Three Things the Rangers Need to Right the Ship

Right now, just about everything that could go wrong for the Texas Rangers is, in fact, going wrong.

Taylor Swift may have said, “August slipped away like a moment in time,” but for the Rangers, that has not been the case.

For Texas, August has been filled with disappointing losses, and now the Astros and Mariners are creeping down their backs in the AL West.

Coming into play today, the Rangers have a 13-8 record this month, which doesn’t sound too terribly bad, but if you consider the fact that Texas has lost seven straight and is clinging onto their lead in the West, it gets dicey.

After a 6-3 loss to the Diamondbacks on Tuesday, Rangers’ manager Bruce Bochy said:

“When you get to this part of the season now, these are meaningful games”; “Our play last homestand, that’s not going to work. We just didn’t play good baseball.”

Unlike last year, there is no time to dwell on the fact that things aren’t working out.

With the team in the middle of a playoff race, they’ve got to figure it out and figure it out fast.

Here are three things the Rangers need to do to right the ship.

1) Get Some Guys Going

I know it sounds cliche, but right now, just about everyone in the Rangers lineup has gone cold simultaneously.

Here are some of the current slumps for Ranger batters.

Jonah Heim 2-20 (7 Games)
Leody Taveras 4-26 (7 Games)
Adolis Garcia 4-32 (8 Games)
Marcus Semien 7-31 (7 Games)

When everyone is cold at once, obviously, the offense struggles; if the Rangers want to turn this around, they’ve got to get some guys going and once and put something together consistently.

2) Get Will Smith Back to the Beginning-of-Season Form

Will Smith has been a nice surprise for the Rangers this year after signing for just $1.5 Million back in Spring Training. The veteran lefty has been in the closer role since the beginning of the year and has locked down 22 saves.

However, recently, things have been pretty rough for Smith, who has an 11.05 ERA in 9 games throughout August. (Yes, you read that right)

Having “Two Closers” in the back end with Smith and Aroldis Chapman is nice, but if Smith can’t figure it out the rest of the year, that creates a major hole in the back end of the bullpen, which is too late to fill.

3) Get Their All-Stars Back

This season, we’ve been so used to the fact that when one Rangers player goes down with an injury, another takes his place and steps up to keep the team afloat.

Right now, however, that is not happening.

Pretty much the moment that Rookie All-Star 3rd baseman Josh Jung took a lined drive off the thumb, the offense started struggling. Jung has been out for three weeks after that left thumb fracture and will be out at least three more. The Rangers need Jung back sooner rather than later to add some much-needed length to this lineup.

Similarly, Rangers Ace Nathan Eovaldi has not pitched in a game since July 18th, and the rotation is missing him right now.

Fortunately for Texas, Eovaldi threw to live hitters on Monday in Arizona, reportedly feeling no pain after facing both Brad Miller and Austin Hedges. Eovaldi has another bullpen scheduled for today in Minnesota.