What is the story about?
Mariners
4, Rangers 3
- I’m bummed. So bummed.
- This game…sigh.
- Jacob deGrom was, so, so good.
- 19 batters faced. 12 fanned. Just one hit, on a ball that goes for an out if he doesn’t get his glove on it.
- Everything seemed set up for the Rangers to take the finale and keep up in the playoff hunt.
- And then…
- Everything comes crashing down.
- The bullpen, which has been the source of so many problems of late, was to blame.
- But this time, it was one of the reliable guys, one of the pitchers we haven’t had cause to complain about.
- Jakob Junis, someone who feel good about, someone who we think, if we can just get the game to him and Jacob Latz, we are in good shape.
- A hit batter. A slow roller the other way that snuck through the infield. A single. And then a Julio Rodriguez blast.
- And like that, in a span of four batters, the game, and the Rangers season, has turned around.
- The Rangers had an uphill battle to make the playoffs even with a win in Seattle. The odds were against them.
- But I felt like they could do it. They could make it to the postseason. Not that they would, necessarily, but they could.
- Now? Now, it feels like the season is over.
- And we can think about all the games the Rangers could have won this year, but didn’t, all the missed opportunities.
- Or we can just think about this one game, about the ball caroming perfectly off the backstop to Cal Raleigh to tag out Nicky Lopez on what seemed at first to be a no-doubt run scoring wild pitch, about Wyatt Langford being tagged out at home two innings later on an inning-ending wild pitch, about the tying and go-ahead runs being on base in the ninth, only to be stranded.
- It makes me sad.
- I want to make myself set that aside, and appreciate instead the greatness of Jacob deGrom, appreciate what he did in this game, say that his excellence stands apart and can be enjoyed and embraced without regard to the final outcome of the game. That would be the rational thing to do.
- But sports fandom, and sports feelings, aren’t rational, are they?
- Jacob deGrom’s fastball topped out at 99.6 mph, averaging 98.3 mph. Jakob Junis reached 94.0 mph with his fastball. Robert Garcia’s fastball maxed out at 95.0 mph. Robby Ahlstrom touched 95.2 mph with his fastball.
- Ezequiel Duran had a 108.2 mph ground out. Joc Pederson had a 102.3 mph home run. Danny Jansen had a 101.6 mph single.
- Baseball continues, whether we want it to or not. On to Arizona.
