Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Sports Gaming Picks - Get Your Picks Now

MLB Preview: Texas Rangers (52-37) at Washington Nationals (34-54)

TEXAS RANGERS NOTES:

WINS AND LOSSES: Texas bested the Nationals, 7-2, last night in D.C. and is now 2-2 on this 6-game road trip at BOS (1-2) and WAS (1-0 + 2 G) to close out the 1st ‘half’…team is 10-10 in last 20 G after a 2-7 span from 6/7-16…have a 12-17 record last 29 G (beg. 6/7)…club has won 23 of 42, 26 of 46, and 34 of last 58 G (beg. 5/6)…team still has A.L.-best 38-26 (.594) record since 4/28, T4th in MLB…TEX is 42-31 in last 73 G and 47-33 last 80 G (beg. 4/9).

  • At 52-37 (.584), TEX owns the 4th-best record in MLB to ATL (.678, 59-28), TB (.626, 57-34), and BAL (.598, 52-35)… 52 wins rank T3rd in MLB (59-ATL, 57-TB, 52-BAL/TEX).
  • The 52-37 mark is the T3rd-best 89-G start to a season in Washington/Texas franchise history (see chart below).
  • Texas is currently 15 G over .500, 5 G shy of matching season high point of 20-over after win 6/6 vs. STL (40-20)… marked latest point in a season to be 20-over since finishing 95-67 (28-over) in division-winning 2016 campaign.

WITH A WIN TODAY Texas would:

  • Snap span of 4 straight winless series (0-3-1) and earn 1st series victory since 6/19-21 at CWS (2-1).
  • Go up 2-0 in a series for the 1st time since 6/5-7 vs. STL.
  • Win back-to-back games for 1st time since posting 2 straight wins from 6/27-28 vs. DET.

SERIES STUFF: Texas is winless (0-3-1) in last 4 series and has gone 2-5-1 in last 8 series following a stretch of 6 straight series victories from 5/19-6/7…those 6 straight series wins marked longest span for team since club-record 10 straight series victories from 5/20-6/20/16…club is 17-9-2 overall in series this year, going 8-4-2 at home and 9-5-0 on the road… is 13-6-2 in last 21 series and 16-7-2 in last 25…team has lost 2 straight and is 1-3-0 in last 4 road series after winning WSH/TEX franchise-record 6 straight away sets from 5/5-31.

ON THE ROAD: The Rangers have lost 4 of last 6 and 8 of last 14 away games…club is still 25-19 (.568) on the road this season, good for the T2nd-best away record in the A.L./T5thbest in MLB (29-13, .690-ATL; 26-15, .634-ARI; 26-17, .605- BAL; 26-19, .579-CIN; 25-19, .568-HOU/TEX)…club has still won 12 of 21, 14 of 24, 16 of 27, and 19 of last 31 on road.

  • Rangers rank T2nd in MLB in both R (242) and R/G (5.50) on the road this season…club’s .753 road OPS is 4th-highest in A.L. (.786-LAA, .772-TB, .754-TOR).

VS. WASHINGTON: This 3-game series against the Nationals marks Rangers’ 1st trip to the nation’s capital since 2017 (3-0, 6/9-11/17), and the 4th ever road series for the WSH/ TEX franchise in D.C…the Rangers are 10-6 all-time vs. Washington (beg. 2005), including a 7-3 record at Nationals Park…Texas has won 5 straight and 7 of its last 9 G in D.C… this marks the 2nd straight season for the Rangers to face the Nationals (TEX went 1-2 from 6/24-26/22 in Arlington).

INTERLEAGUE: Texas has gone 14-10 in Interleague play this season, winning 5 of 6, 8 of 10, and 9 of last 12 G vs. N.L. clubs…TEX is 25-16 (.610) in last 41 G vs. N.L. dating back to 4/30/22, but is 10-10 in road Interleague games in that span.

MEANS OF (RUN) PRODUCTION: The Rangers enter today’s slate leading MLB with 526 runs scored this season, the 2nd-most runs through the first 89 G of a campaign in WSH/ TEX franchise history (528-1998) and the most by any MLB team thru 89 G since the 2017 Houston Astros (527)…526 runs before the All-Star break already rank 2nd in club history (538 R, 96 G in 2008) and T14th-most by any MLB club since the Midsummer Classic’s inception in 1933.

  • The 2023 Rangers could end up as one of the top-10 highest-scoring pre-All-Star break offenses of all-time (beg. 1933), as they are just 4 runs shy of matching the 2018 Boston Red Sox and 2001 Seattle Mariners (both w/ 530 R) for 10th place with 2 games left to play in the 1st ‘half’.

COREY CRUSH: Corey Seager went 2-for-5 with HR, 2B, RBI, and 2 R in last night’s win, and is now batting .361/.421/.630/1.052 (83-230) with 12 HR, 26 2B, and 52
RBI across 57 G this season…although he does not currently qualify, he ranks among MLB leaders (min. 250 PA) in OPS (1st), BA (2nd), SLG (2nd), OBP (3rd), and 2B (T4th)…his 26 doubles are the most-ever by a Ranger in their first 57 G of a season, and his 38 extra-base hits are 2nd-most ever by a TEX batter thru 57 G (40-Iván Rodríguez in 2000).

ALL ABOUT THAT BASE: Seager last night extended his career-best 26-game on-base streak over which he has slashed .402/.467/.701/1.168 (43-107) w/ 6 HR, 14 2B, 23
RBI, and 13 BB/19 SO…it is the longest active on-base streak in MLB, and the 2nd-longest such streak by a Ranger this season (33, Marcus Semien from 4/30-6/6)…according to Stathead, this marks the 1st campaign in which multiple Texas batters have posted on-base streaks of 26-or-more games since 2012 (32-Elvis Andrus, 27-Ian Kinsler).

HEAN-DAD BUMP DAY: After being activated from MLB’s Paternity Leave List yesterday afternoon, Andrew Heaney is expected to serve as Texas’ starting pitcher in today’s game… the southpaw’s 9.65 strikeouts per 9.0 innings figure this season would rank 10th in the A.L. if he qualified, and would be the highest single-season figure ever by a Rangers left-handed starting pitcher (min. 15 starts), well above the previous high mark of 8.97 SO/9 set by Cole Hamels in 2018.

NEED SOME SUN: The Rangers have gone 23-12 (.657) in day games this season, the 3rd-best daytime record in MLB (23-9, .719-NYY, 22-9, .710-ATL)…despite the overall success, club has lost 2 of 3 and 5 of last 7 day tilts.

  • TEX leads MLB in R (249) and R/G (7.11) in day games this season…club is batting .302/.367/.506/.873 (380-1258) with 52 HR (1.5 HR/G) in daytime starts vs. .257/.325/.432/.758 (481-1874) with 70 HR (1.3 HR/G) in night contests.

TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER – #44 Andrew Heaney, LHP (5-5, 4.12)
TODAY: The 32-year-old left-hander is scheduled to make his 17th appearance/ start of the season this afternoon in the 2nd bout of this 3-game set in our nation’s capital…was activated from MLB’s Paternity Leave List pre-game yesterday afternoon…has gone 1-2, 4.82 ERA (15 ER/28.0 IP) in last 6 starts (beg. 6/3) to raise season ERA from 3.76 to 4.12, but is still 5-4, 3.47 (31 ER/80.1 IP) in last 15 starts (beg. 4/10)…his 9.65 strikeouts per 9.0 innings figure would rank 10th in A.L. if he qualified…will work on extra 5 days’ rest after tossing 5.0 scoreless frames in Rangers’ 5-3 loss on Sun. vs. HOU (see ‘Last Start’)…is in his first season with Texas after signing a two-year free agent contract with the club on 12/9/22…is seeking to build on a 2022 campaign in which he produced career bests in ERA (3.10), WHIP (1.087), and strikeout rate (13.6 SO/9) with the Los Angeles Dodgers despite being limited by a pair of Injured List stints…the 9-year MLB veteran has appeared in 152 games/141 starts with Miami (2014), Los Angeles-AL (2015-21), New York-AL (2021), Los Angeles-NL (2022), and Texas (2023)…an Oklahoma City native, Heaney pitched collegiately at Oklahoma State University before being selected by the Miami Marlins in the first round (9th overall) of the 2012 MLB Draft…TEX is 9-7 in Heaney’s 16 starts this season.

AS OF LATE: After surrendering season-high 7 R-ER in his Rangers debut on 4/4 vs. BAL (L, 2.2 IP, 7 R-ER), Heaney has gone 5-4 with a 3.47 ERA (31 ER/80.1 IP), 87 SO/33 BB, and a .217 opp. BA (64-295) in his last 15 starts (beg. 4/10)… that stretch has cut his season ERA from a season-high 23.63 to 4.12…he ranks among A.L. qualifiers over that period in SO/9 (8th, 9.75) and opp. BA (11th)… he went 1-2 with a 5.87 ERA (15 ER/23.0 IP) over 5 starts in June, but is still 3-2, 3.26 ERA (17 ER/47.0 IP) in his last 9 starts dating back to 5/14.

TOUGH ON LEFT: Left-handed batters have slashed .119/.288/.143/.431 (5-2) with just one extra-base hit (2B) against Heaney in 2023…his .122 opp. BA allowed vs. lefties is the 4th-lowest mark in MLB (min. 50 LHB faced) and .431 opp. OPS figure is 5th-lowest in A.L.…Heaney has held lefties to a .184/.300/.272/.572 (19-103) slash line and just one HR (Jake Cronenworth on 9/11/22 at SD w/ LAD) over the last 2 seasons (beg. 2022).

LAST START: Fired 5.0 scoreless frames in Rangers’ 5-3 loss on Sun. vs. HOU (ND, 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 SO, 85 pitches/62 strikes)…exited after the 5th with a 1-0 lead, but was removed from the decision after RHP Grant Anderson allowed game-tying RBI double (Mauricio Dubón) in the 6th…Astros posted 3 runs in the 8th and tallied another score on Jose Altuve’s solo HR in the 9th off Brock Burke… Heaney’s 8 strikeouts were his most since 5/14 at OAK (9) and 15 swing-and-miss strikes were his 2nd-most in any outing this season (18-6/3 vs. SEA).

VS. WASHINGTON: Heaney has no record and a 3.27 ERA (4 ER/11.0 IP) in 3 games/2 starts vs. Washington in his career…most recently faced the Nats in start last season on 7/27/22 vs. WAS w/ LAD (ND, 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 SO), aiding the Dodgers to a 7-1 victory…today’s outing will be just his 2nd-ever appearance at Nationals Park, as he last pitched here in final start of his rookie season on 9/26/14 at WAS w/ MIA (ND, 4.0 IP, 4 R-ER).

ON THE ROAD: Has seen far better ERA results in his 6 starts on the road (2-2, 2.55 ERA) than in his 10 starts in Arlington (3-3, 5.29 ERA) this season…has logged at least 5.0 IP and allowed 3-or-fewer runs in all 6 away starts…opponents are slashing .185/.263/.355/.618 (23-124) with 5 HR in his road outings compared to .258/.355/.462/.817 (48-186) with 9 HR at Globe Life Field.

STREAKING STRIKEOUTS: Earned the win in his 2nd start as a Ranger on 4/10 vs. KC, recording strikeouts of 9 consecutive batters faced from the 1st through 4th innings…the 9 straight K’s marked the most successive strikeouts by a pitcher in Rangers history, snapping the single-game record of 7 set by Nolan Ryan on 7/7/91 vs. LAA and the overall high of 8 done by Joe Barlow from 7/24-8/2/21… according to Elias Sports Bureau, it matched the American League record for successive strikeouts, as Heaney became just the 3rd A.L. pitcher to do it…the others: DET’s Tyler Alexander on 8/2/20 vs. CIN-G1, and DET’s Doug Fister on 9/27/12 vs. KC…Heaney recorded 10 total SO on the night, the 18th double-digit strikeout game of his career (last 10 on 8/24/22 vs. MIL w/ LAD) and 2nd by a Texas pitcher at that point in 2023 (also 11 by Jacob deGrom on 4/5 vs. BAL)… the last left-handed Rangers pitcher with 10+ SO in a single game was Mike Minor on 8/11/19 at MIL (11 SO)…it also marked the 6th instance in club history (beg. 1972) for a pitcher to punch out 10-or-more batters in 5.0-or-fewer innings, last Dane Dunning on 5/9/21 vs. SEA (5.0 IP, 10 SO).

2023: Opponents are batting .229 (71-310) w/ 14 HR, including a .119 (5-42) mark with one XBH (2B) for LH batters…24 of 42 runs allowed in ‘23 have come in the 2nd (10) or 3rd (14) inning…opp. BA/OPS by time through lineup: 1st (.254/.731), 2nd (.206/.690), 3rd (.226/.848)…14 HR allowed are 2nd-most among Rangers (16-Pérez)…5.96 run support average is 16th-highest in A.L. (min. 50.0 IP)…Jonah Heim has caught 12 starts (2.86 ERA), and Sandy León (7.59 ERA) and Mitch Garver (11.37 ERA) have each caught 2 starts…is scoreless in 2 games/ starts (10.0 IP) vs. Houston in 2023…earned 1st road win of season on 5/27 at BAL (W, 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R-ER), posting lone ultra-quality start of the season…held O’s scoreless over 1st 6 frames

WASHINGTON NATIONALS NOTES:

No team release available.

ScoreBig - Get Tickets for Less

Related Articles

Fantasy Guru - Baseball

Latest Articles

Sports Gaming Monitor