Grimm had winning records. 

3.  Aggressiveness. The Rangers when they lost Nellie, they had to rediscover their ground game. They stole a ton of bases, bunted, hit and ran and manufactured runs by being overly aggressive. Their aggressiveness made opposing pitchers crazy and some home fans as well because aggression brings danger and it will bite you at times. But more times than not, it won ballgames that the Rangers shouldn't have. 

4. Wash. As long as he and his staff are in charge, they'll never say never. They'll be emotional and will have the heart to never give in (unlike a lot of Bobby Valentine teams I've seen). Wash is an unbelievable leader of men. He's one of the best I've ever seen. He has great baseball people around him in Jackie Moore and Mike Maddux. But unfortunately, he'll not be appreciated fully until he's gone and some Buck Showalter-type of "Playstation Manager " comes in here and doesn't win. Only then will people long for Wash. 

Coulda Shoulda Woulda is undefeated. That's why they have so many fans. But this team Coulda Shoulda Woulda never been close to being in contention for the playoffs.