Heim and a Half

 

A couple of years ago they did a season of Hard Knocks during the regular season, and they did it with the Arizona Cardinals, who were supposed to be a great team that year with Kyler Murray and J.J. Watt and all, and then...that team ended up being really bad, and so the last couple episodes of the season of television were like '...shit, what other storylines do we have left here?'

That's kinda what it feels like for the Rangers this year. They're coming off a World Series win, they just hosted the All-Star Game, and their season's basically over already. They're well under .500 with no shot at the wild card race, and they just have a month to like...do what they can. Y'know, not the season we thought we'd be getting, but there's still more to do, so...here we are.

So here are some loose storylines you might see from the Rangers during the last month of the season-

-Corey Seager looking to set a new career single-season home run record. One more and he's at his third 30+ home run season in a row, but five more and he's at a new career high for him. A 35+ homer year for Seager is well within reach, and will continue to light the path of Seager's excellent run in Arlington.

-David Robertson slowly makes his way up the relief strikeouts list. The other night he passed Mariano Rivera, and is now at 1,137 career Ks. 6 more and he beats Francisco Rodriguez for the #11 spot on the list, then he's 23 away from topping Lindy McDaniel to make his way into the top 10. With no certainty that he'll be returning next year, Robertson is making every appearance count. 

-The return of Jack Leiter, now back up in the majors upon the opening of a rotation spot. His first start back was decent, he only gave up 2 earned runs and struck out 4, but he's gonna need more than that to bring his ERA down and start pitching like the scouts said he would.

-Whether Max Scherzer or Jacob deGrom will have any more input this season. deGrom seemed close not too long ago, and we haven't heard a thing from him this year. Scherzer looked so good midyear and is now once again fighting injuries to get back.

-The platoon of Jonah Heim and Carson Kelly. Heim has been pretty strong, if not at 2023 levels, this year, with 11 homers and 50 RBIs, but since coming over from Detroit, Kelly's been hitting .300. True, his old team's doing better right now, but Kelly's been well utilized for the Rangers, and may be a decent perennial backup for this team. 

Other than that, there may not be much else for Rangers fans. Luckily, there's another sports team in the Arlington area to disappoint these people starting from next weekend.

Coming Tonight: If it weren't for that pesky thumb injury he'd be...hitting, uh...MORE than .300. Which he is currently hitting.