DALLAS — The Texas Rangers take their show on the road with their first extensive road trip to the West Coast of the season. The annual rite of passage out west away from Globe Life Field kicks off a 10-game stretch over the next ten days, all of which will be against division foes.
This weekend will see the Rangers take on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim who are sitting one game back of Texas at a record of 18-14. Despite the absence of Jacob deGrom and Corey Seager, Texas has been holding their heads above water atop the division but, with a successful trip, this stretch can go a long way toward proving the Rangers’ staying power.
Where Los Angeles is coming from
The American League’s Los Angeles squad welcomes the Rangers fresh off a sweep of the floundering St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals are sitting in last place in the National League Central, but nobody could have predicted that the perennial playoff mainstay would be sporting the NL’s worst record a week into May.
Los Angeles handled St. Louis with a balanced attack. Pitching carried the victory in the opener, while the offense completed a 9th inning comeback in the second game. The bats also scored a barrage of runs in the finale on the way to an 11-7 victory.
The Angels saw top to bottom production from their lineup in securing the sweep, similar to the way the Rangers have been performing. In addition to five homers over the three-game set, the Angels piled on hits and manufactured runs to outscore St. Louis 22-12. The bullpen was also extremely effective, putting up scoreless frames, save for two runs surrendered by Aaron Loup in the finale.
After drawing tough pitchers Gerrit Cole and Zac Gallen in consecutive series, the Rangers catch a break in the scheduling as Shohei Ohtani won’t take the mound against them. Of course, that means the former AL MVP will be fully available to focus on hitting against Texas.
The Rangers will also miss starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval. That’s significant. Outside of Ohtani and Sandoval, the Angels starting pitcher ERA is a robust 6.16. The three starters the Texas lineup will face have also averaged under five innings per appearance.
Things to watch for
Game 31, 8:38 PM CT: TBD vs LHP Tyler Anderson (1-0, 5.74 ERA)
Game 32, 8:07 PM CT: TBD vs LHP Reid Detmers (0-2, 4.85 ERA)
Game 33, 3:07 PM CT: TBD vs LHP Jose Suarez (1-1, 7.89 ERA)
His accomplishments against the Rangers will be talked about heavily over all forms of game presentation, but if you looked up “Ranger-Killer” in the dictionary, Mike Trout’s picture would appear. The face of the Angels has played the Rangers in 180 games over the course of his career, and his stats are as follows: .332/.448/.626 slash, 44 home runs and 121 RBI, 27 stolen bases and 146 runs scored. The only other team that he comes close to abusing as much are the Seattle Mariners.
Taylor Ward is another name to watch for. The Angels’ left fielder had been mired in a three-week slump of sorts after starting out of the gate hot. In the last 24 games prior to the St. Louis series, Ward’s slash line was a paltry .145/.287/.193. The bad news for the Rangers is that in the Cardinals series, Ward seems to have woken up, going 6-for-12, with a homer and four RBI.
The battle of bullpens is not one that Texas wants to get into with the Angels. Anchored in the back end by Carlos Estevez, the Angels’ relievers have one of the five best ERAs in the majors at 2.97. Opponents are hitting just .210, and Los Angeles relievers have only allowed five homers on the year. Texas’ bullpen, on the other hand, sports a 3.71 ERA and has struggled in the last few weeks.
One of the best relievers for the Rangers is also one of the reasons why Texas has their probable starters listed as TBD. Dane Dunning has pitched 20.1 innings over eight games for the Rangers and sports a glittering 1.77 ERA and a WHIP of 0.84 while allowing zero homers on the year.
deGrom went on the injured list last week with forearm tightness and technically, Friday night would be his spot in the rotation. The aforementioned recent poor performance of the bullpen is also weighing heavily on this decision – does Texas take out one of its best relievers and expose themselves even further toward the end of the game to fill a rotation spot? The solution might be to use an opener with Dunning getting the bulk of the work.
Nathan Eovaldi would then get the ball on Saturday with Martin Perez likely for the finale on Sunday but the Rangers haven’t made that official yet.
Set against their rivals, this entire road trip looms large for a Rangers club that hasn’t relinquished their hold of first place all season. It’s a perfect time to put some distance between them and those right behind them, and it all starts against the Angels
Do you think the Rangers will kick off their west coast road trip with a series win in Anaheim? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.