The Rangers road schedule is over. Thank you, baseball gods, for ending the punishment. For the second straight season this team finished 33-48 on the road.
They weren’t much better in 2017, going 37-44.
Rangers manager Chris Woodward said he was going to look into why that is the case.
Let’s save him a lot of hand wringing and sleuthing. Here’s why:
Teams traditionally play better at home than on the road. So, of course, a bad team is going to play much worse away from home. It’s not rocket science or anything other than that.
This team is horrible on the road because this team is horrible.
You want it to play better away from home? Build a better roster. The 2016 and 2015 teams played over .500 on the road. Why? If Chris Woodward runs the numbers he will see that those teams didn’t suck. And if he dives deeply into the numbers on the last three Rangers teams, he will the last three Rangers teams did.
It’s math. And science. And bad roster construction.
*****
TODAY’S GAME:
Eduardo Rodriguez (18-6, 3.53) vs Edinson Volquez (0-1, 5.02)
Game time: 7:05