The plan.


The 2024 Texas Rangers.

Boxer Mike Tyson once famously said, “Everyone has a plan. Until they get punch in the face.”

The Rangers went into the season with a plan. They would begin with five starters—Nathan Eovaldi, Cody Bradford, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning, and Andrew Heaney—then they’d add Michael Lorenzen, who they had just signed at the end of spring training, into the rotation once he was ramped up, then right after the All-Star break, they would add three more quality arms in Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, and Tyler Mahle, and that plan would carry them into the playoffs.

That was the plan. Then they got punched in the face by their incredibly invisible offense. 

Now, here we are, nearing the middle of September, with just sixteen games to go. They got twelve starts from Cody Bradford. Eight from Max Scherzer. Three from Tyler Mahle. They haven’t had one yet from Jacob deGrom. 

They had a plan. Reality punched them in the face.

Texas has four games coming up with Seattle, starting today. The plan has been so disrupted that a guy from next year’s plan, Kumar Rocker, starts today. Then Friday, deGrom makes his long-awaited first start of 2024, in game 148, with just fourteen games to go. Max Scherzer goes Saturday, making just his ninth start of the year.

So, the Rangers will, from here on out, go wit a seven-man rotation: Eovaldi, Bradford, Heaney, Leiter, Rocker, deGrom, and Scherzer. At least, that’s the new plan. Hope it works.

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