The way the Texas Rangers are batting this season, it may take more than the loss of Jacob deGrom to knock them out of first place.
DeGrom will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing elbow ligament reconstruction, but the Rangers still lead the American West Division by 5.5 games ahead of the Houston Astros and 6 games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels. They lead the Majors with 458 points scored — nearly six per game — and the best point differential.
When healthy, Corey Seager has been outstanding. He is batting . 349 with 10 home runs and 46 RBIs in 46 games. Marcus Semien is batting . 278 with 10 home runs as well, and the Rangers have gotten notable contributions from two 24-year-olds: Ezequiel Duran is batting .312 while Leody Taveras is batting .298.
The Rangers managed just six starts off the oft-injured deGrom, but the rotation isn’t in ruins without him. Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray and Dane Dunning all earned run averages under 3.00.
Although they lost two of their three games at Yankee Stadium over the weekend, the series was hotly contested and could have gone either way. The Rangers won 4–2 in 10 innings before being beaten 1–0, 5–3, with the Yankees scoring three runs late in the eighth in the final game.
The American West has mostly belonged to the Astros for a few years now, but the Houston team is in a slump, having lost seven of its last 10 games. The Angels turned heads with their 25-1 landslide victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday, but lost two of three games at Coors Field.
Another surprise, this time at Nacional: the Miami Marlins, who are 11 games above .500.
While all attention was on Luis Arraez and his . 399 average, rookie Eury Perez proved to be just what the Marlins needed on the mound.
Perez hit nine in six innings in a 2-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. The 6-foot right-hander is now 5-1 with a 1.34 ERA. He did not allow a run in his last 21 innings.
Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll has an advantage over Perez in the quintessential rookie race, but the latter could play a big role in the Marlins’ playoff race.
