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Inside The Rangers

Rangers Entrusting These Starters To Secure Final Series Going Into All-Star Break

The Rangers could be three games above .500 when the day comes to a close.
Maddy Dickens|
Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson (3) celebrates his home run against the Miami Marlins
Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson (3) celebrates his home run against the Miami Marlins | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Texas Rangers

After Friday night action in the American League West, there is one team that is an above .500 baseball club - the Texas Rangers, who now sit two games above that dreaded line after late-game heroics took game one against the Houston Astros.

The Astros have been on a little heater themselves as they have started to get healthy and find a groove, so the two, alongside the Seattle Mariners, have all been flirting with the top of the division. But with a win and a pair of losses from those two, there is a very small cushion between No.1 and No.2.

That being said, this feels like a series where the stakes are a lot higher for both Texas teams, and the Rangers are the ones taking advantage thus far after Wyatt Langford hit a late-game homer to steal back the lead in their race to the postseason.

Friday night was the story of dismantling the Astros bullpen after putting up three on Hunter Brown, no less. Langford came from a walk-off in his first game back, followed by Langford's home run to steal back the lead, and Jake Burger cracking it open with a three-run shot.

Saturday Starters For Saturday Evening at Home

Josh Jung hits a baseball in a white Texas Rangers jerse
Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung (6) hits an RBI double against the Detroit Tigers | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Seeing Langford back in the lineup for three days in a row truly is something that has been missed after a pair of stints on the IL already. It is clear that his bat has been missed as he definitely makes this team better.

Now, if only Corey Seager could come back this weekend.

  1. DH Joc Pederson
  2. LF Wyatt Langford
  3. 3B Josh Jung
  4. RF Brandon Nimmo
  5. 1B Jake Burger
  6. SS Ezequiel Duran
  7. CF Evan Carter
  8. 2B Nicky Lopez
  9. C Elias Diaz

The Rangers won't have the best of their pitching staff as Nathan Eovaldi and MacKenzie Gore finished out the Los Angeles Angels series, and Jacob deGrom has been scratched from his start in the finale as he has a glute/hip strain.

There is no telling right now if he will need a stint on the injured list himself or if this will sort itself out by the time the All-Star Break comes to a close. If they are without him, then every good start has to be capitalized on, and the team should get a chance to win with Kumar Rocker on the hill.

Rocker has a 3.93 ERA in his last seven starts, and keeping him out there is vital to this team's success. Reinforcements offensively will go a long way to making sure that happens.

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Maddy Dickens
MADDY DICKENS

Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.

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