Rangers Killers

Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

The Tigers did us no favors last night, dropping one to the Athletics. In Seattle, the Rangers offense showed up and the pitching did enough against a poor offense to win, 8-3. It was a fun game with good pitching and defense, and a pair of Rangers went deep. As soon as I start talking trash on A.J. Pierzynski, he breaks the game open with the game winning three run bomb; classic.

The one unpleasant part of the game was watching Ranger pitching throw to Kyle Seager. Kyle Seager has dominated Texas pitching this year. He sports a .409 average and 1.216 OPS against Texas in 66 at bats. (ESPN) Seager hit another long home run tonight, this time off of Travis Blackley, and drove another to the warning track off Neil Cotts. Seemingly every time he swings it’s a home run or line drive double.

Believe it or not Seager is not the highest OPS against the Rangers this year. If we require at least 25 plate appearances to qualify, after all no one cares if Jordan Danks has a 2.500 OPS against us in 4 at bats, Seager checks in as the second best (worst) Rangers killer. Let’s check in on the hitters doing the most damage to the Rangers’ playoff hopes.

Here is the list of the top ten Rangers killers by OPS with at least 25 PA.

1. Miguel Cabrera (1.523)
2. Kyle Seager (1.216)
3. Adam Lind (1.188)
4. Matt Wieters (1.063)
5. Jhonny Peralta (1.046)
6. Mike Trout (1.039)
7. Jason Kipnis (1.005)
8. David Ortiz (1.000)
9. Peter Bourjos (0.980)
10. Alejandro De Aza (0.964)

Not surprisingly, Miggy tops the list. He likely tops the list for most teams. There are several other unsurprising names, Ortiz and Trout aren’t exactly shockers. The bottom of the list, however, includes a couple of lighter hitters. Peter Bourjos? Are you kidding me?

The list of Rangers killers isn’t insightful in any meaningful way but it piqued my interest today. This list doesn’t mean anything because the sample sizes are too small and matchups only matter at the individual level. A player doesn’t see another team’s jersey and suddenly hit better.

None the less, let’s check out the top five Rangers killers within the division.

1. Kyle Seager (1.216)
2. Mike Trout (1.039)
3. Jason Castro (0.960)
4. Raul Ibanez (0.842)
5. Josh Donaldson (0.794)

The only solace on this list that Raul Ibanez is not likely to torture Rangers pitching much longer. The other four are huge trouble for a long time. It figures that the best hitters against the Rangers within division would be young stars on each team so we get to face them for a long time to come. Here’s to hoping that Kyle Seager doesn’t like Rangers’ Red next year.