New look Texas Rangers aim to regain early season form

It is August 1st, and the Texas Rangers (60-46) are leading the AL West. Let that sink in for a second. The same team that won 60 games in 2021 and 68 last year, is leading the division after four months of baseball. It is true that the lead is a razor thin, 1/2 game, but the fact remains that the Rangers are still in first place, at least for the moment.

The Rangers had their first sub-.500 month in July, going 11-13. If you take it back to June, the club is 25-26 over the past two months. There are multiple factors behind the decline such as a tough schedule with very few off-days, slumping bats, struggling pitching, and the injury bug that has attacked the team throughout. These aren't excuses, as every MLB has to deal with similar issues at different times throughout the season.

Texas Rangers schedule versus the Chicago White Sox

After their 1-5 road trip to Houston and San Diego, the Rangers find themselves at 26-26 on the road this year. The friendly confines of Globe Life Field have been good to Texas, as they are a robust 34-20 at home. The team will be looking forward to inflating their home record over the next six games as they host the Chicago White Sox, followed by the Miami Marlins over the weekend.

Chicago and Texas are two teams that already have a different look about them because of trades, and there could still be more to come as the trade deadline ends this afternoon. The Rangers have been adding pitching as fast as they can, with three more new arms (SP Max Scherzer, SP Jordan Montgomery, RP Chris Stratton) joining the stable over the weekend. That makes four pitchers that the Rangers have traded for so far mid-season.

The White Sox on the other hand, have been a disappoint all season long and have been trading pitchers left and right. With the exception of Dylan Cease who goes on Wed, most of the top pitchers for the team have already been moved. Their bullpen guys might have to have name tags as it is a completely different group out there than there was just a week ago.

This will be the second, and last meeting of the two clubs this season. The Rangers took two of three games in Chicago back in mid-June. If you remember that one loss was the game that featured the controversial replay call from New York that overturned an out call at the plate. The ruling was that Jonah Heim blocked the plate from Elvis Andrus simply because he originally setup with part of his foot on the plate. It was a total bogus call, and if the rule really is written that way, it needs to be changed in the offseason.

Texas needs to get back to winning, and tonight's game is as good a time as any to get back at it. The White Sox have been trading off as many players as they can to help rebuild for next season and beyond. They are 43-64 for the season and were 7-16 for the month of July. The Rangers need to come out tonight and take care of business against a team that is ready for the next two months to be over. Texas ship has taken on water, but with reinforcements arriving, hopefully they can turn things around quickly.