It’s not about the Rangers losing four in a row just like it’s never been about how the Rangers finish this season. It’s about guys like Phillips Valdez. He may end up being no more than a footnote for 2019. But he finally got the chance to pitch in the […]
Two-hundred forty-nine pitches. Eleven walks. Two batters hit. Four errors. Eight hits. Nine runs. After the tragedy of Monday, you would have expected it would have been the Angels who would not have come out sharp. Instead, it was the Rangers who played sloppy, unfocused baseball Tuesday night, from the […]
We scream at them when they don’t get that clutch hit. We curse at them when they walk that runner with bases loaded. We hate them when they bat .188. We love them when they are doing super-human things. It’s hard to remember sometimes that they are just human. They […]
Three Rangers are All-Stars. Hunter Pence, who will be the starting DH, and Joey Gallo and Mike Minor. Minor could be the starting pitcher. The number of players that makes the All-Star team is a real barometer of how good that team is. During the glory years, the Rangers were […]
Whoever is in charge of Tampa Bay’s pitching development department, the Rangers need to hire right away. The Rays seem to manufacture quality starters like they were coming off an assembly line, whereas the Rangers are like the mad scientist flailing away in the basement trying to develop a formula […]
Lance Lynn is leading the American League in wins. With ten. He is tied with Justin Verlander. Repeat, Lance Lynn is tied with Justin Verlander in a positive pitching category. Four pitchers in the AL, in fact, have ten wins. Three of them have ERAs under 3. Lynn’s is 4.00. That […]
Last year after 81 games, the Rangers were 35-46. They finished the season 67-95. They finished last. In 2017 after 81 games, the Rangers were 40-41. They finished the season 78-84. They tied for third. In 2016, the year the Rangers won the West and had the best record in […]
The last time team was eight games over .500 was in 2016 when they won the American League West. Since losing five in a row and dropping to five games under in mid-May, the Rangers are 27-14. In the thirteen series they’ve played since, the Rangers have won (including the […]
Nobody would have ever seen this coming. Jesse Chavez? A starter? A dominating starter? A dude? This is why baseball. You can’t predict this. Of all the improbably things that have happened to the Rangers so far this season—last inning comebacks, the emergence of Joey Gallo, the comeback of Hunter […]
Three years ago, in an attempt to revolutionize the prevention of Tommy John surgeries, the Texas Rangers pioneered what they called the “de-load program.” De-load is now de-funct. It was de-sasterous. The ordeal is chronicled by Rangers reporter Levi Weaver in his wonderful article for The Athletic. The idea behind de-loading […]
