Days Are Gone

 

[hey wow, that cheeky music thing I do with Christian Yelich posts I can also do with Jonah Heim posts]

You see, now this all makes sense. I thought the Rangers weren't good enough for 2nd place, and now I think they're perfectly good enough for 3rd. Thanks Mariners for righting the ship there.

The funny thing about this team is that even if the Mariners have lapped them, they're still looking more full and realized than they have all season. Their lineup consists entirely of people with over 10 home runs, with the exception of 3rd base, which is platooned, and oddly enough Brad Miller. That means people like Nate Lowe, the now-injured Mitch Garver, and even perennial backup Jonah Heim, who's gotten a much-deserved showcase at backstop, are hitting pretty well this year, or at least hitting a lot of home runs. That also means that the contracts that came off to a slow start, like Kole Calhoun and Marcus Semien, are getting more done now as well.

And keep in mind, the Detroit Tigers currently don't have anyone with 10 home runs. So for the Rangers to have 7 is pretty great.

What's more, this lineup seems to have learned from how 2021 works, and is building around Adolis Garcia, who's in great form this year, while also giving Corey Seager time to be a hero. And they're still trying things out. Steven Duggar is off to a decent start in his first few games, and I'm still convinced that Josh Smith is gonna be THE guy at 3rd [besides, it's a tradition for a Rangers third baseman to have an entirely boring name]. 

Even the starting pitching is sort of shaping up, and I trust the trio of Martin Perez, Dane Dunning and Jon Gray. I do think that they need to wait for Glenn Otto to figure stuff out, and they need to figure out if Spencer Howard is worth sticking out for at all, but they're on the right track, and I feel better about the rotation than I did at the start of the season. Bullpen's still kicking ass, too.

So while the Rangers maybe were too under qualified to be in 2nd, I think they're better off as a spoiler in 3rd, keeping down the teams that want to compete but aren't polished enough. I don't think a playoff run is in the cards for them this year, but I think it'll end up being a season they'll at least be proud of.

Coming Tomorrow: I might just do the All-Star reaction post I usually do tomorrow morning, as I'm in transit today.