After the Texas Rangers won the World Series last season to get their first in franchise history, people were high on them to be in contention in 2024 for a second title. However, this Rangers season has been “embarrassing” to use the words of general manager Chris Young as manager Bruce Bochy talks about the disappointing year as a whole.
While the Rangers are technically not mathematically eliminated, they are on the verge of officially doing so as they are seven games below .500 and the fifth team out of the last wild card spot. When being interviewed by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Bochy doesn’t have a straight answer for their performance this season.
“I wish I knew what the answer was,” Bochy said. “Obviously, I don’t have it figured out.”
“There’s been a number of reasons why we’re not where we want to be,” Bochy continued. “Every season is different. It takes a life of its own whether guys aren’t having their normal year or injuries.”
Rangers’ Bruce Bochy says “injuries are not an excuse”
This will be the 24th straight year where an MLB team won’t repeat as World Series champions though Bochy himself has won four of them, three with the San Francisco Giants. Weirdly enough, each time a Bochy-led team would win the championship, they would not make the postseason the following season as this year is on track to repeat.
“It shows how difficult it is to win a championship,” Bochy says. “To repeat, a lot of good things have to happen. You need your guys to have a similar year to the year before. You need to avoid injuries. And you need a surprise or two…We didn’t hit on any of them, just being honest.”
While Bochy himself will tell you that injuries are not an excuse, the Rangers did suffer from a bevy of them including pitchers Max Scherzer, Jon Gray, and especially Jacob DeGrom, outfielder Evan Carter, and third baseman Josh Jung.
“Injuries are not an excuse, every team has to deal with them,” Bochy said, “but they hit us pretty hard with our core players. And our guys will tell you they haven’t had the years they had last year. We weren’t the same team offensively, and it’s hard to explain why. We just didn’t have that same slug as we did last year.”
Rangers’ Max Scherzer talks how injuries impacted the team
However, there were some less than ideal seasons for players on the roster like Adolis Garcia, Marcus Semien, and others that didn’t play up to their standards. Scherzer, who made his ninth start Saturday, on the other hand would focus on the injuries being a factor to their season.
“If we had been able to stay a little bit healthier, especially myself,” Scherzer said, “we’ve been a lot more competitive. That’s what’s tough. Baseball is an ultra-marathon. This is six months every day, and then you play another month of baseball, and after a short turnaround, you’re in another ultra-marathon. That’s why it’s so hard to repeat.
“We knew it was going to be an absolute challenge coming in, and unfortunately as a team, we haven’t played our best, and with certain guys injured, like myself, it’s frustrating. I feel like if I was healthy, and out there making my starts, that would have given the team a lot better chance…We’re still very good, very talented, but everybody’s got to look into the mirror after the season and wish they could have done more.”
At any rate, the Rangers are 71-78 which puts them third in the AL West as they face the Seattle Mariners Sunday afternoon.
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