I suppose that the idea was for things to go a little differently.
The Rangers getting to host the All-Star Game a year after winning their first-ever World Series seems like the kind of happy coincidence that only comes around every so often. A team hosting the ASG the year after they win it all hasn't happened in over 60 years at least. And with the Rangers keeping a lot of their assets and looking for a strong season, it did look for a moment like this ASG would be a less-than-humble homecoming for the team.
And then everybody got hurt, the team stalled and fell into third, and now the only Rangers getting to play next week will be Marcus Semien and Kirby Yates. So that's gotta be disappointing.
The way I see it, every ASG there's gotta be at least one special treat for the hometown fans littered in there. Last year in Seattle it was Julio Rodriguez getting into a Home Run Derby. In 2019 in Cleveland it was Carlos Santana coming from behind to start the game at 1st. Some cities get it lucky: the last time the Mariners hosted was 2001, where they had a ton of reps, including Ichiro Suzuki. But sometimes the team just isn't good enough to merit that starring role.
It almost happened this year, but Jose Altuve got hurt, and Marcus Semien got to start the game at 2nd, something I think he deserved from the jump. And look, this being Texas, there would have already been applause for Yordan Alvarez, now the only active Astros player on the roster, which...haaaaa. But the Rangers being whittled down to just 1 star and 1 reliever is indicative of how far they've fallen. Last year around this time they were incredible, and had five starters, all of which deserved it. A year later only Semien is playing to that caliber. Seager's been good, but has battled injuries. Heim is also very good but there were better AL catchers this year. Jung's been hurt. Garcia's done well in terms of power but just isn't playing well. I am of the opinion that maybe another pitcher should have made it on, but they went with two, and here we are.
And it's hard to really justify having a Rangers starter on here because, while they've done well, they're all gotten hurt at some point. Eovaldi's doing his usual stuff, he's 6-3 with a 3.10 ERA, but he missed over a month of games. Max Scherzer's got a 3.09 ERA, but he's only been back for less than a month. Cody Bradford had a 3-0 record and a 1.40 ERA before he got hurt and missed most of the season. And the guys who've been here the whole time, like Jon Gray and Andrew Heaney, have seen their ERAs rise due to...playing for a Rangers team that isn't as good. Who knows where they'll be by the time Jacob deGrom gets back, if that even happens anytime soon.
I think the Rangers have a lot of really strong pieces, but have been insanely unlucky this year. It's likely that they'll win the Rookie of the Year thanks to Wyatt Langford's strong campaign, and it's looking like they'll get another 25+ homer year out of Corey Seager, but any opportunity to really gloat this ASG season seems to have faded away. They will be good again, undoubtedly, but it didn't coincide with this specific moment.
Coming Tomorrow- One of the most consistent pitchers in baseball, now coming back from one of his first big injury setbacks.
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