Of all the Texas Rangers’ problems this season, one stands out above all others
Most teams were in the same optimistic boat as the Texas Rangers on Opening Day.
They said a string of early wins would take them where they wanted to go, to the postseason. A slow start would make reaching their goals difficult.
And everything pretty much fell apart from the start.
There was that solid 7-1 stretch that pushed the Rangers to 10-9, but it was followed by eight straight losses to start the 3-16 funk the Rangers found themselves in Sunday.
Despite the touted rotation, the supposed resurgence of Rougned Odor and budding star Joey Gallo healthy again, the Rangers were lacking the most basic element.
They didn’t know how to win.
The timely hit or the right pitch or making the correct play escaped the Rangers, leading to losses in close games and resulting in mounting pressure and deeper slumps as the window to make up ground closed.
“I’m not going to make excuses,” manager Chris Woodward said. “We just haven’t done the little things at times to win games. This season is just so different. It snowballed faster. Now you say, OK, we can’t win a few close games early, it puts our record in a spot we don’t like, and we make a few critical mistakes almost every game that costs us a win. Early on we just didn’t win the close game.”
A close game doesn’t necessarily mean a one-run game. In fact, the Rangers entered Sunday 5-3 in one-run games.
But in an early-season three-game sweep at Oakland, the Rangers lost the opener on a walk-off grand slam and the next two by 6-4 scores. Two of their four straight losses to San Diego last month were in extra innings.
The losses Friday and Saturday at Seattle came in large part to the bullpen allowing three eighth-inning runs in each. The Rangers lost 6-3 and 5-3.
“Now, we’re just young,” Woodward said.
Throughout the season, but more of late, the Rangers have broken down when their games went awry. On Saturday, the Rangers made too many outs on the bases. On Friday, the hitters couldn’t lift the ball.
They have dedicated more time before games to fielding work.
“I hate losing, and I know that everybody in that clubhouse is frustrated about losing,” Woodward said. “But it is what it is. You have to keep going out there and you have to keep performing. You have to keep preparing. We can’t get wrapped up in the fact that yes, we need to go out and win a baseball game today, but we also need to know how to win a baseball game today.”
The Rangers have had a massive shortfall offensively as key hitters entering the season have just flailed away. The Rangers had the worst team batting average (.213) in baseball entering Sunday and were last in the American League in homers, runs and hits.
The pitching staff has been slightly better. The Rangers’ 5.14 team ERA is 11th-worst in the league, but the rotation has a 7.03 ERA during the 3-16 stretch.
Things have been better defensively the past two weeks with players like Leody Taveras, Ronald Guzman and Eli White making a difference. However, the Rangers’ slide 10-9 to 13-25 started with a wide Odor throw on a potential inning-ending double play at Colorado that instead turned into a five-run inning in a 10-6 loss.
That’s one example of the little things Woodward referenced that turn into huge plays in deciding wins and losses.
The Rangers will spend the rest of the season learning how to win.
“It’s up to us to kind of do that as a group and continue to have conversations our players need to continue to have conversations on what it takes to win,” Woodward said. “And that just never ends. That never stops, even when you’re a championship team. That’s the goal that I’m trying to get these guys to understand, that, yeah, it sucks losing, but we’ve got to talk about the things that created that.”
