The Sunday Read: Rangers look like contenders after first 40 games

(AP photo/Reed Hoffmann)

An MLB team’s 40th game isn’t very significant in the grand scheme of a 162-game season.

But it’s nice round number, and those first 40 represent the first quarter of a season.

The Rangers played Game No. 40 on Sunday, when they won 11-3 at Oakland to finish 10-game West Coast road trip. They went 7-3, losing only once in each series, and two of the loses should have been wins.

Next up for the Rangers is a three-game home series against one of only four MLB teams with a record better than their 25-15 mark, the Braves. But, yes, the Rangers, losers of 100 and 94 games the past two seasons, have the fifth-best record in baseball.

Go ahead and screenshot this: Barring a 2014-like rash of injuries, the Rangers will be bona fide contenders late into the season.

They are 10 games above .500 and have four-game lead in the American League West. There’s a long way to go, and the Astros and Mariners are going to play better than they have been.

So are the Rangers, who are expected to have Corey Seager back at shortstop Monday night.

Don’t scrap any October vacation plans just yet, but be mindful of the possibility of postseason at Globe Life Field.

The way the Rangers are playing is the No. 1 highlight of the first quarter of their season. But there have been plenty of others, as well as some concerns that have popped up.

Let’s take a look.