A few weeks ago, the Texas Rangers had their eyes on 2016.
Yes, the Rangers traded for Cole Hamels, but that was more to provide next year's rotation with a left-handed ace that they could pair with the returning Yu Darvish. No one, including Texas themselves, really believed they were going to compete for a playoff spot, even though they were five games behind the second wild card team at the time of the trade.
On July 24, one week before the deadline, our algorithms put the Rangers' chances at making the playoffs at 2.