Rangers 3, Mets 1
- I feel better now.
- Not that I’m, like, feeling confident in the Rangers winning the division or anything like that.
- But they at least won a game. The losing streak was halted, and we were reminded that, okay, yes, the Rangers are capable of winning a game.
- Kumar Rocker pitched pretty well in his final regular season start of the season, which is good to see.
- I made sure to put “regular season” in there because we are trying to maintain a level of optimism, even if it is just performative optimism.
- The Rangers still have a chance of making the playoffs, after all. Win one more game than Houston does over the final three, and Texas is in.
- Fangraphs puts the odds of that happening at 28.7%. Roughly the likelihood of Kaz Okamoto or James Wood striking out this season. Roughly the likelihood of Evan Carter getting on base in any given plate appearance this season.
- Rocker allowed a run in the first, then not another one, going five innings in all. The slider was working well, as he got 8 whiffs in 16 swings on it, and allowed just one hard hit ball off of the slider.
- That’s pretty much the Kumar Rocker story, though, isn’t it? If the slider is working well, Rocker does well. When the slider isn’t doing its thing, he struggles.
- One baserunner allowed by the relievers over the final four innings, no one reaching scoring position. Not a problem.
- Jordan Montgomery got what I was hoping would be his first career save. As it turned out, he got a save in 2024 for Arizona, so it is his second career save. Not quite as fun.
- The two run first inning homer by Josh Jung answered the one run that the Mets scored in the top of the first. Corey Seager chipped in with an insurance solo homer in the sixth, to make it less anxiety-inducing, less nail-biting.
- One of the less important things for this weekend to watch is whether Seager homers in this final series. If he does, that will get him to 20 home runs for the season. It would be his fifth straight 20 home run season, and the seventh of his career.
- There’s always a sort of numbness that sets in as the end of the season approaches. Here we are, knowing that there are three games left for the 2026 Texas Rangers.
- And its possible there are more, that there will be playoff games, and that hope sustains us to a certain extent.
- But there are no more regular season games at the Shed this year. Just one more series, and the book will be closed for the 2026 regular season.
- It seems like it goes slowly, then that it is going on forever, and then the end is looming way too soon.
- Kumar Rocker topped out at 96.0 mph with his fastball, averaging 94.3 mph, and 96.0 with his sinker, averaging 94.2 mph. Robert Garcia hit 95.0 mph with his fastball. Tyler Alexander’s fastball maxed out at 92.7 mph. Chase Silseth hit 96.6 mph with his fastball. Jordan Montgomery’s sinker touched 91.4 mph.
- Corey Seager had a 107.5 mph home run. Josh Jung had a 104.3 mph home run. Elias Diaz had a 102.7 mph groundout.
- Okay, let’s go sweep Minnesota and hope the Astros lose at least one of their remaining games.
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