ARLINGTON, Texas — It's funny to think of a mid-July series against the worst team in baseball as a “must win” series for the defending World Series champions. However, if the 2024 incarnation of the Texas Rangers wants to prove that they can contend for a repeat championship this year, they need to handle all of the business that lies ahead of them in a four-game set against the Chicago White Sox.
The trade deadline is a week from Tuesday, and the Rangers, as it stands, are far away on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff picture. This series against the White Sox is a pivotal one that could sway the decisions of management.
An emphatic series win could mean being buyers or at least staying the course, but another disappointing series could mean selling off members of a squad that won a championship just eight months ago.
Chicago White Sox (27-74, 5th Place AL Central, 28.5 GB) @ Texas Rangers (47-52, 3rd Place AL West, 5.0 GB)
Chicago at the break
White Sox management is already far past worrying about the 2024 season and have surely moved on to looking toward the future. If that wasn’t apparent after a 6-24 start to the season, Chicago was the first team to 70 losses just before the All-Star break. The front office has made it clear that everyone on the roster is available for trade as the White Sox look to retool and think about their next competitive window.
Chicago hasn’t seen a month where they’ve registered double-digit wins, going 9-19 in both May and June after an abhorrent first month of the season. They’ve been outscored by nearly 200 runs at 316-507 coming into this series against the Rangers. The White Sox also rank last or next to last in every offensive category, slashing .219/.281/.344 and are one of two American League squads to not yet cross the 100 home run mark. In short, this team will be in stark contrast to the Baltimore team that the Rangers faced over the weekend.
On the pitching side, Chicago is also near the bottom of the barrel with a 4.60 team ERA, with only the Los Angeles Angels doing worse among AL teams. While they aren’t the absolute worst in terms of batting average against, they do sport the American League’s worst WHIP at 1.37. They are also a wild team, having walked more hitters than anyone in baseball with 376 free passes.
There have been a few right spots for the White Sox, however. Garret Crochet, whom the Rangers will see on Tuesday, was the All-Star representative in Arlington for Chicago. He threw a scoreless fourth inning and looked like the star Chicago has seen all season.
Since making the transition from the bullpen to the rotation this season, Crochet, on a strict workload watch, has pitched to a 3.02 ERA in 20 starts, opponents are hitting .199 against him and he has a sub-1.000 WHIP, making him a very attractive, albeit very expensive, target at the deadline.
The White Sox are also starting to run out some of their top prospects, meaning that these games, while meaningless in the scope of the 2024 season, have become proving grounds for their young players. Meanwhile, names like Luis Robert, Jr., Andrew Vaughan, and Paul DeJong are all hitters who could be on the radar for contending teams.
All in all, the White Sox are on the short list of true sellers at the deadline. While they aren’t a very good team cohesively, the Rangers need to be mindful of a couple of things: some players are auditioning for other clubs and others still have a lot to prove so they won’t be laying down just because Texas needs the victories.
The matchups
- Game 100, 7:05 PM CT - RHP Erick Fedde (7-3, 2.99 ERA) vs. RHP Michael Lorenzen (5-5, 3.52 ERA)
- Game 101, 6:05 PM CT - LHP Garrett Crochet (6-6, 3.02 ERA) vs. RHP Jon Gray (4-4, 3.96 ERA)
- Game 102, 1:35 PM CT - RHP Chris Flexen (2-9, 5.22 ERA) vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (6-4, 3.36 ERA)
- Game 103, 1:35 PM CT - RHP Jonathan Cannon (1-4, 4.58 ERA) vs. TBD
Everyone in the Rangers rotation that will pitch in this series is currently looking to rebound from a tough outing. For Michael Lorenzen, the righty last pitched 12 days ago against the Angels and took a loss, giving up five runs in five innings pitched. He’s been far more wild lately, giving up a total of 13 walks in his last 15 innings.
Jon Gray will have his work cut out for him, going up against All-Star Crochet. Gray came in for a scoreless inning of relief against the Orioles over the weekend, but in his last two starts, he gave up three runs apiece while not making it past the fifth inning.
Eovaldi had a rare forgettable performance against the Orioles in the first game back from the break, giving up a season-high six runs on eight hits in a season-short five innings. The finale of this series could see Max Scherzer take the hill, but he’s coming off a start in which he exited after two innings with arm fatigue so the Rangers aren’t certain that the veteran will be available.
Texas could also reactivate Dane Dunning from his second stint on the injury list to make the start on Thursday. Less likely, but still a possibility, could be the season debut of Tyler Mahle, who has been making rehab starts with Round Rock. Both pitched in a rehab assignment with the Express on Saturday.
The White Sox will go with righty Erick Fedde in the opener. Fedde, the former Washington National, was solid in his last two starts before the break, most recently throwing five innings of shutout ball against the powerful Minnesota Twins.
All-Star Crochet has the second game, fresh off his scoreless inning in the All-Star game, but also having thrown a couple of abbreviated starts before the break, as the White Sox look to limit his total innings.
Chris Flexen, the former Seattle Mariner, opened the second half of the season for Chicago, taking the loss as he gave up seven earned runs in 4 ⅔ innings of work against the Kansas City Royals. Jonathan Cannon is the only rookie starter that Texas will see. Cannon has made 11 starts this year; his two most recent ones, against the Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates, saw him give up four runs in six innings in both starts.
The White Sox might be near the bottom of the league in nearly every category in the Majors, but teams that fall this far often show a lot of fight once young players trying to earn jobs start taking over the roster and with veterans auditioning for teams that might be vying for their services.
The Rangers meanwhile have had a bad habit of letting off the gas pedal when it comes to last place teams this season; if they do that in this series, they could all find themselves displaced by next week.
Do you think the Rangers will show signs of a rebound with a series win against Chicago? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
