ARLINGTON, Texas — Don’t look now, but it’s the beginning of June and the Texas Rangers are still leading the American League West division. They are three games ahead of the defending World Series champion Houston Astros, have the second-best record in baseball behind the Tampa Bay Rays, and show no signs of slowing down.
And the amazing thing about how well the Rangers are doing is they’ve been without their biggest free-agent acquisition of the past few years, Jacob deGrom, who is still working his way back from injury and hasn’t pitched since an April 28 victory over the New York Yankees.
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On the latest episode of the Locked On Rangers podcast, host Brice Paterik discussed how May went for the Rangers and stated that their World Series aspirations might not be a long shot after all.
The Texas Rangers had a lot of eyes on them coming into this season because of the deGrom signing, but also because of the Marcus Semien and Corey Seager signings during the 2021-22 offseason. Those signings, while big, didn’t yield big results for the Rangers in 2022, and the team went 68-94 while finishing fourth in the AL West standings.
With the additions of deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, among others, this offseason, the expectations were a little higher. So far, the Rangers are exceeding those expectations. They are currently 35-20 and finished May 18-9; again, they did that without Jacob deGrom in the rotation. They also have the best run differential in baseball at +131, which is 13 runs better than the former leader in that stat, the aforementioned Tampa Bay Rays, who are at +119.
The highlight for the Rangers has been their starting pitching.
Righty Jon Gray entered the month of May with a 4.40 ERA and exited the month with a 2.81 ERA. He pitched seven innings of one-run ball in his last start against the Baltimore Orioles and reached eight innings in his start on May 13 against Oakland.
Eovaldi finished his May 4-0 in five starts and lowered his ERA to 2.42. He’s been the hero for the Rangers this season and stepping it up in deGrom’s absence.
Righty Dane Dunning, who came out of the bullpen in April, was asked to start in May and he stepped it up as well, going 2-1 in five starts. Overall he’s 4-1 with a 2.06 ERA.
But it isn’t only the pitching. We already mentioned the run differential, but the offense has also been excellent for the Rangers so far in 2023, and that was without Corey Seager, who injured his hamstring on April 11 and didn’t come back until May 17.
Paterik said about the offense, “It all starts at the top with Marcus Semien and his 20-game hit streak.” He carried the load while Seager was out and continued to hit once Seager returned from the IL.
Rangers fans should be excited about their team, says Paterik. It’s been a rough go for them since 2016. The Rangers finished in last place three times and were 60-102 two years ago. Now, they’re in first place by three games, and when Jacob deGrom returns, this team will get even better.
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