Photo Courtesy: Michael Kolch
The Rangers spent the first two months of the season wasting the best starting pitching in baseball. Tyler Mahle was the best pitcher in baseball through the first five weeks of the season. Nathan Eovaldi was the best pitcher in May, just like in the 2023 title run. Both of these flamethrowing warriors just went down with arm injuries. This predictable but vile occurrence will force the Rangers bats to wake up. They did just that in Minnesota.
The Rangers bludgeoned the Twins for 16 runs twice in the best of three. Predictably, they managed to drop the middle game of the series while only posting two runs. After the bizarre series the Rangers went home to Texas to face the awful Chicago White Sox. The White Sox set records for ineptitude last season. As disappointing as the Rangers were last season, they did manage to 6-0 the White Sox that season. Because the trade deadline is approaching fast, this was a “must” sweep series for the Rangers. The Rangers have a couple days to figure their offense out after doing nothing for the first two months of the season. They are acting like they still have a couple months. If this team flounders hard again, they will probably sell off pieces in a way that will cripple next year too. This was a very important series against a very bad team. The Rangers doing well in the White Sox series and the couple that proceed it are incredibly important. Another failure means the team is gutted before the deadline before players like Jon Gray, Cody Bradford and Josh Sborz even get to throw a pitch. The Rangers were asked to hold the line until those three arms came back. The pitchers stood tall. The offense failed over and over at a hilarious clip.
The Rangers 16 run pop-off games were a bit of an anomaly, as it turned out. The Rangers posted a tepid three runs in the opener of the Chicago series. Bruce Bochy used a cadre of relievers to quell the ineffective Sox attack. Game 2 of the series saw Jacob deGrom pitch brilliantly and be on the line for the loss. Jake has returned to his fastball/slider mix. He is no longer trying to throw his curveball a lot. His control is still perfect. He throws 98 instead of 102 now. He is still the best pitcher in baseball. The Rangers squandered a small lead before having to go to two extra frames to beat the hapless Sox.
The rubber match of the series saw Kumar Rocker, fresh up from AAA, pitch 5 scoreless. The lifeless Rangers offense posted a putrid two runs. This was enough to beat the Sox. The Rangers had their best week of the season by far. They won both series, including two sixteen run performances and a sweep. But they still managed to look like a paper tiger while doing it.
The theme of these articles throughout the season is the excellent starting pitching is not sustainable and scoring runs is needed to win games. You cannot vacuously try to win every game 2-0. Even in the Rangers best week of the season they posted run totals of: 4, 2, 3, 2. This team’s offensive struggles are far from solved. A good week against the wretched AL Central means less and little. The Rangers are having to cobble together bullpen starts due to the pitching injuries. Jacob deGrom is the lone ace remaining. The proud Southern warrior sits atop the Rangers rotation like a King. Former Vanderbilt stars Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker make up 40% of the rotation. Leiter has been electric at times, hurt at others. Kumar has been in AAA half the season after getting blistered in many of his starts. Cody Bradford is close to rejoining the rotation. The Rangers will also probably look to bring Dane Dunning back after he essentially flamed out. In a season that began with Jake being given an extra day of rest before his starts, he now stands as the only proven starter left in the rotation.
The upcoming week is one of the most important the Rangers will face. They are out of time and out of great starting pitching. They will live and die by the offense. That will dictate if they buy or sell at the deadline. That will dictate if the team is watchable for the next few seasons.
Upcoming Schedule – All Times Central
6/17 – vs Royals – 7:05 p.m.
6/18 – vs Royals – 7:05 p.m.
6/19 – vs Royals – 1:35 p.m.
6/20 – @Pirates – 5:40 p.m.
6/21 – @Pirates – 3:05 p.m.
6/22 – @Pirates – 12:35 p.m.
