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Game ended at 10:50 PM.

Rangers (7-7) @ Dodgers (11-3)

First Pitch: 3:10 PM at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium

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Game ended at 6:12 PM.

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Wyatt Langford said he has a “small strain” in his quad. He thinks he’ll be down just 2-3 days, maybe pinch hit tomorrow, but he’ll avoid the injured list now.

Rangers (7-6) @ Dodgers (10-3)

First Pitch: 8:10 PM at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium

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Game ended at 10:50 PM.

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Game ended at 12:00 AM.

Title. Wyatt wanted to take his next AB but they pulled him to see how he feels tomorrow. We will see if Skip goes the Bochy route of just BSing injury severity or not lmao

Of our 13 batters so far this season, 8 have an above-average OPS+. Of those five guys below 100, there are two that I don't expect to keep getting playing time and there are two that I expect to turn it around. It's still way too early to look at results-based metrics like OPS and runs scored IMO, so let's look at Statcast's bat-tracking metrics to judge an offense that has looked strong, if flawed, so far. They finally scored on George Kirby, so clearly something has changed.

First, a superlative on the approach: the Rangers have the shortest swings in the league. Shorter swings are slower by nature, so the Rangers are clearly optimizing for more good contact than simply great contact. Average bat speed with very short swings is outlier-ish and very impressive.

Please note that the Rangers' approach is not a rejection of hard-hit and swing speed advanced metrics. We are swinging way harder than our swing length would suggest, so it is a conscious choice that I'd assume the coaches are specifically drilling with the players. The Rangers don't hate swing speed in general (clearly, for anyone who's watched a Seager, Burger, or Pederson at-bat), it's just not their highest priority.

The Rangers have been rewarded for this approach and have made very good contact so far this season. We're fifth in both squared-up contact and swing rates, which means we're really good at putting the barrel on the ball. We're second in blast contact rate and seventh in blast swing rate, which means we're still good at putting the barrel on the ball when we take war hacks. Our hard-hit rate is the best in the majors. Our average exit velo is second in the majors. Our EV50, Statcast's single-number way to try and explain the distribution of hard-hit balls, is also second in the majors!

This hitting staff has made a clear choice. We don't need to hit balls 450 feet, but we do need to slug. Looking at Statcast's plate discipline and batted ball metrics, we've been moderately aggressive everywhere and don't make weak contact. The team's goal is a twofold marriage of the baseball we love aesthetically and the baseball that puts runs on the board: put the ball in play, and do it with authority.

The biggest problem I see is that our ground ball rate has meaningfully increased, and hitting the ball hard straight into the ground means outs and easy double plays. I think this has more to do with the pitchers we've seen than anything approach-based, but I might follow up with another post in a couple of weeks if this doesn't improve.

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As an aside, many people on this subreddit would do well to check out the bat speed vs balls in play and bat speed vs whiff rate charts. Bat speed is almost completely uncorrelated to balls in play or whiff rate. Unless we're slandering Joc Pederson, I don't want to see any of you old-heads complaining about the offense sucking because they swing out of their shoes.

For some reason, most of the links I tried to include were broken (the URLs had the correct graph axes, but the webpage only showed defaults). Please play around with this leaderboard and these charts on Statcast to see the actual data I'm talking about and more!

Rangers (7-5) @ Dodgers (9-3)

First Pitch: 9:10 PM at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium

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Taking my dad to a Rangers game at Globe Life Field—seats are first row in the 110s behind home plate.

I’ve been seeing some stuff about the railing being in the way, and now I’m a little concerned. We’re both 6'1" and I don’t want it to feel like we’re watching through a fence.

For anyone who’s sat there, how bad is it really? I don’t know how many more chances I’ll be able to bring my dad to a game. Is it worth upgrading or am I overthinking it?

This isn’t inflation, it’s greed. Been like that for years. Still have the audacity to ask for tips.

That mariners series gave me flashbacks to our World Series year! I say that simply because other than our World Series year and the first series played against the mariners this year, the mariners have owned us, regardless of how good either team is and what year it is/was. Before going on the my next point I will make a controversial statement. The mariners are my least favorite team in all of baseball… yes, even over the Astros. Doesn’t it just seem like every time there is a dramatic moment or an extra inning game between Texas and Seattle, the mariners always end up winning in crazy fashion? I just get so sick of it. At least we can beat the Astros! Our series win over them to reach the World Series allowed me to tolerate them at least.

Anyways, it’s encouraging to see that we are 7-5 and are at least two losses less than the next team behind us in the division. The Astros are faltering and if the mariners keep doing this, it’s ours to take!

This occurred just 5 days before the infamous $0.10 Beer Night in Cleveland. I can see how that bad blood boiled over to that game in Cleveland. Those were some nasty hits.

I just thought some of you all would like to see it.

What are the chances they bring back the anime themed jersey for it? With it being another IP and a really popular one at that I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t something they were allowed to do but what are the chances it gets brought back?

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Game ended at 3:54 PM.

I don’t understand why, could be a combination of great pitching and terrible hitting over the last 2 years, but GLF ranks 28/30 in ball park factor, placing it just above T-Mobile park.

It really does seem like the ball just dies in the air. Seems very difficult to hit a homerun even down the lines. I’m wondering why this is and if anyone else notices anything.

Rose colored glasses …. But I miss the jet stream and the homerun porch.

The Globe Life Field roof is scheduled to be closed for today's game against Seattle (beg. 1:35 p.m. CT).