Fresh a regular butt-kicking at the hands of the Yankees, the Mariners take their horse (read: jet) on the old town road (read: air route) to ride (read: hit) til they can’t no more (read: til the game is over). Yes, that’s right, the Mariners are in Texas and I’ve listened to too much country rap lately. As if there’s such a thing.
At a Glance
Mariners
Rangers
Mariners
Rangers
Game 1
Thursday, August 29 | 5:05 pm
RHP Félix Hernández
RHP Lance Lynn
39%
61%
Game 2
Friday, August 30 | 5:05 pm
LHP Marco Gonzales
LHP Kolby Allard
50%
50%
Game 3
Saturday, August 31 | 5:05 pm
LHP Tommy Milone
LHP Brock Burke
46%
54%
Game 4
Sunday, September 1 | 12:05 pm
LHP Yusei Kikuchi
LHP Mike Minor
39%
61%
Team Overview
Overview
Rangers
Mariners
Edge
Overview
Rangers
Mariners
Edge
Batting (wRC+)
89 (11th in AL)
104 (7th in AL)
Mariners
Fielding (DRS)
-39 (11th)
-67 (14th)
Rangers
Starting Pitching (FIP-)
98 (5th)
114 (14th)
Rangers
Bullpen (FIP-)
100 (8th)
112 (13th)
Rangers
The Rangers’ pitching is pretty darn good. A lot of that can be explained by them having two 4+ fWAR pitchers, including Best Pitcher In Baseball (what, and I cannot stress this enough, the hell) Lance Lynn. That’s gone a long way towards propping up their record, as their bats overall are 2018 Ryon Healy quality. So are the gloves, really.
Projected Lineup
Player
Position
Bats
PA
BABIP
wRC+
BsR
Player
Position
Bats
PA
BABIP
wRC+
BsR
Shin-Soo Choo
RF
L
549
0.334
116
2.5
Danny Santana
1B
S
409
0.364
116
3.4
Elvis Andrus
SS
R
534
0.304
80
4.8
Willie Calhoun
LF
L
220
0.290
124
-0.4
Nick Solak
DH
R
35
0.474
166
0.0
Rougned Odor
2B
L
471
0.239
65
0.3
Logan Forsythe
3B
R
344
0.303
78
-0.3
Delino DeShields
CF
R
324
0.347
80
4.0
Jeff Mathis
C
R
229
0.246
8
-0.6
I get that, like, you want to know about this lineup top to bottom. I get that. I do. But how on earth am I supposed to lead with anything beyond the fact that the Rangers have given Jeff Mathis 229 PA and his wRC+ is... 8? It’s 8. I checked it three times. The Rangers might actually be pretty good at hitting if you left him out! Okay, well, they’d be better. Shin-Soo Choo and Danny Santana and Willie Calhoun are neat, and Nick Solak has potential. But Rougned Odor remains mal-odorous instead of bon-odorous, and Logan Forsythe is looking pretty old. Again, Jeff Mathis has a wRC+ of 8.
Probable Pitchers
Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images
RHP Lance Lynn
IP
K%
BB%
HR/FB%
GB%
ERA
FIP
IP
K%
BB%
HR/FB%
GB%
ERA
FIP
170 2/3
27.4%
6.7%
8.9%
41.7%
3.85
2.98
Pitch
Frequency
Velocity
Spin Rate
Stuff+
Whiff+
BIP+
Four-seam
52.7%
94.8
2468
103
170
102
Sinker
18.6%
93.1
2304
151
131
86
Cutter
15.7%
89.3
2571
112
119
97
Changeup
2.8%
87.0
1814
Curveball
10.1%
81.4
2351
94
133
80
Lance Lynn has always been good. Suddenly, Lance Lynn is great. The stuff is really good across the board and generates lots of whiffs. Lance Lynn is 6’5”, 280 pounds. His Players Weekend jersey was because his full name is Michael Lance Lynn. Honestly, I’m not really sure what to say about Lance Lynn. He is really, really good and I kind of hate it. At least the rest of the Rangers are bad.
LHP Kolby Allard
IP
K%
BB%
HR/FB%
GB%
ERA
FIP
IP
K%
BB%
HR/FB%
GB%
ERA
FIP
21 1/3
24.2%
8.4%
4.8%
39.3%
4.64
2.93
Kolby Allard came to the Rangers in the Chris Martin trade, which, wow, the Rangers got Kolby Allard for two months of Chris Martin and I still can’t believe that happened. Allard, a former first rounder, has pitched 21 innings for Texas and they’ve been good. Just barely 22, Allard was an absolute steal for Texas and throws a three pitch mix: fastball, curve, change. All three pitches are good, and Allard’s early returns make him look like a thorn in the AL West’s side for many years to come.
LHP Brock Burke
IP
K%
BB%
HR/FB%
GB%
ERA
FIP
IP
K%
BB%
HR/FB%
GB%
ERA
FIP
12
18.8%
10.4%
0.0%
64.5%
0.75
3.46
Brock Burke is a lot like a couple of Mariners’ pitchers in one specific 2019 aspect: he’s deserved to be in AAA, but has barely spent any time there because of the juiced ball. Instead, he spent the lion’s share of his minor league time in AA, where he carved the league up, rather than AAA, where he had an ERA of 7.88. 12 innings into his big-league career and Burke looks promising: he has a four pitch mix and a recently improved velocity trend thanks to a weighted ball program. Also, he says Chick-Fil-A’s chicken sandwich is the best one. Make of that what you will.
LHP Mike Minor
IP
K%
BB%
HR/FB%
GB%
ERA
FIP
IP
K%
BB%
HR/FB%
GB%
ERA
FIP
174 1/3
24.4%
8.0%
11.8%
40.6%
3.25
3.94
Pitch
Frequency
Velocity
Spin Rate
Stuff+
Whiff+
BIP+
Four-seam
44.8%
92.9
2645
113
127
111
Changeup
23.2%
86.5
2276
94
106
123
Curveball
12.2%
81.0
2530
112
115
110
Slider
19.8%
86.8
2729
122
71
105
As the Mariners’ pitching prospects trickle into the big leagues, Mike Minor is an excellent reminder of exactly how fickle elite pitching can be. A heralded prospect who had a couple nice seasons in Atlanta, Minor sort of went of a cliff in Atlanta, headed to Kansas City, headed to Texas, and squeezed a couple of, again, nice seasons in before a sudden 2019 breakout in his 10th (!) year in the big leagues. All four Texas starters in this series have compelling reasons to watch them. Maybe this will be us soon.
AL West
Team
W-L
W%
Games Behind
Recent Form
Team
W-L
W%
Games Behind
Recent Form
Astros
87-47
0.649
--
W-W-W-W-W
Athletics
76-56
0.576
10.0
L-L-W-W-L
Rangers
65-69
0.485
22.0
L-W-L-L-W
Angels
64-71
0.474
23.5
L-L-L-W-L
Mariners
56-78
0.418
31.0
L-W-L-L-L
AL Wild Card
Team
W-L
W%
Games Behind
Recent Form
Team
W-L
W%
Games Behind
Recent Form
Cleveland
78-55
0.586
+1.5
W-W-L-W-W
Athletics
76-56
0.576
--
L-L-W-W-L
Rays
76-58
0.567
1.0
W-L-L-L-L
Red Sox
72-62
0.537
5.0
W-W-L-W-W
Rangers
65-69
0.485
22.0
L-W-L-L-W
I would like to speak to the Manager about the Rangers’ continued inclusion in this table.
2020 Draft Order
Team
W-L
W%
Games Behind
Recent Form
Team
W-L
W%
Games Behind
Recent Form
Tigers
39-91
0.300
--
W-L-L-L-L
Orioles
44-89
0.331
3.5
L-W-W-W-L
Royals
47-87
0.351
6.0
L-W-L-L-W
Marlins
47-85
0.356
7.0
L-W-L-L-L
Blue Jays
54-81
0.400
12.5
L-W-L-W-L
Mariners
56-78
0.418
15.0
L-W-L-L-L
Pirates
56-77
0.421
15.5
W-W-L-W-L
Rockies
59-75
0.440
18.0
L-L-W-L-L
White Sox
60-72
0.455
20.0
W-L-W-L-L
Padres
61-71
0.462
21.0
L-W-W-L-L
Thanks to the Yankees, the Mariners were able to slide into the 6th spot again, and even to make up a little ground on the Jays for the 5th spot.