The Mariners host the Rangers in a big divisional clash.
Did the Mariners deserve to win that series against the Astros? Eh, probably not, but the margins were so close all three games could have turned on a dime. The clutch performances from Randy Arozarena and Julio Rodríguez in Wednesday’s come-from-behind win were a nice balm after all the futility we witnessed in Tuesday night’s extra-innings loss. More concerning is the injury to Ryan Bliss and the complete depletion of the M’s infield depth. There were already plenty of concerns about how the team was covering the corner infield positions and now they’ve got to find a solution at second base too.
The Rangers entered the season with some optimism after a hugely disappointing follow up season after their World Series win in 2023. The core of that championship team is still essentially intact and their pitching staff was mostly healthy to start the season. They’ve gotten off to a hot start, though there are some concerns still present. Their pitching staff has been leading their early success with a better-than-expected bullpen securing a ton of close games. The problem has been their offense; as a team, they’re sporting an 84 wRC+ and have scored just 3.5 runs per game so far.
A bunch of the Rangers stars struggled last season which was a big reason why the team underperformed so significantly. Marcus Semien and Adolis García suffered through their worst seasons in quite a while, Josh Jung and Evan Carter were injured for the majority of the year, and Corey Seager couldn’t make up for all those issues. Texas traded away Nathaniel Lowe this offseason and brought in Jake Burger and Joc Pederson to bolster their lineup — a lateral move at first, at best, but an improvement at designated hitter. Unfortunately, Wyatt Langford, the Rangers’ best hitter to start this season, strained his oblique earlier this week and will be sidelined for a few weeks. That puts even more pressure on the elder stars in this lineup to turn things around.
Probable Pitchers
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Jacob deGrom hasn’t pitched in a full season since the pandemic shortened 2020 season. He’s dealt with a litany of injuries that have limited him to under 200 innings total over the last five years. He’s healthy right now, but there’s no telling how long he’ll stay that way, so every inning the Rangers get out of him is a precious commodity. In an effort to reduce the strain on his arm, he’s throwing a little softer this year; for him, that means his heater is averaging 96 mph rather than 98 or 99. All three of his secondary offerings are just as effective as ever so the real question is if he can continue to be one of the best pitchers in baseball with diminished fastball velocity.
Kumar Rocker’s wild path to the majors finally came to its conclusion last fall when the Rangers called him up for a cup of coffee in September. At that point, he had thrown just 64.2 innings as a professional, thanks in part to a Tommy John surgery in 2023. He was as raw as you’d expect from a polished college starter who spent a year in independent ball after the Mets draft shenanigans left him high and dry. Still, despite the lack of pro ball experience, he held his own against major league competition across three starts last year. His slider is his best pitch by a wide margin — batters simply cannot touch it. The rest of his repertoire is still a work-in-progress and he has some serious relief risk because he doesn’t really have a third or fourth pitch that’s very reliable. For now, the Rangers are letting him figure things out in the rotation, but he needs to prove himself quickly before some of Texas’s other starters get healthy.
With Jacob deGrom sidelined for nearly the entire time they’ve been teammates, Nathan Eovaldi has essentially been the Rangers’ de facto ace for the last two years. He’s always had a hard fastball and good command of his entire repertoire, but the key that unlocked his ceiling was the development of his fantastic splitter. Now that he’s reached his mid-30s and his fastball velocity has dipped to under 95 mph, he’ll need to rely on his secondary offerings even more. Beyond his split, his curveball is probably his second best pitch, and he’ll use a cutter to keep left-handed batters at bay.
The Big Picture:
A 5-8 record is better than 4-9 but still not good enough to escape the basement of the division.