Unless you were picnicking down in the left field corner at the Trop, where action was heavy and a ticket should get you a helmet, the expected drama between Texas and Tampa Bay didn’t live up to the hype. The Lowe family reunion was fun, and it was nice to see Dickie V. gabs just as much during a baseball game as he does on TV. But strictly from a competitive standpoint, all three games were pretty much decided early, as was the verdict.

Best team in ball?

Tampa Bay.

The good news is, until further notice, the Rangers only have to be the best team in the West, which seems doable if still a little unbelievable.

Despite the developments on the field in Florida, since the Rangers left home last week they’ve managed to add a half-game to their lead in the West. Don’t ask me how that happened. I don’t do the math; I just report it.

This is also the kind of development that lends credence to the notion that maybe it’s the Rangers’ season.

A 15-4 run that failed to put a dent in the Rangers’ lead atop the West apparently took all the wind out of Houston’s sails. The Astros have lost six of eight, not to mention Yordan Alvarez, who injured an oblique while hoisting their offense for two months.

A little more than a week ago, the Rangers swept the Mariners, who may have run out of ways to fool prognosticators.

And now comes Los Angeles for a four-game set starting Monday that ends with a primetime match-up Thursday between Nathan Eovaldi and Shohei Ohtani. And on my birthday, no less.

No need to fuss, honey. An unobstructed view will do just fine. And the remote, please.

Other than Ohtani and Mike Trout and Matt Moore, who would have fit as nicely in the Rangers’ bullpen this year as he did last year, the Angels are mostly just a bunch of guys.

Speaking of which: Shout out to Jon Daniels for the grief I gave him over failing to make a competitive bid in 2020 for Anthony Rendon, a bust in Anaheim. No sooner did the Angels shed one Albert-tross of a contract than they apparently saddled themselves with another. Josh Smith has hit more home runs this season than Rendon, who’ll make $38 million a year through 2026, when he’ll be 36.

And you thought the injury to Jacob deGrom made his contract a bad one.

By the way: Considering the elbow news, you’d think the Rangers would postpone deGrom’s bobblehead night until, oh, 2025, anyway.

As previously noted, as bad as it was to lose deGrom, he didn’t have much to do with building the club’s best start ever. Sure, the rotation looked shaky in St. Petersburg. Andrew Heaney and Martin Perez, in particular. Turns out Tampa Bay is tough on lefties. Might even be enough reason for Chris Young to trade for a right-hander before they see the Rays again next month.

Shane Bieber, anyone? Meanwhile, the Rangers’ lineup continues to rake, making circles around the rest of the West.

The Rangers are plus-149 in run differential. For perspective, Houston is next in the West at plus-55, the Angels are plus-9 and the Mariners plus-2. The A’s? They’re so far in the red in run differential, they couldn’t break even if they played intrasquad games for a month.

Bruce Bochy’s lineup is so good and deep, I don’t see it falling off much. Could the back half falter? Absolutely. Jonah Heim (.791), Ezequiel Duran (.891) and Leody Taveras (.820) are posting OPS figures beyond their years and expectations. But the rest have credentials.

As it is, if you compare the Rangers’ lineup with Houston’s, you’ll see that the only spot where the Astros hold an edge offensively is at first.

Remember the last time Texas’ lineup was better than Houston’s?

Yeah, me, neither. Alvarez, who was putting up MVP-type numbers before he got hurt, will be out at least another couple weeks. Maybe a month. The Astros miss him. They’ve weathered the losses of George Springer and Carlos Correa and Justin Verlander mostly because of their ability to reload. Hunter Brown is the latest example. But the loss of superstar talent eventually adds up, especially when Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve and Kyle Tucker aren’t making up for it.

Despite Sunday’s loss snapping the Rangers’ streak of six straight series wins, Bochy could take solace in the fact that, with the exception of Spencer Howard, his bullpen held up all weekend. Can it continue to do so? Maybe, but it’s not the way to bet.

Just because the Rangers appear to be the class of the West doesn’t mean they should take their five-game lead for granted. Over the next few weeks, their biggest needs will crystallize. Here’s betting a closer takes precedence, though acquiring a starter might not be far behind. The Rangers need a little something for when they see Tampa Bay again, and I don’t just mean next month, either.