WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy etched out a lineup Friday afternoon that lacked their half-a-billion dollar middle infield, was void of at least three other hitters that who can be classified as everyday starters and was bookended by two players that the club signed to minor league contracts midseason.
Bochy, the 70-year-old manager who’s never seen a stretch of attrition quite like this one, does not seek sympathy.
Sure, he concedes, it was difficult to field a lineup without one of shortstop Corey Seager and second baseman Marcus Semien for just the second time in four seasons. And, sure, the hot bat of first baseman Jake Burger, the speed and patience of center fielder Evan Carter and the platoon abilities of outfielder Sam Haggerty wouldn’t hurt at a time like this.
“But,” Bochy said, “we’ve got to deal with this.”
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The Rangers have dealt.
Quite literally against the odds.
The Rangers have won the second-most games (eight) in baseball since Aug. 17 and placed the same exact number of players on the injured list in that span. They’ve pulled themselves back above .500 with a 69-67 record and are only 3 ½ games out of a playoff spot despite the fact that are without a host of players that comprise their identity.
“That’s what you have to do, you have no choice,” Bochy said. “Fight through this.”
There’s virtually zero room for the opposite. The team’s postseason odds, according to FanGraphs, dropped by nearly 2% in the last week despite the fact that they’ve won six of their last seven games and inched up the American League wild card standings.
It has as much to do with projection as it does performance. The Rangers team that had a 9.4% chance to qualify for the playoffs on Aug. 23 still had Seager, Semien and right-handed pitcher Nathan Eovaldi available to lead a theoretic September charge. The one that has a 7.3% chance to qualify on Aug. 30 doesn’t and it might not again for the remainder of the season.
Eovaldi has already been ruled out with a rotator cuff strain. Seager, who underwent an appendectomy Thursday, does not yet have a timeline. Semien remains in a protective boot and has an exceptionally narrow window to recover, ramp up and return from a fracture and sprain before the Sep. 28 regular season finale.
It leaves the Rangers, who were projected to slug their way to the playoffs after a World Series hangover last year, in a precarious position. This season has largely been marked by unfulfilled expectations; now, currently on the outside looking in of the postseason and with arguably their three most important players sidelined, the external bar for success may be as low as its been this year.
“In some ways,” Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young told The Dallas Morning News Friday afternoon, “it may be freeing.”
That’s hardly to say that these Rangers do not have an internal standard of competition that they hope to meet or that the active roster is devoid of talent. Friday’s lineup included four players who’ve made an All-Star team within the last three seasons and the rotation that they’ll use against the Athletics boasts three pitchers with a 3.77 ERA or better this season.
It is to say, though, that teams which lose as much as the Rangers have can struggle to pick up the leftover pieces in a playoff chase.
Bochy doesn’t believe that the team’s identity has shifted at all between opening day and where it stands now between injuries and standings. The change in personnel, he acknowledged, can potentially shift the vibes.
It’s certainly shifted the data. The Rangers have placed 16.7 WAR worth of players on the injured list since Aug. 17, according to Baseball Reference, which is the value equivalent of New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (7.2 WAR) and Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (5.8 WAR) combined.
Seager, whose 5.9 WAR is the fourth-highest leaguewide among position players, did not travel with the Rangers as he recovers from Thursday’s operation. Eovaldi, placed on the injured list Tuesday, didn’t either but did share a scouting report on Athletics hitters with right-handed starter Jack Leiter before Friday’s game.
“He’s in it with us,” Leiter said. “Hopefully we can do something cool.”
Semien did travel and, on Friday, participated in the usual pregame card game inside the Rangers locker room where vibes and morale have remained high despite the incessant bumps and bruises that’ve forced roster churn.
“Marcus is a true staple in the clubhouse and you can always lean on him as a leader,” catcher Jonah Heim said Friday night. “Corey’s Corey. He’s going to go out there, he’s going to ball out and he’s going to be the best shortstop in baseball.”
He paused.
“I mean, yeah, it sucks looking at it from the outside,” he continued, “but we’ve got the guys that can go out there. We’re not trying to replace those guys.”
Not permanently, at least, though the Rangers have cobbled together an effective offense in the aggregate nonetheless. Six healthy players — right fielder Adolis García (.375), center fielder Wyatt Langford (.375), third baseman Josh Jung (.364), Heim (.357), designated hitter Joc Pederson (.310) and outfielder Michael Helman (.308) — have hit better than .300 in that span and helped the Rangers score the fourth-most runs in baseball over that 12-game period. The team’s 3.17 ERA in that span with right-handers Jon Gray, Cole Winn and Nathan Eovaldi sidelined is the fourth-lowest in the league, too.
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“I think that’s kind of the way to do it,” Leiter said. “Pass the baton. Different guys can be the hero on different nights.”
On Tuesday, in a 7-3 win vs. the Los Angeles Angels, left-hander Patrick Corbin pitched eight scoreless innings in his best start yet this season since the Rangers signed him in the final days of spring training. Helman, whom the Rangers claimed off of waivers earlier this season, hit a two-run home run and had a second robbed in Friday’s win. He hit leadoff and, despite lack of experience versus right-handers, was left in to face right-hander reliever Michael Kelly when he homered.
“I think it’s just a good opportunity to step up and make something happen,” Helman said. “I’m very blessed to be in this situation honestly.”
It’s a situation that the Rangers didn’t imagine they’d be in.
It’s one they’ve made the most of.
“I think it can go two ways,” Young said. “There’s one way where you can feel sorry for yourself — it’s unlucky, it’s unfortunate, it’s not in the cards — or, the opposite, is where unsung heroes step up and guys get an opportunity and they come in and they perform and they make a name for themselves.”
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