Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Right on Rangers is where Rangers fans ride the season in real time.
The LIVE shows are the heartbeat. Big wins, ugly losses, bullpen chaos, breakout heaters, trade rumors, roster debates, and the takes that come with actually caring about this team.
Sometimes those takes get hot. That’s part of watching 162 with people who are invested. But the reaction still has receipts. We use stats, film, history, roster context, and what’s happening on the field to figure out what the game actually revealed.
Between LIVE shows, we go deeper on the players, decisions, stories, and moments shaping Texas baseball.
Rangers first, always. When the calendar turns, the Cowboys, Longhorns, Mavericks, and the biggest Texas sports stories get their run too.
If you want sterile box-score recaps, this probably isn’t your show. If you want passionate Rangers talk with actual baseball underneath it, welcome in.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Right
on Rangers Live.
Coming at you, bottom of the ninth inning.
Rangers, little five-run rally, trying to make
it happen.
Texas down 7-2 currently, bottom nine, and
you have Corey Seager up to bat.
See if Seags has something for us here.
He is 0 for 4 on the day.
Look, I think it's fair to say we
can all rest a little bit easier on
this one, knowing that the Houston Astros have
lost a ballgame regardless of what happens today.
The Rangers will maintain their first place position
in the AL West.
Both teams have the off day, and so
you will not have to worry about a
half game gained or lost tomorrow.
Astros are off before they go to Seattle
for a three-game set with the Mariners.
Rangers will stay in Arlington to host the
New York Mets.
You got what you needed from the Atlanta
Braves.
You got a sweep, and you could have
probably had a sweep the other direction.
That would have been quite the knockout blow.
It wasn't meant to be.
Corey Seager, as I'm talking now, going to
ground into a game-ending double play, and
that'll do it.
Rangers drop this one today on the season.
They will sit atop the AL West for
another day in sole possession, but they do
fall back to 78 and 78.
Got to look at the bright side.
This is a game that you definitely could
have won and should have won with Jacob
deGrom on the mound, but you move forward.
You have six games remaining, and the Astros
lose, and you give another opportunity for the
Rangers to get that much closer to October.
Magic number down to, I think it's six,
by the way.
I don't know if they've updated the elimination
number.
I thought it was seven yesterday, but the
Astros lost.
Should go down to six.
We'll see.
What's good, all y'all hanging out here?
You know the drill already here at Ride
On Rangers.
We cover everything Texas sports, but we put
a huge emphasis on the Rangers during the
MLB season, and we thank you for choosing
Right on Rangers.
For all of your Texas Rangers content, drop
a comment, drop a question.
Would love to hear from you.
See what you have to say.
We will be doing a couple of lives
today.
We'll be doing a couple of shows.
We have the Cowboys playing the Washington Commanders.
They will be finishing up probably here in
a couple of hours, so we'll do Rangers
live.
We'll do a Cowboys live.
It's going to be great.
We have a lot of sports to talk
through today with you guys.
I'll say what's up real quick.
Texas Carnage, if you're still hanging out, maybe,
maybe.
Come on now.
We already want to start.
We want to lead off the show with
the Evan Carter debate already.
Hey, look, Evan Carter did get a couple
of hits today.
Everyday starter, 2027.
I think the Rangers just announced it post
game because of Evan Carter's couple of base
knocks today.
Everyday starter.
Got a couple of hits.
That's all they needed to see.
That is all they needed to see.
Too much, man.
The Evan Carter debate rages on.
Love it.
You guys already know it doesn't take much
to get me going.
Alejandro Osuna had a base hit today.
Funny how the man just keeps producing when
given the opportunity.
Shocking information.
You have the Rangers losing Brandon Nimmo to
an illness today.
They will hopefully get him back for the
Met series.
Maybe that'll be the series where he really
comes alive against his former team.
You would love to see that Brandon Nimmo.
He's had some hits here and there.
Don't get me wrong.
He's had some moments over the last couple
of weeks, but it sure would be nice
to get a Brandon Nimmo heater against his
former team.
Looks like deGrom will miss the former team.
We talked about this on the show the
other night.
They are lining up deGrom for that twin
series, hoping that deGrom can be on the
mound to hopefully secure something special, a playoff
appearance, a division title.
We shall see what is on the line
the next time Jacob deGrom steps on the
hill.
RJ, what's good out of all the games
Carter starts hitting?
Right now?
Yeah.
The one we lose?
Yeah.
Evan Carter, look, good game for him today.
I think right now what we need to
focus on are the real reasons why this
thing fell apart, and let's get into that
today.
I was very critical of Jacob deGrom during
the game today, and I think rightfully so.
I know a lot of people respect Jacob
deGrom, myself included.
I think he's one of the best pitchers
of all time.
I don't think there's any denying that, and
I think Jacob deGrom should be a Hall
of Famer.
I do not think that there's really any
debate that needs to be had there with
the way the game is changing.
It's not 300 wins anymore.
You know, the numbers you're gonna have to
throw out the door a little bit.
The ones that once stood forever and ever
because of how the game has changed, and
I do think deGrom will eventually get in
because of that.
So let's keep it 100% with deGrom
here.
Twist nothing, but deGrom today, this was your
biggest game.
This was the biggest start of your season.
You're getting paid $38 million a year to
pitch the baseball, and you had to come
through today.
Had to.
Beyond that, any of the reasons that I
just shared, let's talk about the fact that
the bullpen has been incredibly taxed.
Coming into today's game, you had an epic,
epic run of outings from Montgomery, from Trevor
Williams a couple of nights ago.
You had other guys coming in yesterday.
Nathan Eovaldi came in yesterday, got a big
strikeout with two runners on.
The list goes on and on.
This bullpen for the entire week was turning
in miraculous performance after miraculous performance, and you
just didn't have deGrom answer the bell today.
You needed length out of deGrom?
You didn't get it.
You needed shutdown frames out of deGrom today?
You also didn't get it.
Now, is deGrom season as a whole a
failure?
No, absolutely not.
deGrom has had some good pitching outings for
the Rangers.
He has definitely had some big-time moments.
We've all uttered the words at some point
this season, vintage deGrom.
I know I have.
But today, unacceptable for your ace, and with
all of the rah-rah around the trade
deadline, deGrom, I believe we can win.
I want to win here.
You put all the pressure on yourself in
a way in doing that, and you didn't
walk the walk along with talking the talk.
I think that's really the only way you
can put this.
And I think deGrom would tell you the
same thing.
I don't think deGrom is making excuses right
now.
I had a couple people, you know, pipe
in, oh, the groin.
We have no clue how his groin is
actually doing.
I tend to say, that doesn't matter.
He's out there on the mound right now,
or in this case, he was out there
on the mound earlier today.
If you're out there on the mound, you're
expected to perform, just like any regular person
in real life in the workforce.
What are we going to do next?
Are we going to excuse Corey Seager because
his infant was keeping him up and he's
a little tired?
It's okay that Corey goes over for, he
was tired.
He's got a little baby at home.
That's a lot of people that have jobs
and work, except these guys are getting paid
millions of dollars.
You and I aren't.
I mean, the water carrying in the hoops
that some people jump through for these multi
-million dollar athletes will never cease to amaze
me.
deGrom is out there on the mound today.
There's no excuses for Jacob and I don't
think he would have any either.
That's the wild part.
Everybody is working their butt off, man.
I'm up till one, two in the morning
doing stuff for my regular job and doing
stuff for Ride on Rangers.
I'm still expected to perform the next day.
And again, the difference is I'm not making
however much Jacob is per start.
And Jacob deGrom, if you do the math
in a year annual, you are making over
a million dollars every time you start.
Assume there's 32 to 34 starts for a
major league starting pitcher in a season.
deGrom is getting paid basically over a million
dollars for every start.
What are we doing if we're making excuses
today for Jacob?
He had to have a good game today.
He had to give you length today.
The bullpen has been piecing this together all
week long.
That's why it pisses me off to no
end when I'm seeing people criticizing the bullpen
today.
What are we doing?
The bullpen has been great all week long.
Have guys here and there occasionally had bad
performances?
Sure.
By and large, the bullpen has been outstanding
this week.
We've had Trevor Williams, Jordan Montgomery, throwing shutout
frames out of nowhere.
I can't get on the bullpen today.
You shouldn't either.
This is all on Jacob deGrom, man, in
the seventh inning when Tyler Alexander is giving
up multiple runs.
You know what I'm thinking?
This should have been deGrom's frame.
The dominating deGrom, that is.
The elite deGrom.
This seventh inning should have been his inning,
and that's not what we got today.
Jacob deGrom has one more start this season,
and we'll see how much leverage is involved
with it.
There very well might not be a whole
lot of leverage involved with it.
We will see.
With that being said, I don't know how
much confidence Rangers fans will go into that
start feeling.
I know the next Jacob deGrom start that
rolls around, you know that he can turn
it on.
He can flip that switch at any time
and give you that 10-plus strikeout dominating
performance he can.
But I can't say I'm feeling like that's
a lock.
Are you?
I think that right now, deGrom has entered
into the realm that many Rangers find themselves
in right now.
Inconsistency.
You have a really good start from deGrom.
The Seattle start comes to mind where the
Rangers let him down.
They let him down in that start.
He should have won that game.
He didn't get a win.
The Rangers lost that game.
Six innings, 12 strikeouts.
And you had today deGrom going down early
to nothing.
You get the big home run from Jake
Burger.
Tie ball game off the center fielder's glove.
It's meant to be.
And then the next inning happened.
deGrom loads the bases and the Rangers quickly
relinquished the lead.
Rangers need deGrom to figure it out.
I know that this is like cutting edge
analysis right now.
Figure it out.
But it's such a simple thing to say,
but it's so true.
You need Jacob deGrom to figure this thing
out.
And right now that hasn't happened.
deGrom has not figured out how to consistently
help the team win games.
Doesn't mean he hasn't had any good starts.
In fact, we're probably the quickest one to
sing the praises.
I feel like I am in defense of
Jacob deGrom often, but it's hard what I
saw today.
deGrom going out there and not even getting
through the fifth inning in a very important
game in which you really could have devastated
Houston after getting swept by the Braves.
Really could have devastated them in a major
way.
And instead, here we are.
First place, hanging by a thread to first
place, but in first place going into the
off day tomorrow, the Rangers will then face
the fighting Marcus Semien who are coming to
town on Tuesday.
The New York Mets, that is.
Rangers will have a three game set and
that's going to be an interesting series to
figure out with the pitching.
And you're going to have Gore, I'm sure,
although he's fighting some spasms.
Everybody's hurt right now.
Gore is fighting something.
You're probably going see Rocker again, maybe the
last game, maybe the Thursday game.
There's going to be, I'm sure, a bullpen
game mixed in there.
We'll see what happens, but the pitching is
not going to be at its strength.
I would say at its max strength in
this Mets series.
Fortunately, the Mets are not great at baseball,
but unfortunately, the Rangers have at times struggled
against teams that aren't that great at baseball.
Feels like you almost want to see a
good team come into town because the Rangers
are always playing up to the competition instead
of down to it.
Mets, nevertheless, will be here Tuesday night.
We'll be here to cover it all Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, and then the Rangers will hop
on a plane and they will go to
Minnesota for the last series of the regular
season.
Let's keep moving.
I'll continue to check comments and everything along
the way.
Thank you for everybody that's tuning in.
Light show today, I'm sure.
I know Cowboys are playing right now.
We are definitely going to be hopping on
a Cowboys live later on today, but man,
I didn't want to wait till the evening
to do all this and I didn't really
want to do a split show either.
I was explaining yesterday.
I just much prefer to keep them a
little more focused.
Not that we can't ever talk about football
during a Rangers live, but because I've kind
of done a little bit more with the
podcasting specifically, getting all the live shows out
in podcast format.
It's just a lot more helpful when I
can keep it a little bit more focused
for me.
Also helps me out with content throughout the
week.
So if you want to talk Cowboys football,
we'll definitely be back around after the fourth
quarter, maybe even late in the fourth quarter.
Excited about that.
Cowboys are about to go to half here.
It is 17 to 10.
As we are recording this Cowboys are up.
Although the commanders are right on the doorstep
here.
This one's going to be a barn burner
defense looking a little rough.
Once again, they are definitely not looking much
improved from the Giants game.
I must say let's talk Cal Q Cal
Q was announced today to go to the
injured list and he will not return for
the regular season.
I think that out for the season was
used, but I don't know that he's out
for like the postseason as well.
If you make it, yeah, he's not going
to pitch the rest of September, but I
do believe that he will potentially be able
to come back in the postseason.
I wasn't reading any of that.
Like you're not going to have him no
matter what the rest of the way.
I just think at this point you are
going to not have him for this final
stretch of games.
You don't have him for the Mets.
You don't have him for the twins either,
which is the last series.
That is a gut punch.
I said it before the game today.
Little bit glass half full mentality for you.
In the bait, the game of baseball, there
are just so many wild stories, magical playoff
runs, stuff that doesn't make sense.
Baseball is weird.
Sometimes I say that all the time, man.
That's how baseball go great.
Ron Washington.
We feel, I feel like I say that
quote every other show.
I don't feel like the Cal Quantrill loss
is going to totally wreck your season.
In fact, it kind of feels like if
it's meant to be, somebody's going to step
up Jordan Montgomery, Nathan of all the, after
the injury, it feels like somebody is going
to step up at this point.
That's how I feel.
I don't think that Cal Quantrill injury don't,
don't take it the wrong way.
Don't get it twisted.
I don't think the Cal Quantrill injury is
a good thing, but I just think that's,
that can't be what deters you.
That can't be what totally throws you off.
I think the Rangers can still figure out
a way to get across the finish line
into October.
And then who knows what can happen once
you get into the wild card round, once
you get into the divisional round, that definitely
in the past, as you look at history,
that definitely doesn't necessarily have a strong hold.
What happened in the regular season?
What happened throughout the entire course of one
62?
What has a strong hold is how a
team is playing the resolve of the team.
Yeah.
The, the chemistry, the culture of the team
as well, the clubhouse.
I think that the Rangers, if they can
just find a way to get in, get
into the dance, who knows what could happen?
You get Cal Quantrill back.
Jordan Montgomery turns on the, the 2023 October
magic.
He turns back the clock and now we're
cooking.
That to me is a very plausible thing.
And I definitely feel for Quantrill.
He's had such a great year.
You don't want to see him go down
with an injury like this.
I mean, that dude's still trying to play
baseball.
He's just trying to get paid next year,
man.
I don't think the Rangers are going to
be able to afford him.
I'm just trying to help let you down
easy right now.
I know a lot of Rangers fans.
We got to bring him back.
I don't think they will.
I don't think they will y'all.
I think they appreciate what Cal has done,
but Cal is going to want a multi
-year deal next year.
He's going to want probably 10 plus million.
Rangers can afford it, but I think the
Rangers will probably bet on Cal not repeating
this.
And it's not the worst bet in the
world.
If I'm just being real with you, I'm
not saying that Cal Quantrill is a fluke,
but what I am saying is baseball's hard.
It is hard to be consistently good, especially
as a pitcher.
And so I do think you're going to
see the Rangers most likely pass on resigning
Cal Quantrill unless he wants to do like
an incredibly team-friendly deal.
I don't know.
Brennan, what's good?
Not what you want from deGrom in September,
but the Astros lost as well.
Just keep winning these series.
82 and 80 should be the benchmark.
82 and 80 would be great.
Would love that.
That would be a absolutely phenomenal outcome if
the Rangers are able to just win two
out of three, win two out of three.
It's going to be tough for the Astros.
Astros are going to really have to turn
it on here, and they do play multiple
division opponents at this point.
We will see how the Astros fare down
the stretch.
Rangers though, they control their own destiny, and
I don't know that there's a whole lot
else that you can ask for beyond that.
Texas, big opportunity.
Huge opportunity.
A couple of comments here.
Astros aren't stepping up either.
Appreciate you, Troy.
Thank you so much.
Hey, by the way, I'm trying something new
on TikTok.
Don't know if it's going to catch on
great or not, but I am trying to
get everything in the same place so I
can stream and not have my attention divided
all over the place.
Drop a comment, drop a question.
We'll see if I can get everything figured
out on my end, but definitely would love
to hear from you.
Let me know if you got something that's
on your mind, you got a question that
you want answered.
I would be more than happy to assist.
All right.
We are going to be going through a
few other components of today's game.
I've disappointing start from him.
Talked a little bit about the Cal Quantrill
news.
Again, just not the news you wanted going
into a game like this, but it is
what it is.
You have to overcome it.
You have to find a way.
Now, as I look at the lineup, we
have a lot to discuss here.
The lineup tonight, once again, lets you down
a little bit.
You only scored two runs.
Eight hits is better than what they had
yesterday, but you only have two runs.
That to me is kind of the theme
of the weekend, even though they actually had
a successful weekend.
You had Wyatt Langford moving up to the
leadoff spot.
Wyatt is on a good little run here.
He had two walks, he had a hit.
It's great.
I was a little surprised to see him
in the leadoff.
I kind of had a first reaction of,
is Skip knee jerking a little bit?
Skip being a bit prisoner of the moment
here.
I think that you have an argument there.
Wyatt Langford over the course of 30, he
definitely does not have the best numbers, but
he's been hot of late, right?
Last 15, 188 average, does have a 745
OPS, but last seven, he's gotten 800 OPS
with the 250 average.
That works.
That works.
I think with Nimmo out and you've got,
obviously, a little bit of a different look
as well as the Jays were doing a
bullpen game.
Not sure exactly what they were going to
throw at you.
Totally felt like a good move.
Seager 0 for 5 hurts.
I think it's going to be tough on
days where Corey doesn't get a hit to
feel great about the offensive performance.
Josh Jung 0 for 4.
When Corey Seager and Josh Jung go a
combined 0 for 9, I'm not expecting the
game to go well in most cases.
I'm not like 0 for 9 and they
had how many strike at three strikeouts between
them.
Seager put the ball in play every time.
That's a good sign.
Ezequiel Duran went 0 for 3, so you
had your 2, 3, and 4 hitters go
a combined 0 for 12 with a walk.
It's just not going to work, man.
That is not going to work.
You're not going to win a lot of
ball games doing that.
You had Alejandro Osuna, a couple base hits.
Jake Burger with a big bomb to make
it a 2-2 ball game.
That's the only way the Rangers got on
the board today.
The only way they got on the board
today.
They have to figure out ways to just
keep this offense consistent.
In October, you don't always need to score
10 every time.
October is really built on strong pitching performances,
some big hits here and there.
Maybe this is perfect.
This is a nice little practice run for
Texas.
Again, 0 for 12 with your 2, 3,
and 4 hitters.
That's just not going to go great 9
times out of 10.
Duran, Young, Seager, no hits.
Danny Jansen, 0 for 4.
I wonder when Higgy is going to get
the call up.
I really thought after those couple of home
runs in a row that they would probably
have Higgy up.
It wasn't the case.
It was not the case.
Higgy is still down with Round Rock, although
Round Rock, didn't their season end today?
I thought this was the last game.
You might see some movement with the roster
over the next 24 to 48 hours.
I guess there's a championship tomorrow.
You've got OKC in Las Vegas.
You've got Rochester and Memphis.
This was the last game of the season,
last weekend of the season for Round Rock.
Today, just to give you the wrap, the
rundown, before we get back to today's game,
you had Cam Cauley, 1 for 4.
You had Walcott go 1 for 4 as
well.
Cauley actually had a home run.
He continues to swing a good bat, Cam
Cauley does, down at AAA.
I don't think you can label him quadruple
yet.
He has not really gotten a great runway
at the Major League level, but I think
it's safe to say I don't know that
Cam Cauley has a lot more to prove
in AAA.
I know this was his first year in
AAA.
I don't really feel like he's got a
lot to prove in AAA at this point.
That's just me.
Let's see.
Top of the lineup needs to step up.
Ka-chow with the YouTube comment.
I would agree with that.
I would absolutely agree with that.
I think that you have to consider this
lineup.
You have a very top heavy 1 through
4, 1 through 5, if Nimmo is in
there.
Tonight, you had the bottom of the order
really hitting better than the top of the
order.
That'll work sometimes.
Again, baseball is weird, but it's not going
to work a lot.
It's just not.
By the way, Higgy 2 for 4.
2 for 4 in his final game with
Round Rock, by nature of the season ending.
It's going to be interesting what they do.
You could, I guess, technically carry 3 catchers.
Maybe that's something that the Rangers are interested
in.
Higgy has had a good rehab assignment.
He's had a really good run.
You would think that the Rangers are going
to be calling him back up and making
room someway, somehow.
Maybe it's Osuna that goes back down.
Michael Helman is another guy that's down there
rehabbing right now.
You're going to be seeing some movement.
Robby Ahlstrom pitched today.
He went one scoreless frame, no strikeouts.
Peoples pitched today as well.
He kind of got lit up.
He had a walk, two hits.
Not great.
Peoples has a 6.23 ERA right now for
Round Rock.
Not sure we'll be seeing Ben Peoples.
Bormie had another shutdown inning.
Bormie looked really good in spring training.
He was really with AA quite a bit,
and then they called him up.
He's been looking great.
He's been looking awesome.
I do think there is potential, though.
Kachow here YouTube comment.
Like when the Rangers play 2 catchers in
the lineup, maybe we could have competition between
the 3.
Yeah, I do think that there is an
argument to go with 3 catchers.
I don't know if it's going to happen
or not.
They might have to do something else with,
maybe you do let Higgy go and he
latches on somewhere else.
I don't know.
It seems like your options are a little
bit limited beyond DFAing if you're not going
to bring Higgy up.
The season's over down there in Round Rock.
Kind of have to make a tough call
here.
As I look at the Rangers lineup today,
you definitely have a couple of guys that
stand out that could be on their way
down.
I do think Osuna and Freeman are probably
the ones that are at the top of
the list.
Joc Pederson, I think they need to put
Joc on the IL.
That might be the move, actually, is Joc
to the IL, and then Higgy, you can
go ahead and you can bring him up.
That's probably the smoothest thing to do.
They had Eric Nadal on local radio a
couple of days ago.
Nadal was talking about Peterson and hitting with
the injury that he has, the fracture.
I agree with Nadal.
He was basically like, I really don't see
how the Rangers are expecting Joc Pederson to
be able to contribute with the bat while
he's got this fracture.
This was in middle school.
I played with a broken thumb.
I played a little catcher, and it was
the weirdest thing.
There was a ground ball to first base.
First baseman throws it home.
I'm playing catcher.
I do a really quick swipe tag.
I receive the ball, and I swipe slap
down to the runner that's coming home.
We got the out, but it broke my
thumb.
The cleat and the momentum, it hit perfectly,
and I broke my thumb.
It was black and blue, but I just
kept on playing.
I came back the next day.
I was a pitcher too at that time.
I pitched a little bit.
Finally, the pain was becoming unbearable.
I was swinging the bat without gripping it
with my left hand.
It was my left thumb that was broken.
I was swinging the bat really without my
left hand.
I was also trying to catch the ball
a little bit.
I remember telling my catcher, dude, just lollipop
the throws back to me so I can
catch them lightly.
I don't think it is very possible for
Joc Pederson to be a big-time contributor
with the injury.
I really don't.
I don't think that is going to be
a happening thing.
We'll see what happens, but it does not
strike me as a very possible outcome that
Joc is going to be good to go
with another day or two of rest.
I think Joc is most likely going to
be going on the I.L. Rangers really
do need to have another position open.
With Kyle Higashioka and Michael Helman on rehab
right now, you would think that is probably
going to be the move.
I am not sure what else the Rangers
would need to see from Joc Pederson to
feel good about him coming in a ball
game.
It is too bad.
It is too bad the Rangers find themselves
in that spot where they don't have that
good pop.
I mean, Joc is one of your best
home run hitters.
It would be useful.
I still say I think the Rangers can
make the playoffs without Joc Pederson, but it
would be nice to have at least that
threat.
The threat of going deep.
The threat of having a guy off the
bench, especially if it is lefty starter.
Off the bench, you have Joc come in
and you know he can give one a
ride.
If you pinch hit him when a righty
comes into the ball game, you know that
Joc is capable of that.
I don't think the Rangers are up a
creek without him, but it does feel like
it is trending towards Joc going to the
IL to make room for either Helman or
Higgy.
Beyond that, I am not sure what they
do.
I am not sure what they do.
There are probably some other options, but I
think at this moment in time, what you
definitely want to see are some of those
guys from AAA come back up and maybe
they can continue to be a spark and
continue to be a contributor.
Hey, Troy, thanks for the compliment, man.
Looking on TikTok right now.
Yeah, I wanted you guys to be able
to get kind of the box score experience
and then also be able to see the
ticker that I use as well.
That was just me, and it's probably a
little bit nicer to have the dead on
camera view.
So hey, look, I'm trying something new.
Hopefully it'll work out all right.
I think I've got to work out a
couple of little kinks here and there, but
trying to upgrade things.
Trying to upgrade.
All right, let's keep on going.
We've talked about so much.
I'm going to continue to check comments and
questions throughout.
Definitely know we've got football going right now.
Cowboys, they are going to be kicking off
to Washington here.
And looks like, what do they got on
the on the countdown here?
It looks like we're just about to go
back to half.
So we'll be going back to watch the
rest of this game, and then we'll be
popping back out for a Cowboys Live here
in a little bit.
That'll be the plan.
But wanted to get out here, make sure
we talk through this game, especially with the
off day coming up.
It's been good hanging out with all y
'all.
Look, talked about the bullpen already.
Robert Garcia, that was a huge moment for
him coming in with the bases loaded there
and getting that double play.
I think we got to show Robert Garcia
some love, man.
That was a huge moment in the ball
game.
And I really thought, man, when Robert got
that ground ball, double play one pitch, you're
like, this is it.
They're going to find a way to win
this game.
Didn't happen.
Tyler Alexander came in, faced three hitters, got
nobody out.
All three scored Rangers offense.
Couldn't figure it out.
Couldn't get it together.
And the rest is history.
But man, what a big moment from Robert
Garcia.
That was huge, especially after deGrom just totally
had a melt after the Rangers got that
big home run to bring the game.
Even Jake Burger gave you the exact swing
that you needed in the fourth to run
Homer to two game, totally fresh start.
And you're just thinking, man, this is where
deGrom locks it in.
And it just never came.
Never came.
I do think Texas is a little too
reliant on the big swing.
It's something that we've talked about a lot.
Can we get the Rangers doing a little
bit better with station to station, putting pressure
on the defenses, not always counting on one
big hack to win you a ball game.
And that's where it fell short tonight.
You had the one big Homer and no
one could really build on it.
And so deGrom, I do think deserves blame
for today.
The bullpen, I don't even want to go
there with how much they've had to piece
things together.
And if we're really being fair with deGrom
as well, I think I touched on this
a little bit, but I'll touch on it
again.
I feel like deGrom has been taxing the
bullpen all year long.
Now it's an organizational decision that the Rangers
made.
They are not going to have deGrom go
deep into games.
They made that decision.
So you kind of have to lie in
that bed, but nevertheless, deGrom lack of efficiency
at times.
He has been a big reason why this
bullpen has been overly taxed.
I think at the end of the day,
you have a lot of four inning bullpen
outings when deGrom's on the mound, sometimes more,
three at minimum.
And it's been very rare.
deGrom has gone into the seventh or the
eighth inning.
deGrom and others and MacKenzie Gore, Kumar Rocker
aren't helping either.
You've just got a lot of starting pitchers
that tax the bullpen pretty routinely.
That is not going to lead to great
stuff.
I do have some grace for the bullpen
this year.
I know they've gotten a lot of crap,
especially the middle relief for not being able
to bridge it.
When you have so many five or four
inning asks where the bullpen is coming into
the game in the fifth or the sixth,
it adds up.
There is a tax for that that accumulates.
And I think we've seen a bit of
the bill coming due at times over the
last month or so with the pen.
I tend to give the pen a little
bit more grace because of the amount of
innings they have had to fill at times
because of the lack of starting pitching length
that you get from a game-to-game
basis.
Now, Texas gets bailed out today.
Houston loses.
Thank you.
Just became a Braves fan, man.
My cheer for them in the NL.
I definitely would not mind seeing them do
some damage in the National League.
I definitely appreciated what they did against the
Astros several years back in the World Series.
It's kind of fun.
I'm sure that Houston Astros fans have some
nightmares of the Braves.
And this was a nightmare weekend for Houston.
It's too bad Texas couldn't take advantage today.
I'll take the help.
I'm not going to apologize for Atlanta doing
Texas a favor here, but I definitely don't
love shrugging off these kinds of losses either.
But at the end of the day, you
do have to say to yourself, you go
into the off day in sole possession of
first place.
There's definitely things to nitpick at, but let's
go big picture.
That is the big picture.
Quantrill, we discussed him at length, definitely makes
today's short start matter even more.
You needed this off day.
The fact that they have this off day
is so huge because you have a chance
to get right.
You have a chance to get healthy.
That to me cannot be understated.
You have a game tomorrow and you just
tax the bullpen back to back days.
Man, that would have been rough.
It is huge that the Rangers have this
day to chill.
You don't have any travel and now you're
able to go into the series really feeling
good, really hopefully feeling like you've got a
fresh set of arms.
Of all the, I think is going to
have to probably enter the rotation at this
point.
You can rest him up, maybe give him
a start on Thursday.
Kumar Rocker, you would think you could maybe
get Wednesday a start from him and then
Gore on Tuesday.
I don't know if they've announced the starting
pitching stuff yet, but that would be kind
of where I'm at with the starting pitching
rotation.
We'll see how that plays out.
We're going to do a Mets preview here
in just a second.
We have been going quite a bit on
the show already.
We are at about 40 minutes in, but
we got about maybe 15, 20 more left.
We're going to do that Mets preview here
in just a second.
Brandon Nimmo, by the way, just to do
a little Rangers news real quick, a scratch
from today's start because of illness.
Osuna replaced him, hit fifth and had two
hits.
It's good stuff.
Definitely nice for Nimmo as well to have
that off day.
Hopefully he heals up and this is just
a one-day thing, right?
All right, let's go ahead and talk New
York Mets here.
So Sean Manaea is going on Tuesday for
New York.
He's 5-7 with a 4.74 ERA, 132
strikeouts.
Mets are 71 and 85 coming into the
series with the Rangers, 14 games under 500.
We will see Marcus Semien, a Rangers legend
that he is.
Hopefully the home crowd can give him a
nice ovation.
Rangers will have their lefty lineup in the
mix.
You'll have Foscue, you'll have Burger.
I'm actually, I don't know about you guys,
I'm actually feeling better about when a lefty
starts versus when a righty starts.
I don't know if you guys have had
that shift.
I never used to feel this way, but
I have definitely had a little bit of
a shift.
Glad that I have this opportunity with the
Rangers going through and facing a lefty.
It's nice that they have this opportunity to
have some of their hottest hitters, Foscue, Burger,
in the lineup in key positions.
Burger against righties, not quite as good.
He was good today, had the home runoff
of Arrighetti, it was awesome, but they moved
Burger down a little bit when there's a
righty.
Having a lefty on the hill means I
think you have your hottest hitters in there,
and that's so huge.
Never would have thought that I would feel
this way coming into this season based on
the last couple of years, but here we
are.
Phillip says, I think I saw on ESPN
that it is Gore on Tuesday.
Appreciate you, man.
Yeah, I do think it is going to
be Gore on Tuesday, probably Rocker Wednesday, and
then I think you'll try and throw Eovaldi
on Thursday.
I don't think there's anything that they can
do otherwise.
I don't think they have a choice.
I think they've got to get Evo back
in the lineup here.
Nate, what's good, man?
Nate says, was frustrated for a little bit,
but all in all, we're still in good
shape, win our final two series, and I
think that wins the division.
I'm with you on that.
Hope Seattle doesn't mail it in on Tuesday
and Wednesday.
Byron on YouTube with the comment there, same.
I think that they will play hard.
I think everybody does.
I don't think there's a ton of mailing
in going on.
You never know, but I think that the
Astros will get some competitive games.
I really do.
Jaden Daniels, Marcus, I don't have the game
on quite yet.
I ought to turn it on and just
mute it right now.
We'll be talking Cowboys a little bit later
on, but is Daniels hurt?
Give me an update here, man.
Appreciate you.
Yeah, you're definitely going back to the New
York series.
I think you have a favorable matchup on
Tuesday with Manaea.
Then again, you just have rest on Monday,
and you don't have to go anywhere.
That makes a big difference.
You don't have the bullpen throwing.
You have everybody sleeping in their own beds,
nobody doing the long travel stuff.
It's great.
Then you'll be able to hit the road
Thursday after the game.
Rangers on Thursday, I believe they have a
day game, but I'm not 100%.
Let's check it out.
Yeah, it's a day game on Thursday.
You really have a nice last week of
ball here, but you've got the Mets at
home.
Thursday, you get done playing probably around 4
.30 or 5.00. You hop on a
flight to Minnesota.
You get into Minnesota probably 9.00 or
10.00 p.m. You get to sleep
in, and then you've got all day until
Friday evening when the game is on.
I think you have a very nice travel
schedule here for the Rangers compared to other
teams.
Houston having to go from Texas to Seattle,
and then they finish out, I think, in
Sacramento.
Once they get out to the West Coast,
that's not a crazy big deal, but you
are playing in a different time zone.
You are having to do a lot of
travel.
Texas to Minnesota, that's a piece of cake,
man.
That's not that big of a deal, and
you're still in the central time zone.
It's perfect, honestly.
I think the Rangers, we talked about it
a week ago, they have the most fortuitous
schedule moving forward, and they really don't have
a lot of excuses not to come away
with this thing.
Mania is definitely attackable.
I mean, this is not an ace.
Just to circle back to the Mets starting
pitcher for Tuesday, I think Texas is going
to have opportunities to create traffic against him.
After today, just thinking about the performance, you
didn't really have enough from your 2-3
-4.
You had Seager going over, Young going over,
Duran going over.
Offense has to get back on track.
You got to see a solid series from
them.
You want to hit the road on Thursday
to Minnesota for that last series, feeling good
about what you can do away from Globe
Life.
Another thing we've talked about, right?
This is just such a different team when
they leave this ballpark.
You just hope that the Rangers are able
to carry the success that they've had at
home onto the road for that final series.
The Mets, we already said it's 71-85.
The Mets are bad, but bad teams can
ruin October.
Again, they are not a great team, but
not great teams can find a way to
spoil things for you in September.
They can ruin your October hopes for sure.
We've seen that happen so many times over
the years.
They have nothing to lose.
They have no reason to play tight.
This is exactly the kind of team that
could be annoying in the final week.
I don't think that they're going to be
rolling over, and you surely shouldn't have that
mentality.
Got to take care of business.
Biggest question for Texas is going to be
the rotation, but I do think it'll probably
be Gore, Rocker, and I would imagine Eovaldi
probably gets a start on Thursday.
He's pitched yesterday, Saturday.
You have Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, four days
rest.
Ivo only pitched one inning.
It makes sense to me that you would
go with Eovaldi on Thursday.
Even if he can only go five, you'll
take it.
I think that should be the plan, and
I think Texas will probably come through with
something similar.
All right.
Let's go ahead and let's land this thing,
and I'll keep on checking comments here and
there throughout.
Appreciate you guys.
Today, this game told me that this pitching
staff can absorb a ridiculous amount, and just
thinking about the last week, that is very,
very true, but there is a limit.
There's a limit, and I think they've met
the limit today.
You were so badly hoping that the Rangers
were going to figure out a way with
an off day from deGrom today.
You had the epic one-pitch double play
from Robert Garcia.
Again, in my mind, the wheels were turning.
This is special, man.
We'll see what happens the rest of the
game.
Then the offense couldn't figure it out, and
you had Tyler Alexander not able to record
an out, and the rest is history.
Rangers, I think, got some great pitching from
the bullpen this week from some unsung heroes,
from some guys you wouldn't have expected it
from, and today was the offense's turn, I
think, to really carry it, and they couldn't
do it.
What I am still unsure about, what's this
rotation going to look like in the final
six games of potentially October if you don't
have Cal Quantrill?
You are going to have to have some
guys step up in a major way.
I think we have to see how things
play out over the next week or so,
but it's going to be a little nervy
to see how the Rangers are able to
piecemeal this together.
I is definitely going to come back into
the fold, but who's going to step up?
Are we finally going to get MacKenzie Gore
pitching like the five prospect acquisition that he
is?
Are we going to see Kumar Rocker hit
a different level?
Are we going to see Jordan Montgomery turn
back the clock to 2023?
What are we going to get from this
pitching staff over the last week of the
season, of the regular season, and into October?
Next thing I'm watching, we'll see who gets
the ball Tuesday.
I think it'll probably be Gore.
Phillip mentioned that TikTok comment there, and is
this offense going to be able to pick
things up after a bit of a sluggish
weekend?
It had some nice moments, but the Rangers,
they were gifted some walks.
They were gifted some errors.
You would love to see the team really
come to life against a poor Mets squad.
All right, and that is going to do
it for today.
I will definitely be back on here in
a couple of hours after the Cowboys game.
I'm hopeful that you'll join me for that,
and then tomorrow, I don't think I'll do
a live.
Maybe I'll do an off-day pod.
We'll see what happens.
I'd have to see how the schedule works
out and how the mood is striking me,
but we'll definitely be back Tuesday, and we'll
be probably eighth or ninth inning for that.
Would love to have you join us.
Thank you for all the people that have
followed since the show started today and commented.
Of course, if you missed any part of
the show, please know we put all of
our shows on all the major podcasting apps,
and they're also available on YouTube and on
Facebook afterwards, so go check it out.
I try to put the chapter marks as
well for everybody, so you can get to
the specific spot that you missed.
That's always helpful.
At this point, I'm going to sign off
for the day.
Hopefully, the Cowboys can pull this one out,
and we'll be back in a couple of
hours to chat through that.
Hope you guys have a great rest of
your Sunday and a great week ahead, and
as I always say to end every show,
God bless and go Rangers!