A rally. Is that too much to ask. A lousy rally. Apparently, it is too much to ask season, especially that last ten games.
In the past ten games, the Rangers have scored 32 runs. Simple math tells you that’s 3.2 runs per game. That’s down slightly from the 3.5 runs per game the Rangers are averaging the entire 2020 season.
How does that compare to other teams in the American League West?
Houston averages 5.4 runs per game in 2020. Los Angeles, 5.0. Oakland, 4.7. Seattle, 4.3. Which helps explain why the Rangers are in dead last in their division.
They can’t score runs because they can’t build rallies. Yesterday’s 4-3 loss to Seattle was a prime example. All three runs came on solo homers. They can’t seem to do that with men on base, can’t seem to ever get that big hit they need.
Here are some ugly facts, with apologies to spoiling your Monday holiday morning.
But these past ten games have been particularly inept. In those ten games, the Rangers have had ninety innings in which they have come to bat.
They have failed to score a single run in 66 of those. That’s 73 percent scoreless innings.
They’ve managed only one run in 19 innings, or 21 percent of their at-bats.
They’ve scored two runs in five of those innings, which comes to 5%.
And they scored four runs in one of those ninety innings. They haven’t had a three-run inning or anything more than that single four-run inning over the past ten games.
In 93 percent of their innings, they score one run or fewer. In 99 percent, they score two runs or fewer.
It seems no matter how much the Rangers tweak their lineup and try playing the hot hand, they just can’t put together anything sustainable.
The philosophy is not working. The process is not working.
Rangers fans have seen bad teams before. But, at a .333 winning percentage, the current Rangers are tied with Boston and Pittsburgh for worst record in baseball.
No Rangers team has ever finished a season at .333. Since they moved to Arlington, the worst it’s been was in their second season, 1972, when they played .351 ball. If this was a full 162-game season, at this pace the Rangers would lose 108 games.
Watching their offensive futility night after night, it sure seems like they’ve lost that many already this year.
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TODAY’S GAME:
Kolby Allard (0-4, 5.40) vs. Marco Gonzales (4-2, 3.09)
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