Rangers uncharacteristically better away from home

KANSAS CITY -- The Rangers enter the final week of the season with a chance to make the playoffs, and their final seven games are at home. That would seem to work in their favor, but the team has not played its best baseball at the Ballpark in Arlington this year.

"I can't put my finger on it," manager Ron Washington said. "I don't know ... the past four years, we have played extremely well there. That doesn't mean in the last seven games we can't get that back."

Texas is 39-35 at home and, going into Sunday's game, it was 45-35 on the road. The 45 wins on the road are the most by any team in the Major Leagues and the second most wins away from Arlington in club history. The 1977 team was 50-31 on the road.

The Rangers have won at least 50 games at home in each of the last three seasons. But even if they win all seven games, that would leave them with 46, their fewest wins at home since 2008. This would be a good time to win all seven considering what's at stake.

"It has not been easy, but we put ourselves in this situation," third baseman Adrian Beltre said. "We have to win every game. It's something we put ourselves in. We were in a better position three or four weeks ago, but it's baseball. It's a tough time. We've lost a lot of games and we have to find a way to get out of it ourselves."

The Rangers are hitting .265 with a .410 slugging percentage at home. Both are the lowest in the 20-year history of the Ballpark.