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Milwaukee might actually be the worst possible kind
of opponent for this version of the Rangers
to face.
And it's not because the Brewers bludgeon you
with homers, by the way.
Actually, quite the opposite.
It's because they keep finding ways to take
the extra 90 feet.
Sound familiar?
This weekend is a margins test.
And this is Right on Rangers.
And we thank you for choosing Right on
Rangers for all of your Texas Rangers content.
Look, a little off-day pod.
I know most of you guys are gonna
be listening to this on Friday morning or
Friday afternoon.
But at the end of the Chicago series,
we got into the Brewers series just a
bit.
We talked about the pitching matchups mainly.
If you're curious, it's going to end up
being Bradford, Rocker, Quantrill.
I think Quantrill is actually two, Rocker three.
And we'll get into the Brewers starting pitchers
a little bit later into the show as
well.
But really wanted to get into what Texas
is up against this weekend.
Some of us may follow a lot of
teams around Major League Baseball.
Admittedly, I'm not one of them.
I pretty much am Texas, AL West, some
American League opponents, National League teams here and
there.
But I don't have time to be a
baseball savant of every single team.
And so it's been interesting even for me
to do some of the research, previewing this
series, learning more about Milwaukee and how they
have accrued an 83-51 record this year.
32 games over 500.
What is that like?
Feel like the Rangers have been below flirting
with at or slightly above 500 all season
long.
But look, here's kind of weird thing about
Milwaukee, which actually was a joy for me
to hear for a reason that will become
very obvious shortly.
Every Major League Baseball team coming into Wednesday,
coming into today or yesterday had more homers
than Milwaukee.
That's right.
No other team has hit fewer home runs
this season than the Milwaukee Brewers.
But here's the wild part.
Only four teams have scored more runs than
them.
Look, I feel like the Alejandro Osuna debate
might be pretty relevant in this discussion because
I was told all season long that if
you can't slug, you can't win.
I feel like the Brewers are doing a
number on that argument.
You don't have to hit the ball out
of the ballpark to be a winning baseball
team.
Don't get me wrong.
The Brewers do a lot right.
You look at their advanced stats, they're hitting
the ball hard.
They walk a lot.
They put a lot of pressure on pitchers.
There's a lot of ways that you can
win a baseball game, and it doesn't always
have to involve a ball being 10 rows
deep in the bleachers.
The weird part about this immediately raises the
question, how are they producing this much offense
without living on the homer?
And look, this isn't just going to be
a Brewers preview.
I actually think that their style gives us
a really interesting mirror for Texas, and that's
how we're going to tie all this together.
Milwaukee's record no doubt makes this series difficult
from the outside looking in, but the style
of play I think is what is really
going to be the most revealing thing.
Milwaukee is extremely selective up at the dish,
as I was saying.
Historically low swing rate, and they have one
of the best walk rates, as I was
saying just a few moments ago.
They also use the entire field different than
pretty much everybody else.
They let the ball travel.
They have an opposite field attack.
It is pretty crazy to see how this
team, in an age of a lot, a
ton of pull, this team loves pushing the
ball the other direction.
Once runners reach, that is when the pressure
starts.
131 steals, 41 extra base taken rate.
We talked about that earlier in the opener.
33% of base runner scoring.
I don't even want to know what the
Rangers percentage is in that department.
Let's be real here.
This isn't really traditional small ball when
we're talking about the Brewers.
Hit the ball hard.
The offense is patience plus contact.
They've got speed.
They add in some pressure, and you've got
a pretty good formula there.
I'd love to see the Rangers offense take
on more of this approach.
It's going to take some movement in the
off season, and that is for another show.
Right now, the Rangers, I think after 134
games you're seeing, you might not have the
personnel to really accomplish, for example, what the
Brewers are accomplishing.
The Brewers also have a knack this year
of surviving when things go awry, when the
plans change.
Wednesday, for example, Dustin May exited after one
pitch, one pitch, and Milwaukee still ended up
cruising to an 8-1 victory.
They don't need any specific type of game
to beat you.
I know I was talking a couple of
nights ago about how Texas, the most consistent
thing they do is win and lose games
in different ways.
The Brewers, I think that same thing can
apply minus the lose part.
This team consistently wins many different types of
ball games, and that's why they have the
most wins and the best record in Major
League Baseball.
So let's get back to Texas here.
Do a little diagnostic.
Where did the aggression go?
46% extra base taken rate in 2025
under Bochy.
That drops to 34%.
Last year they had 134 steals.
This year they are at 63 steals through
134 games.
Isn't that wild?
134 steals last year for Texas.
Only 63 and you've got 28 games left
in 2025.
One of the big things that Rangers fans
got sold on with Skip was the ability
that he had did it with the Marlins
in 2023 to squeeze as much as possible
out of the roster.
Get as much as you possibly can out
of guys that maybe are not super well
known around the league, maybe would be considered,
you know, replacement level type players.
Yeah, get the most out of them, get
the most out of the team, win type
ball games and the rest is history.
Skip did that quite a bit in Miami.
It is weird though for how much we
talked about Skip's philosophy and how he would
bring a different approach.
You're kind of sitting here in 2026 thinking
to yourself, kind of missed the approach we
had with Bochy.
And I know there were some people that
were ready for Bruce Bochy to go.
I said, keep Bochy as long as he
wants to be in Arlington.
And I think it became obvious there at
the end that Bochy wanted to move forward
and God bless him.
He brought the Rangers their first world series
championship.
I surely ain't mad at him, but I
think a lot of the people that were
clamoring for a change when you're looking at
this offense, you're looking at some of these
stats and I'm seeing some of these for
the first time and I'm kind of saying
to myself, really?
The big sell for Skip was we were
going to do all these things better.
We were going to take extra bases more.
We were going to be moving on the
base paths more.
We were going to be manufacturing runs at
a better clip.
Look, both teams going back to the Milwaukee
series in the comparison here, Milwaukee has 131
steals.
Again, over double what Texas has.
I mean, Texas, to be fair, has not
been caught at any kind of alarming rate.
Both the Brewers and the Rangers have about
a 75% success rate in terms of
steals.
So the Rangers are actually pretty good with
that percentage.
So why not steal more?
The question isn't like, why is Texas getting
thrown out so much?
They really aren't.
Why are the opportunities and attempts so different?
That's the true question.
It's hard to claim one thing, one cause
from the stats, but Milwaukee, I think shows
what intelligent base running pressure looks like when
it becomes part of a team identity.
And so I'd like to see in this
series and the rest of the way, I
think it is a key to the Rangers
turning things around here and getting on a
consistent run.
Can we get a little bit more aggressive
on the base paths?
Can we get Evan Carter in motion more?
Evan Carter has attempted 16 steals this year.
And Evan was talking about 30 steals coming
into this year.
He's attempted 16.
Blame the bad average, blame the lack of
offense.
He's been on base a number of times.
I'm not sure what the number is.
I think I actually looked it up the
other night.
This is like a week and a half,
two weeks ago.
Like he's hit a number of singles.
He walks all the time.
He's had opportunities at first base.
It is odd why Texas isn't getting in
motion a little bit more.
They've got some fast players.
Ezequiel Duran is fast.
Wyatt Langford's got speed.
Evan Carter's got speed.
They've got speed on this team.
I'd love for Texas down the stretch here
to take a page out of the Brewer's
book.
Get moving on the base paths, man.
Put pressure on that defense.
And then maybe, yeah, get that spark to
go on a little run here as September
approaches and as October approaches.
Now, as I was looking at the pitching
matchups, I think the first thing you notice
is you do not have to face the
Miz in this series.
Misiorowski pitched yesterday.
So Texas gets to avoid the 13 and
five record, the 168 ERA and the 216
Ks.
I actually saw a couple of people joking
like, and how many people would the Miz
strike out against the Rangers?
And I don't want to know.
The Miz might be flirting with that Carrie
Wood 20 strikeout game or whatever it was,
20 or 21.
Miz might be flirting with that if he
goes up against this Rangers team.
And I know maybe that sounds a little
respectful, but I think in your heart of
hearts, you know that there's some truth to
what I just said.
This does feel like it kind of keeps
happening, though.
I don't know if you felt the same,
but I remember when Ohtani was still pitching
and he was dominating, right?
Ohtani was very good pitching at the beginning
of the year.
The Rangers missed out on Shohei Ohtani when
they went to L.A. They missed out
on Paul Skenes in May when the Pirates
came to town.
They missed out on Skubal twice, right, in
both the series that the Rangers faced the
Tigers.
They did not have to pitch or they
did not have to bat against, you know,
Tarik Skubal, one of the best arms in
the game.
And now the Miz as well avoids the
Rangers.
Maybe it should be the other way around.
Anyways, they've caught some genuinely favorable rotation breaks
against some elite arms this season.
Unfortunately, I don't know that they've taken the
best advantage of those scenarios.
You know, they went one and two against
the Dodgers.
They went two and one against Pittsburgh.
Respectable.
They won that series, but, you know, they
lost the series against Detroit.
It's been up and down.
They have not always taken advantage of missing
the elite starting pitching.
Texas just has to start cashing.
We talked about this pretty much.
I feel like we talk about this every
day.
They've got to start cashing opportunities, whether it's,
you know, the 18 base runners and eight
walks they got from the starting pitcher for
the White Sox a couple of nights ago.
Missing Misiorowski is not going to instantly make
this series easy by any means.
It definitely removes a massive obstacle, but the
Rangers have to take advantage of it ultimately.
I think the biggest thing I want to
come back to is this weekend and really
contextualizing it properly, really offering up the best
perspective here.
So what counts as a good weekend?
First of all, let's talk Houston.
Houston enters Friday 67 and 67.
They won last night against the Yankees.
They are now a game clear of the
Rangers, 28 to play, and with the tiebreaker
in hand, you can essentially say, you know,
the Rangers trail by two games.
Texas cannot just tie and win the division,
right?
They would lose the division on a tiebreaker,
and you don't know what the wild card
is going to be doing.
A ton of teams that are vying for
the wild card spot.
But nevertheless, a two game deficit, if you
will, with 28 games to play, that is
nothing insurmountable.
It really isn't.
I think losing two of three in Milwaukee
is understandable.
I don't want to set the bar low
for this team, but I don't think anyone
is going to be shocked, outraged, surprised if
this team drops two of three in Milwaukee.
And at that point, you kind of have
to do the scoreboard watching thing.
You know, if the Astros sweep their series
this weekend and then you drop two of
three or three of three, yeah, that changes
things.
That is the game that Texas has played
for the last month, right?
They've had some brutal stretches, but fortunately they've
caught other teams in the division at similar
times, losing games, and that's how the Rangers
have been able to hang around.
I just think it's important to point out,
like, understandable and useful aren't necessarily the same
thing here.
I think the target should be two out
of three, but I do think that the
Rangers are going to have an uphill battle
against a team like Milwaukee.
And when you look at the pitching matchups,
there are some question marks.
Friday, you have Bradford versus Henderson, and let's
talk a little bit about Cody Bradford.
Cody is a great success story.
He's been an incredible comeback story this year,
and his numbers so far look good.
Cody is sitting just north of a three
ERA, I believe at this point, 305, 0
-2 with 13 strikeouts, 0-2 record, because
of course, the Rangers in 2026.
Am I right?
Okay.
But Cody, look, has thrown the ball well.
I do think, and I know this is
going to sound like knocking him down a
couple of pegs, but I do think he
considered the opponents that he's faced.
Giants.
You have also the Angels twice and the
A's once.
He has not faced a good team.
He's not even faced really a mediocre team.
He's pretty much faced nothing but bad teams
at this point.
And so, I do think this is Cody
Bradford's first real test, and I'm curious to
see how he does.
It is going to be a tough ask
for Cody to give you some kind of
real elite performance against a lineup like this
that puts the ball in play a lot.
And Cody, I mean, look, he's not a
guy that gets crazy swing and miss, but
I wouldn't say it's at any kind of
crazy clip.
Cody is going to be challenged by this
lineup.
This, I think, is the real litmus test
for him.
If he comes out and shoves against the
Brewers, best team in baseball record-wise, really
good team at home as well, that's going
to give you a ton of confidence going
the rest of the way in Cody Bradford
and what he can bring to the table
and what he might be able to bring
for you in October.
Saturday, Cal Q going against Drohan.
Hopefully, I'm not butchering that name, but Quantrill
has been the model of consistency for Texas.
I think you really circle that Saturday game
as an opportunity for the Rangers.
You've got the pitching matchup, you've got the
pitching advantage there, and you've got a guy
that has been very consistent.
You're talking five or six innings, one to
zero, zero to one earned runs every time
out.
This has been a guy that has well
overperformed what the Rangers thought that he would
be.
Looking at the matchup with Drohan on the
other side, you've got a lefty and he
is 384 with the ERA this year, 104
strikeouts and 105 innings pitched.
Texas is going to have some games this
weekend without Joc Pederson.
I think that's something that caught my eye
as well.
On Saturday, you're facing a lefty and then
I believe you're facing a lefty on Sunday
too, if I'm not mistaken.
Sunday, let's see, you are throwing against, it's
to be determined, but I thought I had
read that they might end up throwing a
lefty on Sunday too.
Teams would be wise to try and eliminate
Joc Pederson from the lineup.
The Rangers, I think a little unfortunately, have
been very outward showing their cards on how
they plan to employ Joc Pederson.
I don't know if it's a massive secret,
he's not super comfortable against lefties.
You have the elimination of Joc when you
throw a lefty starter, Evan Carter gets taken
out of the lineup.
Now, maybe that's not the biggest loss.
Evan has not had a great 2026.
The defense has definitely taken a little bit
of a hit, but you know, Zeke Duran,
I think has been very positive out in
the outfield.
I think he has been serviceable for sure.
Maybe that's not the loss that you think
it is or that you thought it was
maybe even two or three weeks ago, but
I still say Texas, they've got to figure
out a way to continue to be more
and more dangerous against lefties.
You've got Joc Pederson out, getting Josh Jung
back whenever that may be is going to
be huge, but at this point, if Milwaukee
can eliminate Joc Pederson at the top of
the order, I do feel like that is
always going to be advantage on their team.
Now, yes, Brandon Nimmo hits lefties well, Jake
Burger is hitting lefties really, really well right
now, but Joc Pederson is a big loss.
He take a bat of that level of
that caliber out of the lineup and it
is going to affect the offense.
And so I do think the pitching matchups
for the brewers, especially what they do on
Sunday, going to be interesting to watch rocker
going on Sunday.
I never really know what to feel going
into a Kumar rocker start.
I used to feel bad on the road,
good at home, but he kind of flipped
that on its head this year.
I just don't feel like you ever know
what you're getting out of a Kumar rocker
start.
I really don't.
Your guess is as good as mine.
Honestly, Kumar rocker has had some good games
where he's really missed a lot of bats
and really kept a lot of good hitters
in check.
And then he just has games where you're
not seeing the command he's getting hit around
a little bit.
That was happening in the game against Chicago.
Fortunately, Brandon Nimmo made an outstanding play and
Rocker was able to settle in the fourth
inning, fifth inning and into the sixth inning
as well.
Not sure what you're going to get from
rock.
I'd love to see the Rangers do their
damage early in this series.
So maybe Sunday you're up two games to
none and you're playing with some house money.
I am clearly going very glass-half-full tonight
very much.
So I'm going to be watching the margins.
We talked about margins at the beginning of
the show a lot, you know, extra bases,
the running game, right?
Cheap outs, converting traffic.
I am going to be looking to see
if Texas can create the same kind of
pressure that Milwaukee likes to create.
I think Texas has to match the energy
in that regard, but at the end of
the day, and I said this at the
end of my last podcast, you've got to
value the outcome over the process, right?
Wins are going to trump any diagnostic we
can do.
Of course, I think, and I stand behind
some of the various points that I've made
about how this offense might be able to
become even an average offense, right?
Let's get emotion a little bit more.
Let's put more pressure on defenses.
It's easier said than done, but I do
believe if Texas gets outplayed around the margins
this weekend in this series and somehow they
can win a couple of games, you take
those two games and you run.
It'll be a bonus if Texas actually is
controlling the margins and has this resounding series,
which I mean, I think a lot of
people might be surprised at, but then when
you really consider what this team has been
like in 2026, did you really be surprised
if Texas goes in and does a good
job against Milwaukee, figures out a way to
get a couple of wins?
This kind of feels like what they've done
all year long, if I'm being totally, totally
honest.
So look, as we wrap up the show,
a little bit shorter on and off day,
right?
Texas doesn't have to become Milwaukee this weekend.
I don't think that that is possible with
the snap of the fingers, right?
That's roster construction.
That's development.
There's a lot to that.
You can't just randomly decide we're going to
be just like the Brewers, have the same
success.
Wish it was that easy.
I really do.
Really do.
But to beat Milwaukee, we're going to need
a more complete version of Texas than what
we've been getting.
I think two out of three is your
target.
That is where you need to be setting
your sights.
If the Rangers are to drop this series,
try not falling.
If the Astros sweep and you get swept,
that's not good.
But I'm not putting all of my eggs
into the have to win the Brewers series
basket.
I just don't see it that way.
At this point, you're scoreboard watching.
If the Rangers drop some games and they
manage to stick right around where they're at
because Houston and Seattle and maybe some of
the other teams in the wildcard race are
not able to take advantage.
So be it.
I just am not a fan any longer
of really having the over-the-top reactions
on a game-by-game basis.
In terms of the greater season picture, I
know a bunch of y'all were probably,
wait, what?
Dude, you overreact all the time.
Look, in the moment, watching these games, you're
right, I do.
And I would submit, if you're a true
diehard fan that bleeds Ranger red, white, and
blue, it's hard not to get over-emotional
during some of these games.
What I've really tried not to do is
come on every single live show, every pod,
and say things like, season over.
They're done.
They can't do it.
I've really tried to stay away from that.
I have said, I really question, and I
don't believe as currently constructed, this is a
World Series winning team.
I hope that they proved me wrong.
I think they needed to go get help
at the deadline.
They didn't.
They stood pat.
They didn't sell anybody.
I don't think that that was awesome.
Maybe there's room for them to still improve
in other ways here and there, but I
think that the Rangers as currently constructed can
get in the playoffs, maybe make a little
bit of noise, but I would really be
surprised if they found a way to hoist
that trophy again at the end of the
2026 season.
And that's going to be tough.
Roster construction is where you get to be
more like Milwaukee, and that happens in the
offseason.
That happens in spring training.
That happens with development, the minor leagues, and
the players that you draft.
It is a conscious decision, and I'd like
to see Texas next year, I've talked about
this, get a little bit more athletic.
Get a little bit better at some of
the components of the game that aren't necessarily
given as much airtime as others.
We shall see how Texas fares.
We will be back doing our live shows
this weekend.
I know we've gone more to a podcast
format, and it's just kind of worked out
better that way.
Had a pretty busy week this week.
I know I talked to you guys a
little bit about that.
We'll definitely finish strong with some of the
live shows, but here and there we'll mix
in a podcast as well.
It's kind of been a fresh thing for
me.
I've really, really enjoyed it, so I'm going
to continue to do this when maybe I'm
not able to get on a live because
of work or if there's an off day
or something of that nature.
So that's the plan.
We're sticking to it.
So tomorrow, eighth or ninth inning, I am
predicting.
I think that will probably be when we
try to hop on the live.
Hopefully we're talking about the Rangers ahead, trying
to win their first game of the series.
That would be phenomenal.
I just want to say a special thank
you as well to everyone that has taken
the time to follow the podcast on whatever
podcast app you prefer, whether it's Spotify, Apple
Music, iHeartRadio.
It has meant a lot to me.
I don't take any of your support of
the show for granted.
By the way, we do have a couple
of other things that I got started really
last year as a way for people to
support the show in extra ways.
Look, if you love the content, if you've
enjoyed some of the different things that I've
been putting out over the course of this
Ranger season, I want to show your support
in even a little bit of a greater
way.
We do have a $2.99 per month
subscription.
It gets you into our exclusive Right on
Rangers Discord, where we talk Rangers, baseball, other
Texas sports pretty much around the clock.
It's awesome.
It's a great group, a great community of
people, and it's really the one thing that
I monetized on the show.
So if that's something you're interested in, send
me a direct message, please, or you can
email me at Austin at RightOnRangers.com.
Austin at RightOnRangers.com.
And I can get you in to the
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Just have to sign up for a monthly
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And if you need help with that, please
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Not needed, not obviously said with any pressure,
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for considering it.
And if it's not for you, no hard
feelings.
Keep doing what you're doing to support the
show.
You guys are the reason this continues to
get bigger and bigger, and I so much
appreciate that.
All right, y'all.
We'll see you tomorrow or later tonight, I
guess might be a better way to put
it.
Hopefully, we can get off to a good
start in this Brewers series and win our
first road series in seven tries.
This is try number seven.
Rangers have lost six road series in a
row.
Seventh time is a charm, as they say.
Maybe.
All right.
I am taking off for the night.
It is past midnight here, and I got
to go get some sleep.
Hope you guys have a great Friday.
If I don't see you, hopefully maybe sometime
this weekend or next week.
Just know our podcasts are always on all
major apps and also always on YouTube and
Facebook.
Posted video after the fact, so you can
always catch us on the replay.
And as I always say to end every
show, God bless, and go Rangers.