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Rangers: A painful look back at the history of Rangers pitching

By Nathaniel Puente

SURPRISE, AZ - FEBRUARY 23: Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers poses for a portrait on Photo Day at spring training in Surprise, Arizona, Wednesday, February 23, 2005. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
SURPRISE, AZ - FEBRUARY 23: Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers poses for a portrait on Photo Day at spring training in Surprise, Arizona, Wednesday, February 23, 2005. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images) /
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ARLINGTON, TX – AUGUST 28: Derek Holland /

Part Seven: How to Take Terrible Pitching to the Postseason

If anything should give Rangers fans hope this season, it is the fact that they have managed to make it to the playoffs two of the last three years with one of the worst three pitching staffs around.

How bad have the Rangers pitchers been since 2015? As a team, they have averaged 11th in hits allowed, 12th in ERA and runs allowed, 14th in walks, and 14th in strikeouts. Yikes, sounds like the Rangers thought they were the Senators again.

2015 was anchored by Ross Detwiler who put together a (0-6) record with a 7.12 ERA in his 17 games and Tanner Scheppers with his 5.63 ERA. The story of 2015 cannot be told without mentioning the monumental choke the Rangers pulled in the ALDS against the Toronto Blue Jays.

With Cole Hamels on the mound, the usually stout Rangers defense committed three consecutive errors that eventually led to Jose Bautista launching a three-run homer off of Sam Dyson. This closed a series where the Rangers blew a two-game lead.

The 2016 Texas Rangers had a spectacular season winning 95 games and clinching the number one seed in the playoffs. I have never witnessed a more phony team. Despite all of this team’s success, it was just an illusion put together by great hitting and a lot of luck. The pitching was topsy-turvy throughout the entire season. A.J. Griffin, Martin Perez, and Derek Holland seemed effective at times, but their stats tell otherwise. This team was ill-prepared for the postseason and showed it when they were swept by their new rival Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS.

It was another heartbreaking season for the Rangers. Would 2017 be the year they bounce back? Not exactly. The team’s pitching imploded and crashed somewhere around third place.

The once reliable Sam Dyson lost any sort of resemblance to his former self, Martin Perez forgot how to find the strike zone, and Yu Darvish, arguably the team’s best pitcher, was traded to the L.A. Dodgers at the deadline. The 2017 season was one colossal disaster.

The only good thing about it is that it finally ended.

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