ARLINGTON, Texas — The team with the league’s second best record, the Texas Rangers, will face the team atop baseball’s standings, the Tampa Bay Rays, in a clash of the June titans in central Florida this weekend. The two powerhouses – in both pitching and offense – are set to throw down in St. Petersburg in a hotly anticipated series.
This three-game set represents a major measuring stick series for both clubs – but it’s also important to remember that it’s still just the second weekend in June. Injuries will alter these clubs. Trends will continue to congeal throughout the summer. Trades will still happen, and we’re still a long way to October.
Anything can happen between now and then, so it’s wise to keep everything in perspective – but as far as narratives go, these have been the two best teams in baseball through a third of the season so expect a highly-charged weekend of top-tier baseball.
Where Tampa Bay is coming from
The Rays are 6-1 in the month of June. The Texas Rangers are 5-1. The Rays earned an extra win after playing a four-game series against Boston followed by a three-game set against the Twins.
Texas played a three-game set against Seattle and a three-game set against the Cardinals. The Rangers therefore arrive for this series with an extra day of rest.
Tampa took three of four from the Red Sox, losing only the first game of the series. They then proceeded to sweep the Twins – the leaders in the AL Central. Prior to that, they lost two of three to the Cubs in Chicago, putting them at 7-3 for their last ten. That’s a winning percentage of 70% - and that has been the story for the team the entire year, as they sit with a 46-19 record, a winning percentage of .708.
Starting off the 2023 season with an historical winning streak of 13 games, the Rays have not relented or come close to surrendering their stranglehold on the American League East. The streak to open the season tied the 1982 Braves and 1987 Brewers for the longest run of consecutive wins to start a year. Since that time, the Rays have put up a 33-19 record. In addition, Kevin Cash’s Rays lead in OPS, homers, and stolen bases.
The Rays get it done via the electric bats, baserunning prowess, and loud personalities of shortstop Wander Franco, outfielder Randy Arozarena, and first baseman Yandy Diaz. Franco, the switch-hitting Dominican who signed an 11-year, $182 million extension prior to this year is slashing .308/.372/.496, with 7 homers, 21 stolen bases and 29 RBI.
Arozarena, whose dynamic personality and penchant for coming through in clutch situations made him a Tampa Bay postseason hero when the Rays played Corey Seager’s Dodgers in Arlington during the shortened 2020 season, sits at .290/.394/.498 on the year with 12 homers and 43 RBI.
Diaz, meanwhile, is a 31-year old powerhouse first baseman slashing .316/.410/.566 with 12 homers and 34 RBI, but he was held out of the previous two games with hip soreness, which is something to keep an eye on.
As good as the Rays have been at the plate, pitching has been the organization’s bread and butter and that has held true in 2023 as well. Tampa Bay sports the league’s third-lowest team ERA at 3.53. Their starters hold a 2.94 ERA, best in baseball.
Tampa’s best arm has been lefty Cy Young favorite Shane McClanahan, the 26-year old who has risen to the top of the rotation. As is the norm with homegrown Tampa Bay pitchers, McClanahan was good when he came up and has grown to become exceptional in his third full season in the big leagues. His 2.02 ERA leads the league.
Things to watch for
● Game 62: 5:40 PM CT - LHP Andrew Heaney (4-3, 4.03 ERA) vs. RHP Tyler Glasnow (0-0, 3.72 ERA)
● Game 63: 3:10 PM CT - RHP Nathan Eovaldi (8-2, 2.24 ERA) vs. RHP Taj Bradley (4-2, 3.60 ERA)
● Game 64: 12:40 PM CT - LHP Martin Perez (6-1, 3.97 ERA) vs. LHP Shane McClanahan (9-1, 2.02 ERA)
The opener pits Andrew Heaney against Tyler Glasnow. Glasnow was supposed to pitch in the finale against the Twins on Thursday, but Tampa Bay called up righty Yonny Chirinos to give Glasnow an extra day. The start against Texas will be Glasnow’s third of the season, as he got a late start due to an oblique strain. Starting over in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, Glasnow has thrown 9 ⅔ innings over two starts, allowing four runs and nine hits.
Rangers MVP candidate Marcus Semien, who saw Glasnow in the AL East as a member of the Blue Jays, has six appearances against the righty and is hitting .667 off of him with two homers and five RBI.
Heaney, meanwhile, is coming off of his second shortest start of the season, pitching only three innings against the Mariners after giving up three runs and struggling with command while throwing nearly 80 pitches. The Rangers are counting on a bounce-back in St. Pete.
Saturday afternoon’s game will see Texas’ ace Nathan Eovaldi go against rookie Rays rookie Taj Bradley. Bradley, who was called up early this season following injuries to Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs, has pitched in seven games and has held his own after coming into the season as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball.
Bradley’s most recent start was a winning effort against the Red Sox, where he went five innings while giving up two runs and struck out six.
Eovaldi, meanwhile, now takes a permanent spot atop the rotation for Texas with the news that Jacob deGrom will miss the remainder of the season. The AL Pitcher of the Month of May threw six easy scoreless innings against the Mariners in his last start, giving up just one hit. The only reason the Alvin, TX native didn’t go further was because the Rangers had put the game far out of reach.
Over his last seven games, the veteran has given up just four runs, good for a 0.68 ERA and a 0.68 WHIP. Several Rays have history against Eovaldi from his time in Boston, most notably Arozarena (.091 average in 11 at-bats) and Diaz (.167 average in 12 at-bats).
In the finale, the Rays will send McClanahan to face off against Martin Perez. McClanahan’s last start, against the Red Sox, saw him give up just one run in six innings of work. He’s enjoyed an ERA of 1.94 in his last seven games.
Perez is coming off of a great performance himself against the Cardinals, throwing seven innings of shutout ball, giving up just three hits and walking one. While he didn’t end up with the win, the Rangers are hoping that Perez can carry the momentum from that start to The Trop.
Diaz has the most history against Perez, who was also a member of the Red Sox before rejoining the Rangers last season. Diaz has 25 at-bats against Perez and boasts a .320 average.
With a little over a third of the season in the books, this series provides a good checkpoint for both teams to see how they measure up. It might come down to which team can get to the other team’s bullpen the quickest, as neither team sports a particularly fearsome set of relievers.
The Rangers are rested and ready for a test against the league’s dominant juggernaut with an opportunity to prove that they belong right there with the Rays.
Do you think the Rangers will take a series against the MLB-leading Rays? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.