Photo Courtesy: Michael Kolch
The Texas Rangers are treating their most important season in team history with all the intensity of Zeke Elliot falling down before being touched. A wretched, lifeless series in Toronto was one in a long line of pathetic offensive performances. The opening game of the series saw the Rangers let Jacob deGrom down yet again. The Rangers have oscillated between getting embarrassed and exploding offensively when Jake is pitching. He seems to bring his teammates up. They still let him down with Metsian frequency.
The 2-1 loss in the series opener is important because it is emblematic of the entire season. A legendary starting pitcher guts out a great performance. Bruce Bochy uses smoke and mirrors to get quality innings out of a poor bullpen. The offense sleeps through it all. This is how most of the games this season have gone. The Rangers should actually have a way worse record than they currently do. The standings mean less and little. This is a terminally broken team riding pitching in an unsustainable way.
The Rangers spent 50 years unable to get the starting pitching to support their great offenses. Now they are bleeding out during their most important season ever. They are bleeding out as they post a lineup nearly identical to the one that won the 2023 World Series. Advocating for firing Bochy would be absurd. He is a pitching focused skipper and the pitching is thriving. His starters are performing very well and his bullpen maneuvering is brilliant. But hitting coach Justin Viele has to go. He should be replaced with a screamer and a motivator. If Big Dallas Green were still alive he would be the perfect fit. Bret Boone needs to remember he is a coach now and no longer a player. He needs to be tough on the players and stop babying them and trying to be their friend and teammate.
If accountability is everything like Davey Scatino once quipped, then the Rangers bats need to be held accountable. Boone has not been able to stop them from getting embarrassed and posting low quality at bats. The Rangers posted a meager two runs in the remaining two games of the series. The Rangers lose in uncompetitive, pathetic ways this season. It is a uniquely galling season. The expectations were sky high. The talent was proven and had worked together as a unit. The skipper is intelligent and proven. He even brought the first ever title to Texas. Yet again and again the Rangers offense fails to show up completely. They fail at such a rate that exceeds even mathematical expectations. They are so wretched that even quantitatively they come up vastly short of where they should offensively. If the Texas Rangers fan had a theme song for the 2025 campaign it would be Nit Grit’s “Let Me Die.”
A couple offensive outbursts against the Cardinals were nullified by yet another shutout. Marcus Semien popped off in both of the wins. Has Semien finally woken up? He had the second lowest OPS in the league until his explosion on Friday. The potential June arrival of Marcus Semien is badly needed. S class starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi was sent to the IL with triceps soreness. This devastating injury will force the Rangers lineup to produce.
This season is a ghastly and bizarre mix of insanely inept offensive performances and great pitching. The usual suspects continue to mail it in. The guys who were doing well before are still doing well. Josh Smith has cooled off a touch. So has Wyatt Langford.
The Rangers continue to bleed out. Once the dam of great starting pitching breaks this team will crater unbelievably hard.
Upcoming Schedule – All Times Central
6/3 – @Rays – 6:35 p.m.
6/4 – @Rays – 6:35 p.m.
6/5 – @Rays – 6:35 p.m.
6/6 – @Nationals – 5:45 p.m.
6/7 – @Nationals – 3:05 p.m.
6/8 – @Nationals – 12:35 p.m.
