Max Scherzer provides best-case scenario injury update for Rangers

The Texas Rangers have weathered the storm early on this season, but Bruce Bochy's club is barely two weeks into their World Series title defense. The Rangers are hopeful to become the first Major League Baseball team since the 2000 New York Yankees to repeat as champions.

Having three of your top starting pitchers on the IL to begin your season isn't exactly how you draw it up, but that what's facing Bochy and Rangers at the moment. Texas has come out of the gates a little flat, but are without Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, and Tyler Mahle.

Pitcher injuries have been a major talking point early in the season, and the absence of that trio has certainly affected the Rangers starting rotation. But Texas did receive some good news earlier this week. It sounds like Scherzer is ahead of schedule.

Rangers News: Max Scherzer injury update provides hope

Scherzer threw a bullpen session this past week and had this to say afterwards: "I really feel like we're kind of turning the corner here in terms of rehab."

The former Cy Young Award-winner is a key piece to this year's club, and the sooner the Rangers have Scherzer back on the mound, the less of a balancing act will need to be conducted with the rest of the roster.

Both deGrom and Mahle are recovering from Tommy John surgery. Mahle is expected to return much sooner than deGrom, though both are expected back this season. The Rangers will also have free agent pickup Michael Lorenzen at their disposal soon enough. A late-spring signee, Lorenzen threw a game for the Round Rock Express earlier this week and could join the Rangers rotation any day now.

With Scherzer, deGrom, Mahle, and Lorenzen all absent from the Rangers rotation, Bochy has relied on the quintet of Jon Gray, Cody Bradford, Nathan Eovaldi, Dane Dunning, and Andrew Heaney. Both Dunning and Heaney have struggled, and it's quite likely that Dunning is optioned to Triple-A once Lorenzen is deemed ready to go this season.

While adding Lorenzen to the rotation will give the team a boost, few things will do more good than seeing Scherzer return to the mound in Arlington. No definitive timetable has been given for Scherzer's return, but this latest injury update brings a much more optimistic view of the timeline. It's possible that Scherzer could return before the All-Star break.

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