The Texas Rangers looked checked out after their grotesque series against the hapless Kansas City Royals. Brutal news rolled in on a daily basis. Corey Seager done for the year with a hernia. Evan Carter done for the year. Adolis Garcia hurt. Danny Coulombe went down too. Lazy Marcus Semien waded listlessly through the season until breaking his foot. His odious, negative presence being removed from the lineup was the catalyst that helped this team surge.
The Rangers have been carried by excellent starting pitching. Tyler Mahle led the charge out the gate. He went down with a shoulder injury months ago and will not return. He was the best pitcher in the AL for a while there. He was flanked by two other aces: Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi. Both of these legendary warriors stood tall again and again for Texas. “Big Game Nate” Eovaldi finally ran out of bullets. The righty flamethrower was diagnosed with a season ending shoulder injury around the same time as the Rangers half billion dollar middle infield duo went down.
The contribution and talent of Eovaldi cannot be overstated. He has stood tall time and time again for this team. He did it in May last year after deGrom went down. Then did it in the World Series. He did it this season too. He is one of the best and most impactful pitchers in Rangers history.
Jacob deGrom has stayed healthy and been excellent all season. It says a lot about Jake that his “bad starts” are 6 IP, 3 ER. Jake is like Prime Doc Gooden: crushing dominance is to be expected; a quality start or solid performance is perceived as a let down. Jake has been a legit, top end ace for the Rangers. Jake spent most of his career being let down by the Mets offense. The Rangers have made this Metsian trait a habit.
The bullpen has been asked to hold tiny leads all season. Bochy has pulled the right strings for the most part. Constantly trying to win games 2-0 means that when a reliever gives up a couple runs its catastrophic.
Imagine telling a Rangers fan of yesteryear that the Rangers would have the best ERA in baseball but somehow have a losing record. This team has been vexing to watch. Despite being close to the third wild card seed, the Rangers do not have the firepower to make the playoffs. Evan Carter and Eovaldi are both hurt.
The Rangers peeled off a few wins in a row but have already started to lose again. They will probably finish with 83 wins.
