This is the first season in Major League Baseball\u2019s modern era in which all teams play each other. It\u2019s about time, really, an easy way to boost the national appeal of a sport that skews regional. Yet some of the matchups still seem a little strange.<\/p>\n
Consider the Mets\u2019 current homestand, with series against the Los Angeles Angels, the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners. Sure, the Mets abandoned the pennant race a month ago, but the American League West version is flourishing in Flushing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, you\u2019re past those dog days,\u201d said Rangers Manager Bruce Bochy, who has seen a race or two. \u201cYou\u2019re looking at just over 30 games.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rangers spent 140 days with at least a share of first place until Sunday, when they lost for the ninth time in 10 games. The Mariners, baseball\u2019s hottest team since the start of July, overtook Texas for the division lead, with the defending champion Houston Astros close behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were in first place for many months \u2014 it\u2019s good to happen, what happened to us,\u201d said Mart\u00edn P\u00e9rez, who beat the Mets in relief on Monday in Texas\u2019 4-3 victory. \u201cYou look down and you have to come up again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even before this week, of course, the Mets had done their part to impact the A.L. West standings, sending Max Scherzer to the Rangers and Justin Verlander to the Astros ahead of the Aug. 1 trading deadline. Both have thrived in their first five starts, combining for a 7-2 record with a 2.72 earned run average.<\/p>\n
The Mets will not play the Astros again, but they welcomed Scherzer back on Monday with a tribute video. Scherzer \u2014 who smiled for the scoreboard camera after it played \u2014 did his job for the Mets but never expected to leave that job half-done. He was 20-9 for the team and had signed through 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were settled here, we liked it here, we enjoyed our time here,\u201d Scherzer said before batting practice Monday. \u201cWe thought we had a great organization. It was kind of like \u2018make sure we\u2019re trying to win in 2024\u2019 and that\u2019s what I was really trying to use the no-trade clause for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scherzer reiterated that he waived the clause because the Mets insisted they were scaling back their short-term ambitions. He said he appreciated such honesty from the owner Steven A. Cohen and General Manager Billy Eppler, who got a top infield prospect, Luisangel Acu\u00f1a, from Texas in the trade.<\/p>\n
Then again, there is nothing precluding Cohen from pivoting. Would anyone be shocked if he explored the market for starting pitchers this winter, with Aaron Nola, Blake Snell and Julio Ur\u00edas available in free agency? More to the point, would Scherzer be surprised?<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to speculate on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In any case, Scherzer has moved on, trying to do with Texas what he did with the Washington Nationals: win the first World Series title in franchise history. The Rangers have lost twice \u2014 to Bochy\u2019s San Francisco Giants in 2010 and to the St. Louis Cardinals the next fall \u2014 and have invested heavily since sinking to 102 losses in 2021.<\/p>\n
The middle infielders Corey Seager and Marcus Semien signed for a combined $500 million before last season; both have been terrific. And when last December\u2019s free-agent prizes got hurt \u2014 Jacob deGrom had Tommy John surgery in June, and Nathan Eovaldi has missed six weeks with a forearm strain \u2014 the Rangers traded for Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see the commitment \u2014 the first off-season for bats and the second off-season for arms \u2014 it\u2019s really promising as a player in my shoes to be a part of the bad team and now be part of the good team,\u201d said first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, whose two-out, two-run single in the ninth made the difference for Texas on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re committed, money-wise and effort-wise up top, to addressing organizational needs. Some organizations might wait or might fly under a budget or have certain caps on what they think they can get out of the group, but it feels like there\u2019s no ceiling for this group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scherzer felt the same way shortly after his trade from the Mets. But a wobbly bullpen and the hitters\u2019 recent struggles with runners in scoring position have tested the Rangers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got traded over and I thought, \u2018I\u2019ve never seen a team higher than high,\u2019\u201d Scherzer said. \u201cWe won eight games in a row, we were really beating people apart \u2014 and then all of a sudden, we went through an eight-game losing streak, and we were getting beaten apart. And that\u2019s just baseball, you\u2019re never as high as you think you are, you\u2019re never as low as you think you are. We\u2019re now at a point where it\u2019s like, \u2018All right, let\u2019s see who we really are.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The schedule will soon normalize for the Rangers, who play only A.L. teams in September and will face the Mariners seven times in their final 10 games. Until then, the Rangers hope to build off wins like Monday\u2019s, their first all season in which they won despite trailing after eight innings.<\/p>\n
And really, Bochy suggested, things could be a lot worse. At 74-57, the Rangers have already won more games than they did all of last season \u2014 and they still have two more against the fading Mets.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at where we\u2019re at this year and look at where the club was last year, which one do you want?\u201d Bochy said. \u201cSo you\u2019ve got to enjoy this. This is what we play the game for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tyler Kepner<\/span> has been national baseball writer since 2010. He joined The Times in 2000 and covered the Mets for two seasons, then covered the Yankees from 2002 to 2009. More about Tyler Kepner<\/span><\/p>\n Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"