Texas Rangers: Life won’t be getting any easier as the Rays come to town

The Texas Rangers have not been playing competitive baseball as of late, that pretty much goes without saying. They’ve lost 15 consecutive road games, and nine straight overall. Their 22-36 record has them sat second to last in the American League standings, a whopping 11 games out of first place in the AL West.

And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I wouldn’t be banking on things turning around anytime soon.

The Rangers are hosting the AL-best Tampa Bay Rays this weekend for a three-game series, a team that has routinely defied all common sense when it comes to consistently fielding a winner. Despite losing both Blake Snell and Charlie Morton this past offseason, and then trading starting shortstop Willy Adames early into the regular season, the Rays find themselves with a record of 36-22.

Atop the American League, and just one game behind the San Francisco Giants for the best record in all of baseball.

Tampa Bay is probably not the team the Texas Rangers want to be facing this weekend as they look to end a wicked losing streak.

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Reeling off a sweep to the less-than-competitive Colorado Rockies earlier this week, what the Texas Rangers really needed was a few “gimme” games. A series or two against a team where they could snag some easy wins as a way to get back on track as we coast into the month of June.

Against the Rays, that simply won’t be happening. Tampa will be deploying Josh Fleming, Rich Hill, and Tyler Glasnow as their designated starters this weekend, all three of whom are having productive 2021 campaigns. Glasnow in particular is a player to keep your eye on, as he currently boasts a 2.69 ERA and the 10th best fWAR in Major League Baseball.

The good news is that Kyle Gibson is set to return from the injured list and pitch tonight (Friday) during the series opener. Gibson has been downright sensational as the Rangers #1 starter this season, and should actually give Texas a half-decent chance of ending their losing streak. Of course the Rays currently have the eighth best offense in all of baseball in terms of offensive WAR, but you gotta beat the best if you want to be the best, as the old saying goes.

I hate to punt on a series before it even begins, but this is probably not the weekend where the Rangers miraculously get their season back on track. Tampa Bay is scorching hot at the moment and the Rangers are ice cold. The real unfortunate part about all of this is that up next in the schedule for Texas is the San Francisco Giants, who currently possess the best win-loss record in the sport…yikes.