Seattle is the Bad Place, at least when it comes to the Rangers.
Yesterday, Texas concluded a seven-game road trip that took them to Anaheim and Seattle. Over the course of last week, we saw the continued shortcomings of the team despite their recent surge in the standings. The offense—which had improved to a degree we hadn’t seen all year—was anemic in certain moments (especially in Seattle), while the back end of the bullpen, though still potent and dominant for the most part, has some glaring holes that desperately need to be addressed.
All of that led to a 2–5 trip, leaving the Rangers two games behind the Mariners for the final Wild Card spot and 4.5 games behind the AL West-leading Houston Astros. Honestly, it could’ve been worse.
Still, the vibes heading into this ever-important homestand—which sees the team face off against the Yankees (a team directly ahead of them in the Wild Card standings) and the Philadelphia Phillies (one of the best squads in the National League)—are not fantastic. But baseball is a fickle sport, and the lows that seem to go on forever can disappear as quickly as they came about.
There’s still a lot to talk about when it comes to this past week of Rangers baseball, and in my little post last night, I outlined some of the points I want to address today. Let’s get into it.
Jacob deGrom’s Sudden Decline
Jacob deGrom, the team’s co-ace alongside Nathan Eovaldi, has not been himself for the better part of a month, especially this past week. Whether that’s because teams are figuring him out or it’s simply general fatigue from the larger workload he’s taken on this year compared to recent seasons is anybody’s guess. Regardless, the Rangers desperately need him to be the ace he can be, and they need it now.
Against the Angels on Monday, July 28, deGrom struggled with his command. He walked only one batter, but the pitches that were finding the strike zone were not of the quality we’re used to seeing from him. As such, the Angels, who aren’t even that good of a baseball team, pounced. They scored five runs on the two-time Cy Young winner, with three of those runs coming off a pair of long balls. When he departed the game, he’d gone 5 1/3 innings, allowed five runs on seven hits, struck out eight—you’ll never take that part out of his game, no matter how poorly he’s throwing—and walked one. The ERA: 2.55.
Yesterday afternoon’s outing versus the Mariners was far more concerning to me than the one against the Angels. The command was once again iffy—of the 95 pitches he threw, only 59 landed for strikes—as he walked three batters. Uncharacteristically for Seattle and T-Mobile Park, the ball was flying yesterday, which usually wouldn’t be a big deal for a pitcher like deGrom, but since he was throwing meatballs when he wasn’t missing the zone, the Mariners were launching homers like nobody’s business. Three baseballs left the park off deGrom, continuing that terrible trend.
