Which Way, Western Team?

 

Of all the teams that have a chance at a playoff spot this year, the Rangers might be the most vexing. At multiple points during this season, the Rangers have either looked like a true fierce competitor or they've looked completely lifeless. And I think the lucky part is those moments have synced up exactly in the right way for this team's credibility. Unlike the Giants, they timed a hot streak to make them buyers at the deadline, resulting in Merrill Kelly, Phil Maton and Danny Coulombe coming to town. And they're still trending upward, even after some mixed series' with the Yankees and Mariners.

The main issue with this team is that the things that are really good about it are infuriatingly fleeting. Corey Seager missed about a month and a half of playing time, but when he's been on he's been the team's best player, with 16 homers, 40 RBIs and a 4.3 WAR in 83 games. Tyler Mahle had an excellent start to the season, but, as he's prone to, got hurt. Marcus Semien had a .324 average in June and has a .210 average the rest of the season, which is the single purest distillation of Semien's flightiness you could even find. Evan Carter, Wyatt Langford and Josh Jung have all made decent progress, but all in fleeting moments and never at the same time. Josh Smith has been one of the constant presences, he's been working the contact muscles all year, but Josh Smith has been the 'break in case of emergency' guy for the Rangers the last few years. If Josh Smith is getting more playing time than the people he's supposed to supplant, then maybe he should be starting for another team. Cut out the middleman.

The most important thing that's synced up, though, has been the starting pitching. An all-timer Nate Eovaldi stretch is happening at the same time as an all-timer Jacob deGrom stretch, and adding in great stretches by Merrill Kelly and Jack Leiter means that this rotation is rolling, in a way unrivaled by arguably anyone else in the AL West [even as the Mariners are heading the same direction]. Luis Castillo may be good right now, but Eovaldi is 10-3 with a 1.38 ERA. That is a performance that really deserves to be mentioned around Cy Young voting time honestly, even if Skubal's probably getting it. The one thing this team really doesn't have is a viable closer, as Robert Garcia keeps getting killed in the ninth, but Phil Maton seems to be doing a decent enough job there thus far.

There is a chance that this rotation paves the way for a run, and all of the pieces, like Adolis Garcia, Jake Burger, Rowdy Tellez, Kyle Higashioka and Wyatt Langford, all make this team an unstoppable offensive force that brings us another odd year of Bochyball in the playoffs. It can definitely be done. It's just very odd that this season has developed the way it has, and that the first 3 or so months of the season paved the way for a Rangers team that could go far. 

If it happens, and it very well could...don't be too shocked. This team either just misses the playoffs or goes deep, and we'll see which.

Coming Tonight: At last he is healthy, helpful and hitting home runs, which is something the guys that signed him to the contract were really worried wasn't gonna happen.