Usually, when a team is just playing out the schedule, there is something to root for. Individual stats. Milestones. Something.

Other than the unlikely chance that Bruce Bochy ends the season with his managerial record at 2259-2259, there’s nothing.

No Cy Young run. No ERA title. That went away when Nathan Eovaldi was lost for the year.

Jacob deGrom has 177 strikeouts. He has twenty-three more to go to get to 200. With two more starts, maybe three (but with the Rangers out of why, why not just shut him down to protect his trade value?), he’s not going to get to that milestone. He has the most wins, at twelve. No milestones there to shoot for.

Offensively, not one Ranger is going to get to .300. Josh Smith is the highest qualifier. He’s batting .255. To get to .300, Josh Smith will have to go 31-for-31 in the next nine games. That would get his average to .3001. As a reminder, a batter needs 3.1 plate appearances per number of teams his game has played to qualify. So, as of today, a Rangers would need 477 plate appearances. Only Smith, Adolis Garcia, Wyatt Langford, and Marcus Semien qualify. 

Not one Ranger is going to get to one hundred RBIs. Adolis Garcia has seventy-four. It’s doubtful he gets twenty-six in the next eight games, but he did predict he’d hit fifty home runs this year. He’s currently at eighteen. So, if the gets those final thirty-two in these last eight games, even if they are all solo shots, he will get to one hundred RBIs. 

Assuming Garcia doesn’t get those thirty-two home runs, or even twelve, not one Ranger is going to get to the thirty-home-run mark this year. Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford are tied for the club most at twenty-one. 

So, all we are left to do is hope Josh Smith goes 31-for-31, or Adolis Garcia drives in twenty-six, or Wyatt Landford hits none home runs, while Jacob deGrom strikes out twenty-three.

Oh, and wondering if the Rangers will finally find a closer.

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