For five innings, Cleveland’s Parker Messick was dominating the Rangers. Of course he was. He’s a lefty.

Then came the sixth. 

Down 2-0, the Rangers first batter was Kyle Higashiosaka, who has been on fire the last two weeks, with an OPS over 1.400. He led off with a long home run. Michael Helman was next. How he survived the cut over Alejandro Osuna is a headscratcher. He popped up.

That brought up the newly activated off the I.L. one-two punch in the Rangers lineup: Wyatt Langford and Corey Seager. Langford doubled. Seager homered.

And just like that, the Rangers offense came alive, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead they would eventually carry with them through the remainder of the game.

If that was real, if Langford and Seager are going to revert back to who they are supposed to be at the plate, then this Rangers team has a chance. Mainly because, they are fortunate enough to be in the worst division in baseball, where every team seems like they are swimming with a hundred-pound anchor strapped to them.

With the re-emergence of Joc Pederson, and every other ten-game emergence of Jake Burger, this team can be an offensive threat. Especially now that Ezequiel Duran has supplanted Josh Smith. 

Before, the Rangers had more dead zones than a Sprint phone, with holes at second, short, left, and DH. 

Combine that with the offensive black hole in center, and this team was really not good. But it only takes a few players to get hot to elevate the entire team.

And if Seager and Langford step up, finally, that changes everything. 

If. If. If. 

One game is not justification to print playoff tickets. But it did make it fun to imagine what if.

*****