Rangers Co-Aces Will Attempt To Silent Red-Hot Bats of Blue Jays in Crucial Series

The Texas Rangers are counting on their starting pitchers to keep the Toronto Blue Jays offense in check.

Aug 9, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) throws to the plate during the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Globe Life Field | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers are barely keeping their head above water coming off of a gut-punch series loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Rangers were set to win the series, even though they really should have swept them, but Ketel Marte had a pair of game-winning homers in back-to-back games.

Now, Texas is going into the belly of the beast that is the Rogers Centre to face the best team in the American League.

The Rangers offense has continued to slump.

Even though that has been the case for most of the year, their pitching staff -- which is arguably the best in baseball -- has kept them in the hunt for the playoffs.

Facing a massive series against the Toronto Blue Jays were a loss could result in their postseason dreams being crushed, there is a lot of that pressure on the shoulders of their starters and bullpen.

Probable Starters

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Their A-game is coming out this series, to say the least, with Jacob deGrom set to get the ball in Game 1 on Friday.

On the season, he is 10-5 with a 2.86 ERA and 143 strikeouts. One would think that the righty is the best that the team would have to offer, but Nathan Eovaldi is having a career-best year and is set to go in the finale on Sunday.

Eovaldi is 10-3 this season with a 1.71 ERA and 114 strikeouts.

Sandwiched in between the co-aces is Patrick Corbin, the unheralded addition who is putting together a solid showing with a 4.00 ERA across 22 starts.

On the other side of the mound, there could be some duels throughout the series.

José Berríos is scheduled to oppose Eovaldi in the finale, while Chris Bassitt will get the ball in Game 1 opposite of deGrom and Eric Lauer will be the counterpart to Corbin.

The bullpen could play a major role in this one, too.

The pair of recent relievers acquired at the trade deadline -- Phil Maton and Danny Coulombe -- were the ones who were on the mound when Marte hit those dagger home runs in their previous series, so limiting late-innings damage is a must against Toronto.

Blue Jays Offense

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Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and George Springer all have 11 homers at home this season, but luckily for the Rangers, Springer is still on rehab assignment in Triple-A.

But between Bichette and Guerrero, they have OPS of .901 and .887, respectively. They are leading the offense, but they aren't the only productive batters in the order.

Addison Barger and Daulton Varsho both have OPS figures over .800 when they are on their home field.

It is going to be quite the challenge to keep the Blue Jays quiet on offense, even with the pitching staff that Texas possesses.

But it's something the Rangers must do if they are going to make a run at the Wild Card.