ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Chris Young is hoping that the Texas Rangers can flip the script from 2023, when they won their only World Series title.
The Rangers would like to finish this regular season the way they started that championship one two years ago.
Texas (53-50) went into its day off Thursday, after a three-game series sweep of the Athletics and a week before the trade deadline, with 59 games left.
“I look back on 2023 and we went 40-20 in our first 60 games. And after that, you know, the next 102 we were two games under .500,” Young, the team's president of baseball operations, said before the opener of that series against the A's. "Every season has a different ebb and flow to it. And my hope is that the next 62 games are our best 62 games of our season. If that’s the case, then we’ll look back and say, hey, the first half of the season wasn’t as much fun as we had hoped, but it was all worth it to get where we wanted to go."
While third in the American League West behind Houston and Seattle, the Rangers were only 1 1/2 games out of the league's final wild-card spot. They won two of three games at the division-leading Astros before the All-Star break, and are 5-1 since, including a series win over AL Central leader Detroit. There are three games at home this weekend against Atlanta and then three in Los Angeles against the Angels before the trade deadline.
Texas is 12-6 in July and averaged 5.6 runs per game, nearly two runs a game more than in their first 85 games before that. The pitching and defense have been good all season, with the staff's MLB-best 3.16 ERA and a majors-low 32 fielding errors. The Rangers have allowed two runs or fewer in their last seven games, matching the longest such streak in Texas history.
“If we can continue the progress we’ve shown over the last several weeks ... it’s going to determine a lot,” Young said about what the team might do before the deadline. ”So not to put any more pressure on anything, it’s just the reality of this point in the season, and we’re looking up in the standings.”
Streaking Seager
Corey Seager, in the fourth season of his $325 million, 10-year deal with Texas, has a 24-game on-base streak. He has hit .356 with eight homers and 22 RBIs in what is the second-longest active streak in the majors, behind the 29 by Milwaukee's Christian Yelich.
The two-time World Series MVP shortstop had a 30-game streak last year and a 26-gamer in 2023, making him the only player with streaks of at least 24 games in each of those seasons.
Topping the rotation
Right-hander Jacob deGrom (10-2, 2.28 ERA) was the only Rangers player picked as an All-Star, but the team gave right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (7-3, 1.58) the $100,000 All-Star bonus from his contract even after he was left off the American League squad.
Eovaldi is set to start Friday against the Braves, his first game since July 13, when he went 7 2/3 innings in a 5-1 win at Houston before the break. The 35-year-old right-hander was scratched because of back stiffness from last Sunday's game against Oakland, and a matchup with AL All-Star starter Tarik Skubal.
The 37-year-old deGrom missed most of the past two seasons after Tommy John surgery, and his 118 1/3 innings pitched are already his most since 2019, when he won his second consecutive NL Cy Young Award with the New York Mets. DeGrom went to Atlanta last week but opted against pitching in the All-Star Game, and the Rangers intentionally gave him a nine-day break between starts.
“If we can keep him out there and keep getting the best version of Jacob for another 10 or so starts, it’s a great thing for our club,” Young said. "He's feeling really good, and we’re doing our best to try to protect him from a health and recovery standpoint.”
Bringing them back
Josh Jung is 4 for 8 with a homer and four runs scored in three games since being recalled from Triple-A Round Rock, where the third baseman was sent July 2 when in a bad slump.
Jon Gray made his season debut Wednesday against the A's, pitching two innings in relief for the win. The right-hander, who can be a starter or reliever, suffered a fractured forearm when struck by a comeback liner in a spring training game.
Joc Pederson, the offseason addition out since May 25 because of a broken right hand, could re-join the team next week after a rehab assignment.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press
