There used to be a few minor leagues that split their seasons in two. They had first-half winners and second-half winners. Each half-season winner met in the playoffs. They did that because players move through the minors so often that a certain team at the beginning of the season […]
The Tampa Bay Rays started a thing. It could turn out to be revolutionary. It probably will. Not because it’s good for the game—personally I think it sucks. Not because players want to do it or even other GMs are particular fond of it. But you can bet it […]
Usually you have to close out the ninth inning to earn a save. Last night, Jose Leclerc earned one by getting the last out of the eighth inning. Keona Kela earned the official save, but Jose Leclerc saved his manager Jeff Banister from catastrophe. He saved his manager from […]
Don’t look now but the Rangers starter with the best ERA is Austin Bibens-Dirkx. After five brilliant innings last night, giving up no runs and just two hits to the San Diego Padres, Bibens-Dirkx’s ERA dropped to 3.57, a tick better than Cole Hamels’s 3.61. He left the game […]
For a team to get hot, one guy in the lineup needs to ignite it. Shin-Soo Choo has been the blasting cap for this offense almost from the moment he was moved into the leadoff slot. The incredible stats site baseball-reference.com breaks down a hitter by weeks, and there […]
Okay, the winning streak is over. Seven wins in a row is a nice run. Coincidentally, the also-last-place Cincinnati Reds are now currently riding a seven-game winning streak. Every dog must have its day, indeed. Let’s hope Texas doesn’t repeat last year when after their remarkable ten-game winning streak […]
During yesterday’s game, after a particulary good at-bat in which Robinson Chirinos battled for a walk with bases loaded to score the Rangers first of what would eventually be six second-inning runs, the Rangers announcers were praising this team on their new patient approach at the plate. This progress […]
Great pitching. Balanced offense. Power. Speed. The Rangers stretched their winning streak to six games with one of their better games of the season. It starts with pitching, as most success stories do. Mike Minor was awesome last night against the Minnesota Twins, a team that was supposed to […]
Six weeks until the trade deadline. Often, that is a time of optimism for bottom feeding teams like the Ranger. But this has historically been fleecing time for Jon Daniels. Which means, it has been the fuel for the long slow decline of the Texas Rangers. Daniels tends to […]
Don’t look now, but the hottest team in major league baseball is the Texas Rangers. Five wins in a row. It helps that they played the last three against Kansas City, who is a woeful 2-17 in the month of June. But that’s not to take away from last […]
