The Texas Rangers have set their rotation for their series at home against the Detroit Tigers coming out of the All Star Break.
Patrick Corbin will be first out of the gate, going up against the Tigers’ Reese Olson on Friday, July 18. Saturday night’s game will feature Kumar Rocker for the Rangers and the ever popular TBD for Detroit. Sunday’s finale will see Nathan Eovaldi getting the ball for the Rangers against Tarik Skubal.
Eovaldi will have six days off between starts, having pitched the last
game before the Break for the Rangers. He also would have probably been named to the All Star team as a replacement for one of the various pitchers who ended up having to be replaced on the team had he not been starting on that Sunday, since he wouldn’t have been eligible to pitch, either. The Rangers, recognizing that he was worthy of an All Star berth, have reportedly opted to pay him the $100,000 bonus he would have gotten had he been named to the team.
There has been some carping about Jacob deGrom, who started last Saturday, not getting a start against Detroit. He and Jack Leiter will go in some order on Monday and Tuesday against the A’s, but there are folks upset that deGrom is not pitching sooner.
Its worth noting that deGrom, coming off Tommy John surgery, has already logged 112.1 innings this year, putting him 23rd in the majors. That’s more innings than he pitched in the majors in 2022, 2023 and 2024, combined, and is the highest single-season total he has had since 2019. Oh, and he’s 37 years old.
Giving deGrom the benefit of some extra rest via the All Star Break seems pretty reasonable, under the circumstances. Especially since you’re hoping to have him still going strong come October.
