So. You just got swept by the Milwaukee Brewers, including giving up 6 RBIs and 2 home runs to Carlos Santana, and are now within 3 games of being caught up to by both the Astros AND the red-hot Seattle Mariners. Now what?
For the majority of this season, the Texas Rangers have been the heavy favorite not only in the AL West picture but in the AL in general. Their entire lineup is surging, with people like Jonah Heim, Corey Seager, Leody Taveras and now depth pieces like Mitch Garver and Travis Jankowski playing some of the best baseball of their careers. And as strong as their pitching was before, bringing in Max Scherzer, Jordan Montgomery and Chris Stratton has made the unit even stronger, and they might have one of the best rosters in the bigs.
But after the series against the Brewers, the Rangers have the Astros 2.5 games behind them and the Mariners 3 games behind them. Regardless of the trouble the Astros had vs. Boston last night, they've still built a ton of momentum and can never be truly counted out. The Mariners, almost purely on the heels of Julio Rodriguez, have shifted into overdrive and just keep winning games, have won seven in a row and now get to beat up easier teams like the White Sox and Royals this week.
If the Rangers didn't still have the best rotation in baseball, I'd be a lot more worried.
Here is the funny part. Like in 2020, the Rangers' rotation was built to withstand catastrophe yet still combatted more catastrophe than anticipated. The initial plan for this year was deGrom-Gray-Eovaldi-Perez-Heaney-Odorizzi. Immediately Odorizzi gets hurt, then deGrom struggles to stay healthy and finally drops midyear. Perez and Heaney are less consistent than they need to be, and while Eovaldi and Gray are great, Eovaldi gets hurt around mid-July, meaning that by the time reinforcements are brought in in the form of Scherzer and Montgomery, we're back at a healthy five. And the variable that's perhaps been the most consistent out of all of them is the guy SEVENTH on the initial depth chart, the great Dane Dunning, who started the season in a long relief role.
I'm glad Dunning got a chance to start, because he's been excellent, as expected, in that role. He's got a 3.15 ERA, a 9-5 record, 101 Ks and a 1.161 WHIP, the lowest of anyone active in the rotation. Dunning, Gray and Heaney are still consistently logging innings, and while Perez has been moved to the bullpen he's still strong enough. Scherzer's 3-1 in his first 4 starts and still pitches like classic Max. Montgomery's 2-1 in his first 3 starts and is just as dominant as he was in St. Louis. Even with all the casualties and mishaps, that's still a solid five man rotation. Even without deGrom or Eovaldi, I'm not that worried. I'm writing this before Gumby took the mound in Phoenix, but I'm hoping he continued his excellent work, because that's what this rotation is chock full of. Granted, maybe gutting some of the bullpen wasn't the greatest idea but the goal is to not have much use for it. Which...I mean, we'll see how that goes.
I still think the Rangers have enough talent to stay ahead. The momentum may not immediately be on their side, but they can still keep the upper hand. I still think this year will have an AL West winner that is not Houston. The Rangers just need to make sure it's them and not Seattle.
Coming Tonight: Unlike Jordan Walker, an Opening Day rookie who's actually built something nice this season.
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