ARLINGTON, Texas — There was figuratively no better way for the Texas Rangers (58-39, first place AL West) to start off the second half. They swept first place (now second place) Cleveland, they swept first place (now second place) Tampa Bay, and while the Houston Astros haven’t exactly stumbled out of the gate, they have lost two games while the Rangers have run the table, thus pushing the Silver Boot rivals back to 4 games out in the American League West.
The challenges don’t stop here, of course. The Los Angeles Dodgers (55-40, first place NL West) are the third consecutive first place team to come to Arlington that Texas can help drop in the standings if they keep their season-high winning streak going.
By the time the dust clears on Texas’ 100th game of the season on Sunday, they could render the impending series against the Astros next week inconsequential to their position in the standings.
Los Angeles’ first half
Another first place team, another team that has seen their pitching depth tested. But in the Dodgers’ case, they’re not hunting down relievers, they’re trying to fill holes in their rotation.
Starters Dustin May, Shelby Miller, Noah Syndergaard and Clayton Kershaw are all on the injured list as Los Angeles enters Arlington and that doesn’t even include Walker Buehler who is recuperating from Tommy John surgery.
May is out for the year after undergoing flexor tendon surgery. Miller is sidelined until late August with neck pain. Syndergaard, on top of being relatively ineffective for the Dodgers, will be on a rehab assignment, recovering from a blister. The rehab assignment may be equally served to get the righty’s head straight as the Dodgers look to maintain first place down the stretch run, as he is, year-to-date, putting up a 7.16 ERA.
And then there’s Clayton Kershaw, the 35-year old lefty inevitably bound for the Hall of Fame, but who is currently sidelined with shoulder soreness, but also has a history of back issues.
Julio Urias, who is the last man standing from the projected rotation to start the season, has been putting up a roller coaster of results, usually having two good outings sandwiching one very bad outing.
Despite this, the Dodgers find themselves in first place in the NL West, if for no other reason perhaps than simply because they are the Los Angeles Dodgers. Nevertheless, the NL version of the West is a three-team race.
The Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants have played musical chairs with top of the division with Los Angeles, but it’s the Dodgers that are two games over both as they start the series against the Rangers.
Offensively, the Dodgers are a powerhouse team at the plate. They sit second in the big leagues in home runs, behind only the Atlanta Braves, and are right behind the Rangers in OPS. They’re a team that scores a lot of runs, ranking second in their league in runs scored, again behind the Braves, and they see a lot of pitches and draw a lot of walks.
On the season, the Dodgers hold a +91 run differential (fourth best in baseball) on the backs of a great May, in which they went 18-10 for the month with a +40 run differential.
This series is going to be a matchup of two of the league’s best offenses, which means we could see some fireworks and a lot of runs scored between both teams.
The matchups
Game 98: 7:05 PM CT - RHP Tony Gonsolin (5-3, 3.72 ERA) vs. LHP Andrew Heaney (6-6, 4.43 ERA)
Game 99: 3:05 PM CT - RHP Bobby Miller (5-1, 4.25 ERA) vs. RHP Dane Dunning (8-2, 2.82 ERA)
Game 100: 1:35 PM CT - RHP Emmet Sheehan (3-0, 4.91 ERA) vs. LHP Martin Perez (7-3, 4.84 ERA)
The only veteran starter that the Rangers will see will be in the opening game. Tony Gonsolin goes for the Dodgers, coming off of a decent effort against the Mets in New York. Over five innings, Gonsolin gave up one run on two hits in a no decision.
The righty started the season recovering from an ankle injury suffered in spring training. Since joining the big league club at the end of April, Gonsolin has made 14 starts, pitching to a 3.72 ERA in 72 ⅔ innings. He pitched extremely well in May, but faltered in the latter half of June and into July.
Opposing Gonsolin will be Texas starter Andrew Heaney. Heaney’s coming off of a solid bounceback outing against the Guardians, in which he scattered six hits in 5 ⅓ innings. The Rangers have identified that around 85 pitches is the limit to Heaney’s effectiveness. Heaney is looking to make the most of that time on the mound and capitalize off the momentum from his most recent win.
In the second game of the series on Saturday, rookie Bobby Miller takes the hill opposite the Rangers’ Dane Dunning. Miller was called up at the end of May and has made nine starts for the club. His first four starts were sparkling, but the Dodgers’ 2020 first round pick has struggled since June 17th. In those five games, Miller has put up a 7.36 ERA, and opponents are hitting .289 off him.
Dunning, for his part, will be making his second start of the second half. His first game was a superbly strong, two-run, seven-inning effort against Tampa Bay. Dunning keeps rolling along as the third best starter in the Texas rotation but he will face a challenge against the Dodgers’ lineup.
The finale will pit rookie Emmet Sheehan against Martin Perez. Sheehan, a 23-year old righty out of Boston College, will be making his sixth start with the Dodgers. He was brought up in mid-June and had three great starts against division-rival San Francisco, the Rangers’ division rival Houston and the Colorado Rockies.
Sheehan was knocked around by the Pirates and Orioles most recently, although he did pick up his third win against Baltimore despite giving up four runs in five innings of work.
Perez, on the other hand, has been anything but confidence-inspiring for the Rangers. After only going 1 ⅓ innings against the Astros at the start of July, Perez had his next start skipped and came back to face Cleveland, giving up three runs in five innings.
Perez’ season has been filled with ups and downs, similar to Urias, but as the Rangers join the Dodgers in searching for pitching help, the 32-year old lefty could find himself on the outside looking in if he can’t right the ship.
While the Rangers will avoid the biggest names in the Dodgers’ rotation, the Dodgers won’t have to face Nathan Eovaldi or Jon Gray either. Both offenses have the potential to knock the other starters around. Both bullpens are about as effective as the other. In truth, this is a pretty evenly matched series, and it could come down to which team ends up doing the best job at capitalizing on scoring opportunities.
Do you think the Rangers can keep their second half streak alive against Los Angeles? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.