Those of you who know me know that I love baseball. I'll watch any baseball. I'll watch Pirates-Padres, Royals-Mariners, anything. I particularly enjoy watching the New York Yankees (for their history), the San Francisco Giants (for the setting) and the L.A. Dodgers (for Vin Scully).

However, my team is the Texas Rangers.

Typically, I don't get so bold as to make grand predictions about the Rangers. They've never won a playoff series and have only won one playoff game. Heck, it's been nine years since they last went to the playoffs.

But if you're looking for a team to pull off what the Colorado Rockies did last year, look no further than Arlington, Texas. I'll give you five reasons why.

1. Believe it or not, pitching. Have you seen the likes of Scott Feldman, Luis Mendoza and Matt Harrison this season, particularly the past week or so? I'm not a stats geek, but our starting pitchers have gotten us into the 6th and 7th innings of virtually every game, meaning the team has a chance to win every night.

Remember, Jeff Francis wasn't exactly a five-time Cy Young winner for Colorado as he led them into the postseason last year.

2. Terrific GM work. I know the book is not in on Jon Daniels, but how sweet has that trade with Boston been? To think: The li'l ol' Rangers took the BoSox to the cleaners when Texas traded Eric Gagne and got David Murphy (among others). And, I loved the fact that Daniels stood pat with this club, saying that he "likes our guys."

Believe me, I'm all for a fire sale when need be, but the more I see the core of this team, the more I believe Daniels was right on the money.

3. Youngsters producing. Those pitchers. Murphy. Crush Davis. Ian Kinsler. Perhaps we owe a bit more credit to manager Ron Washington and his coaches, but they've really gotten a lot out of guys who came from nowhere, many of them under 27.

4. Comeback wins. Just this week alone, I've seen the Rangers come back from 3-0, 4-0 and 6-0, including Monday night's wonderful walk-off grand slam from Marlon Byrd. Geez, I'd love to post Josh Lewin's call from that, but MLB is so stingy when it comes to embedding video. The point is this: Texas isn't panicking no matter how far they're down, and this bodes well for teams in the second half of the season.

5. Josh Hamilton. Not only will he be the MVP of Major League Baseball this season, he's also the best story in the game since Sammy and Mark back in 1998. What's crazy is that this club has not been carried by Josh all season. He's one peg that fits very nicely into this puzzle.

However, his trip to the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium this summer is already legendary. My point here is this: We have major, major good karma, I suspect, from the baseball gods for having this guy on our team. Alas, watch. This video is incredible.

Feel free to scoff at my notion that Texas could be a contender the next several weeks. However, I'll freely admit: I don't just think Texas could be a "contender."

They are a contender. Right now.

And, I have a gut hunch, a baseball/sports intuition that tells me Rangers fans should start scooping up tickets and making plans around first pitches because these last 48 games and beyond could be the stuff of memories.

It's the same hunch I had about Colorado last year, well before their run.

Coincidence? Could be. But it doesn't change the fact that if you're a Texas Rangers fan and you haven't been caught up to what's going on with this team, you need to wake up and plan on making first pitch tonight at 7:05 p.m. versus the Yanks. Whether it be on TV, the Web or in person.

Go Rangers.