What if the Texas Rangers had a Decent Pitching Staff?

Fourteen games in and the Texas Rangers have a 7-7 record sitting a half game back of 3rd in the AL West. Where could they be with decent pitching?

If you had told many fans prior to the season that 14 games in, the Texas Rangers would be sitting at .500 and just half a game back of the 3rd place in the division, most would’ve taken it. However, for some reason, 7-7 still feels like a letdown perhaps because they easily could be a few games over that .500 mark.

The offense for the Rangers this season has been nothing short of terrific sitting in the top half of nearly every offensive category in the AL despite playing the second-fewest games to this point. While the offense isn’t going to light up batting averages or on-base percentage, the club has found a knack for delivering big hits while trailing late in games. It happened again Sunday afternoon when Danny Santana delivered a game-tying triple in the 8th inning after Texas had trailed 7-2 through 4 innings.

But knowing how the offense has continued to save the day for the team is where fans may feel like we’re underperforming. While the plan of the club is still for the future and Texas is banking on a stockpile of prospects to take over pitching duties in years to come, we can’t help but wonder where this team would be with a decent pitching staff right now.

Pitching Staff by the Numbers

As a team right now, the Texas Rangers have a combined ERA of a 5.44. That’s not good in case you were wondering. In fact, it’s tied for 24th in the league with the Mets. As a staff, they sit last in strikeouts at just 106 and second to last in opponent’s batting average at .280. They’ve also only had 4 quality starts through the first 14 games of the season.

Those numbers are obviously a small snapshot but the theme is the same. Game in, game out, the pitching staff struggles to keep runners off base and keep opposing teams off the scoreboard. This combination is also keeping Texas out of the win column as often as it could be to this point in the season.

The Rangers have given up 3 runs or more in 6 of the 7 losses Texas has suffered this season. In the 14 games they’ve played so far, they’ve held their opponent under 3 runs on just 3 occasions.

Clearly, the door is open for this team in the 2019 season. No, they won’t be World Series contenders with a better pitching staff. But they very well could compete for a Wild Card spot. However, even a season hovering around .500 like Texas might be able to do, won’t sneak them into the playoffs in a year when they seem to have generated some late-game offensive magic.

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