The way the bungee is working out, the Rangers have righted themselves back to a 2nd place team, which is around where they were aiming for to begin with. They had a great weekend, the A's had to play the Yankees, the wins piled up, therefore the Rangers lapped them. And while it's a reach to say they're a first place team right now, it's nice to see the Rangers making the most of a fairly scattered product. Three big pieces are injured and a lot of the auxiliary guys are picking up the work, but the team has felt more itself in the last few weeks.
Immediately, you can tell that this is the most human Nate Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom have looked in a while. They're not playing badly per se, but some early starts have led to steeper ERAs than usual. deGrom is 4-4 with a 3.48 ERA, which for him is the equivalent of a 5 ERA. He's still got his WHIP around 1, and he's still got 78 Ks, but the big game dominance he had in New York isn't completely there. Granted he is, after all, 38, and may finally be past his peak. I think he's still reliable enough, but this isn't as bang-on as he was last year. Evo's finally got his ERA below 4, but in the process he's gone 5-6 with a league-leading 13 homers allowed [tied, concerningly, with deGrom]. He's definitely improved in his May starts, but I think coming back from the second-half injury left him a little waterlogged to begin the season. The important thing is they're both healthy and making all their starts. Leiter, Gore and Rocker are following in behind them but are similarly carrying around low-3/high-4 ERAs. They're honestly just inconsistent, which figures.
Meanwhile, in a lineup without Corey Seager or Wyatt Langford, things are moving ahead skillfully with a slightly altered approach. It's a good thing Jake Burger's more consistent than he was last year around this time, his power numbers have been pretty nice, with 10 homers and 37 RBIs. Like always, he's good for cheesy power and little else, but he's slightly more well-rounded this year. Can't really say the same for Joc Pederson, as he's all on the power stuff, but at least he's got a .794 OPS and 9 long balls. Took him forever to truly get going in Arlington, but he's got a bit more of a niche now, especially considering they DFA'd his only other competition for starting DH. Jung, Nimmo and Duran have been very helpful revitalizing that portion of the lineup, and Carter is still a very versatile player that just hasn't really started hitting yet. These guys are hitting, even if it's not a fully well rounded offensive output. But for right now, it doesn't need to be much more than flashy.
They're an unassuming, relatively young, relatively simple team that can just outhit you even if they make it close. Heck, somehow Jacob Latz is really working as a primary closing option, even though he was a perfectly fine starting choice last year. Things are kind of coming together, and while I don't know how sustainable it is, it's certainly a better Rangers team than I thought, and better than they looked a month ago.
Coming Tomorrow- He's 34 years old, he's never played more than 95 games in a season, and he's already topped his season home run mark in two months. Why not, right?
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