Rangers follow unorthodox path to AL West crown

This isn’t the team the Texas Rangers believed they would have. In these closing weeks, their lineup frequently has included five or six players who weren’t on the Opening Day roster and three who weren’t even in the organization. That’s why this American League West championship — secured in a 3-0 win over Oakland on Friday — might be the sweetest of them all.

Oh, and there’s All-Star center fielder Ian Desmond. He wasn’t in the original blueprint either. But when he was still a free agent at the beginning of Spring Training, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels saw him as a chance to strengthen his team.

At the time, Daniels had come to the conclusion that left fielder Josh Hamilton might not play in 2016 (He didn’t.) and was unsure if his top prospect, Nomar Mazara, was ready (He was. He leads all AL rookies with 20 home runs and 64 RBIs.)

Only it really wasn’t about figuring out how many at-bats Desmond, a former All-Star shortstop, would get or where he would play. It simply was adding another good player and trusting manager Jeff Banister to figure out the rest of it.

Maybe it’s decisions like this that have helped make the Rangers one of baseball’s most successful organizations. Five playoff appearances in seven seasons is validation of that.

Or maybe it’s how Daniels handled the non-waiver Trade Deadline.

His team needed starting pitching. The Rangers used 11 starting pitchers in the first half, and only Cole Hamels (14-5, 3.42 ERA) had stayed healthy and performed at …

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