The Rangers nipped the Rays on Friday night (TEX 4, TB 3 in 10 innings), and in doing so moved to within four games of the second AL wild-card spot. That sounds doable enough, but six teams are ahead of Texas in the queue for that second spot. As such, Texas has long odds of making the postseason (needless to say, the AL West crown is all but out of reach). That's why it's possible that the Rangers will pivot at the deadline and trade away some of their near-term assets.

The greatest of these is ace Yu Darvish, who pitched well in the win over the Rays ...

Yu Darvish CHC • SP • 11 vs. TB, 7/21 IP 8 H 5 ER 3 SO 12 BB 1 View Profile

Darvish now has an ERA of 3.44 in 133 1/3 innings, and along the way he has struck out 26.4 percent of opposing batters. Also, the 30-year-old right-hander is in his walk year, which is why the Rangers are reportedly willing to move him. Speaking of which ...

The Cubs have already landed Jose Quintana, and using their remaining stores of young position players to land Darvish would obviously improve their rotation even further. As for the Dodgers, adding an ace like Darvish might seem like piling on, but L.A. is in "World Series or bust" mode. Like the Cubs, they're capable of paying the prospect freight in a deal like this.

No doubt, other teams are eyeballing Darvish, and these situations are pretty much fluid right up until the moment that they're not. Stay tuned.