The way I usually post customs, I try and go from the top down, or at least how the division looks how I make them. So a couple weeks ago the AL West customs were going in a pretty understandable order. Rangers, Angels, Mariners, Astros, A's. This is how the division looked for most of April.
I check the AL West standings a couple days ago and it's like someone's done a prank on me. The Angels are in last, the A's are in second, the Astros are in third [where they've belonged for the past three years], the M's are in first, and the Rangers, who looked so good early on in April, were circling fourth. It had been well reported how many close wins marked their first week back, but that didn't ring any alarm bells for me. Ultimately, far too many starters were hitting below .200 for this to in any way resemble a first place team, so here they are in fourth.
Thankfully, today's an off day. So they can figure it out hopefully while they can breathe.
At the time of their last off day, April 21st, the Rangers were 13-9. Perfectly respectable record, on the right foot. Then after the day off they go 4-8. It is possibly because Corey Seager gets hurt during this stretch, and isn't back until yesterday. But it does also feel like some of these issues were bubbling up. Joc Pederson has been absolutely terrible this year, hitting .094 with 8 hits in 85 at-bats. Marcus Semien, who at least has experience being cold in April, is hitting .182. Jake Burger was doing so poorly he got sent down to the minors, joining Evan Carter, who's yet to even have any time in the majors this year. Luke Jackson, despite having 8 saves already, has a 6.00 ERA. Even all-stars like Josh Jung, Adolis Garcia and Jonah Heim have shown their inherent flaws despite some decent enough averages. Even with Langford, Seager and Smith all doing well, there's a morose, sluggish feel to this team, and it's become even more evident when compared to the Mariners and A's, who feel revitalized.
The one place the Rangers haven't suffered too greatly is in the starting pitching, which is weird considering they've already had to cut Dane Dunning and put Kumar Rocker on ice. Jacob deGrom, Nate Eovaldi and Jack Leiter have had excellent starts, and are perfectly reliable arms for the current moment. deGrom has a 2.61 ERA and 36 Ks, so he finally seems to be his old self again. The surprises have been the two fliers- Patrick Corbin has done a 360 from his Nats days, and has a 3.28 ERA, and a 2-1 record, through 5 starts. He's not perfect, but he's reliable, which is...wild.
And Tyler Mahle, after too many consecutive years of injury troubles, looks better than he has since leaving the Reds. In 7 starts he's 3-1 with a 1.19 ERA and 32 strikeouts. Smooth, strong and unstoppable. He's not overexerting himself at the moment, he's just doing his thing, and it's led to him being considered the league best starter of April. Hopefully he doesn't let that go to his head, because we all know how soon he can get himself onto the IL.
The Rangers ultimately have a lot that works, especially in its pitching. So the hope is that whatever offensive issue has stopped the team from competing at the moment subsides in time for them to really dominate going forward. Semien, Garcia and Pederson have had slow starts before, and hopefully they can get around these ones.
Coming Tomorrow- The Dodgers have had a streak of organizational pieces not coming to fruition. Zach McKinstry, Jonny Deluca, Josiah Gray, James Outman. Has this guy just broken the streak??
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