We've been spoiled (kind of) as Rangers fans

I've read quite a few online comments from fans lately that the Texas Rangers are far from a great baseball team. The offense is inconsistent. The starting pitching is not elite. The bullpen picks inopportune times to blow up.

These are Rangers fans saying this stuff, too. OK, so perhaps Texas doesn't always have the appearance of a World Series contender.

For the last three years, these fans have been spoiled by a pretty doggone solid baseball team.

With three games to go in the regular season, the Rangers have:

• a two-game lead in the AL West
• a record of 93-66
• a chance to tie the franchise's single-season wins record of 96 from 2011

 That ain't bad, folks.

Of course, fans expect progression every season and don't really take into account how difficult it is to make back-to-back-to-back appearances to the World Series in the midst of a grinding 162-game regular season. Two years ago, the Rangers were beaten emphatically in the World Series. Last year, the Rangers were one out away (twice!) from winning the World Series. So naturally, fans expect nothing less than a World Series trophy this season.

Part of me expects that, too. But a larger part of me keeps fresh in mind the last time a team made at least three World Series appearances was (not surprisingly) the Yankees (four times in a row) from 1998-2001.

Sure, we don't want to be known as the Buffalo Bills of MLB, but considering the franchise had never won a playoff series in team history before 2010, I'd say it's still a pretty great time to be a Rangers fan.

Texas heads to Oakland for a three-game series that begins tonight. One victory in any of the three games will clinch a third straight AL West title.

And beyond that, who knows? The AL does not appear to have a dominant team this season (the Rangers have the best record right now), so why not Texas again? There's no team that the Rangers would face in the AL that would make me throw in the towel before the series started. Texas can still beat any team in the league on a regular basis.

Yes, we've been spoiled for the past three years. Expecting World Series titles? Maybe a little unreasonable. But it speaks to just how far the team has come. Rangers fans now look forward to October more than any other month of the season. I can get used to this.