OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - Rebuilding the Texas Rangers

WarningTrakPower · 02-07-2022, 09:27 AM

We have finished the 2025 season and let's start our recap with a look at the regular season standings.

After being swept in a 3 games series vs the Rays, we were one game back of the Angels heading in to the final 3 games series vs LAA (at home).
After winning the first two games, we ended up losing the final game of the regular season forcing a gamer 163.
One thing of note, we used an opener/follower for game 162 to "save" Kumar Rocker for a potential wildcard game (if need be).
So, in game 163 we went with Kohei Arihara and he gave us 7 innings and gave up only 3 runs. We ended up winning 5-3 to advance to the ALDS vs Cleveland!

Here are the end of season stats for our starting pitchers.

Kohei Arihara got hit really hard this season (.815 OPS against and 1.9 HR/9). Here are his ERA by month: 8.10 (April), 2.30 (May), 8.87 (June), 1.97 (July), 4.30 (August) & 8.56 (September).

Alex Wood was an excellent pickup for us (signed for next year at $2.5m salary for us). He made 15 starts for us with an ERA of 2.40 (3.36 FIP).

Hans Crouse gave us 15 very decent starts. We can likely pencil him in to our 2026 rotation. He is fragile and our scout is a bit low on his movement/control.

Here are the end of season stats for our relief pitchers.

Ronny Henriquez had a monster year with a "stopper" (secondary) role. 105+ innings in relief is hard to believe. He may be the front runner as our next closer.

DeMarcus Evans had another really really strong season. Due to make over $10m in arbitration, he most certainly a good trade candidate.

Reggie Lawson was a September waiver claim (ineligible for playoffs).

Nick Mikolajchak (although he has all 3 option years remaining) has less than ideal control and HR suppression (for our liking). We will be looking to move him this offseason.

Here are the end of season stats for our batters.

Evan Russell had a great season, but faded a bit in the second half. His OPS in August was .726 and .765 in September.

Gio Urshela also had a great season, but tore it up in the second half. His OPS in August was 1.042 and .807 in September.
He is free agent this offseason.

Steele Walker continued to be a nice complimentary LF option for us, but he is a likely trade candidate this offseason.

Ketel Marte had a nice September (OPS of .845) to raise his numbers up to a more respectable level. He is also a pending free agent.

With all that being said, how did we do in the playoffs? In the ALDS, we faced off against Cleveland.

Game 1 - We got a great start from Kumar Rocker (6.2 innings, 1 earned and 12 K). We tied it up bottom of 8th, but lost in 11 innings (a pinch hit HR too).

Game 2 - Rough start by Alex Wood (10 hits, 6 earned with 3 HR against) and we lost 8-4.

Game 3 - Win or go home and Hans Crouse stepped up with a 5+ inning start (one earned) and we won 4-2.

Game 4 - With Kumar still fatigued from Game 1, we turned to veteran Kohei Arihara and he gave us an amazing start. He pitched in to the 7th and had 9 strikeouts.
Also, we chased Shane Bieber before he even made it out of the 1st inning!

Game 5 - Kumar Rocker kept us this one, but ran up the pitch count early. He went 4.2 innings and had 9 strikeouts. We got 2.1 innings in relief from Nick Robertson to keep us in the game.
We were down 2-0 heading to the bottom of the 8th and the bottom part of our lineup coming up.
Ricardo Mendez worked a full count before getting an infield single. Austin Hedges follow this up with a line drive single. Steele Walker fouled off a few tough pitches on 1-2 and lined a single up the middle and cutting the lead to 2-1.
After a Terrin Vavra flyout, Evan Russell hit a deep fly to LF that scored the tying run.
DeMarcus Evans pitched the top of the 9th and only gave up a double and no runs.
Bottom of the 9th, Ketel Marte worked a full count and walked to lead off the inning. Colton Welker struck out looking on a 1-2 pitch.
Gio Urshella steps up and clobbers a walkoff 2 run homer to send us to the ALCS!

In the ALCS, we are facing off against the Toronto Blue Jays!

Game 1 - Another rough start by Alex Wood (7 earned in 1.1 innings) and we lost 8-1. Nate Pearson also pitched 8 innings (90 pitches) and was replaced by Marcus Stroman (odd choice?)

Game 2 - Hans Crouse pitched 6 strong innings and we won 5-2!

Game 3 - We went with the somewhat bold strategy of opener/follower for this one. Ky Bush opened with a clean inning, Kohei Arihara followed with 4 innings and then Kasey Kalich gave us 2.2 innings. Unfortunately, this game went 15 innings and we lost 4-3.

Game 4 - We scored early and often, plus Kumar Rocker was dealing, but he had a finger blister developing. He was pulled in the 6th and we won 10-0!

Game 5 - A third straight poor start from Alex Wood. This time, he didn't make it through the 3rd and gave up 5 earned runs. We did score 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th and one in the bottom of the 8th, but we lost 7-6 in 13 innings.

Game 6 - With our season on the line again, we turned to Hans Crouse and he didn't disappoint. He pitched 6 innings, gave up only 3 hits and walked no one. We won 4-2 to force a game 7.

Game 7 - Kumar Rocker (still dealing with the blister issue) was not 100% recovered from his last start, but we decided to use him as a follower behind an opener.
Ky Bush faced the first 5 batters, Kumar followed with 4 really strong innings but at 55 pitches he was out of energy. Jack Walker gave us 2.1 innings in relief, but gave up 3 runs.
We were able to score early off Anthony Kay (5 earned in 2.1 innings) and won 7-3!

We are headed to the 2025 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers!

Game 1 - Alex Wood only faced one batter and left with back spasms. After Jack Walker finished the 1st inning, AJ Alexy took over in the 2nd inning and after a clean inning, he came back out for the 3rd.
Back to back errors by our SS to start the 3rd and it started to unravel. After 3 straight walks, we was replaced with Ronny Henriquez who gave up a 2 run double to Rhys Hoskins.
After 3, we were down 6-3. We couldn't muster a comeback and lost 8-5.

Game 2 - Brusdar Graterol had an excellent 7 inning start which wasted a nice 7 inning start from Kohei Arihara (4 earned though). We lost 5-0.

Game 3 - This game was crazy! After tying the game up at 2 in the bottom of the 7th, the game lasted until the 19th inning! Unfortunately, we ended up losing 5-2. The game lasted 7 hours and 53 minutes!

Game 4 - Season on the line and we turned to our ace. He didn't disappoint with 5 strong innings. We ended up winning 4-2 to force a game 5.

Game 5 - Alex Wood finally gave us a good postseason appearance. He dominated for 7 innings and we won 9-4. Walker Buehler left in the 1st inning with a pulled abdominal muscle.

Game 6 - Kohei Arihara was hit hard and was pulled after giving up two hits to start the 4th inning. Brusdar Graterol was electric again and we were down 4-0 heading to the top of the 8th inning.
Here is what happened in that 8th inning.

Bottom of the 9th, DeMarcus Evans come in to pitch. After working a 3-1 count, Will Smith hits a walkoff homer and the LAD are the 2025 World Series Champions!

Not the end of the season we were looking for, but LAD was truly a much better team.

We will look to make some improvements and build towards a 2026 playoff run!!!

02-07-2022, 09:27 AM	#54
WarningTrakPower All Star Reserve Join Date: Nov 2018 Posts: 595	End of 2025 Season Recap! We have finished the 2025 season and let's start our recap with a look at the regular season standings. After being swept in a 3 games series vs the Rays, we were one game back of the Angels heading in to the final 3 games series vs LAA (at home). After winning the first two games, we ended up losing the final game of the regular season forcing a gamer 163. One thing of note, we used an opener/follower for game 162 to "save" Kumar Rocker for a potential wildcard game (if need be). So, in game 163 we went with Kohei Arihara and he gave us 7 innings and gave up only 3 runs. We ended up winning 5-3 to advance to the ALDS vs Cleveland! Here are the end of season stats for our starting pitchers. Kohei Arihara got hit really hard this season (.815 OPS against and 1.9 HR/9). Here are his ERA by month: 8.10 (April), 2.30 (May), 8.87 (June), 1.97 (July), 4.30 (August) & 8.56 (September). Alex Wood was an excellent pickup for us (signed for next year at $2.5m salary for us). He made 15 starts for us with an ERA of 2.40 (3.36 FIP). Hans Crouse gave us 15 very decent starts. We can likely pencil him in to our 2026 rotation. He is fragile and our scout is a bit low on his movement/control. Here are the end of season stats for our relief pitchers. Ronny Henriquez had a monster year with a "stopper" (secondary) role. 105+ innings in relief is hard to believe. He may be the front runner as our next closer. DeMarcus Evans had another really really strong season. Due to make over $10m in arbitration, he most certainly a good trade candidate. Reggie Lawson was a September waiver claim (ineligible for playoffs). Nick Mikolajchak (although he has all 3 option years remaining) has less than ideal control and HR suppression (for our liking). We will be looking to move him this offseason. Here are the end of season stats for our batters. Evan Russell had a great season, but faded a bit in the second half. His OPS in August was .726 and .765 in September. Gio Urshela also had a great season, but tore it up in the second half. His OPS in August was 1.042 and .807 in September. He is free agent this offseason. Steele Walker continued to be a nice complimentary LF option for us, but he is a likely trade candidate this offseason. Ketel Marte had a nice September (OPS of .845) to raise his numbers up to a more respectable level. He is also a pending free agent. With all that being said, how did we do in the playoffs? In the ALDS, we faced off against Cleveland. Game 1 - We got a great start from Kumar Rocker (6.2 innings, 1 earned and 12 K). We tied it up bottom of 8th, but lost in 11 innings (a pinch hit HR too). Game 2 - Rough start by Alex Wood (10 hits, 6 earned with 3 HR against) and we lost 8-4. Game 3 - Win or go home and Hans Crouse stepped up with a 5+ inning start (one earned) and we won 4-2. Game 4 - With Kumar still fatigued from Game 1, we turned to veteran Kohei Arihara and he gave us an amazing start. He pitched in to the 7th and had 9 strikeouts. Also, we chased Shane Bieber before he even made it out of the 1st inning! Game 5 - Kumar Rocker kept us this one, but ran up the pitch count early. He went 4.2 innings and had 9 strikeouts. We got 2.1 innings in relief from Nick Robertson to keep us in the game. We were down 2-0 heading to the bottom of the 8th and the bottom part of our lineup coming up. Ricardo Mendez worked a full count before getting an infield single. Austin Hedges follow this up with a line drive single. Steele Walker fouled off a few tough pitches on 1-2 and lined a single up the middle and cutting the lead to 2-1. After a Terrin Vavra flyout, Evan Russell hit a deep fly to LF that scored the tying run. DeMarcus Evans pitched the top of the 9th and only gave up a double and no runs. Bottom of the 9th, Ketel Marte worked a full count and walked to lead off the inning. Colton Welker struck out looking on a 1-2 pitch. Gio Urshella steps up and clobbers a walkoff 2 run homer to send us to the ALCS! In the ALCS, we are facing off against the Toronto Blue Jays! Game 1 - Another rough start by Alex Wood (7 earned in 1.1 innings) and we lost 8-1. Nate Pearson also pitched 8 innings (90 pitches) and was replaced by Marcus Stroman (odd choice?) Game 2 - Hans Crouse pitched 6 strong innings and we won 5-2! Game 3 - We went with the somewhat bold strategy of opener/follower for this one. Ky Bush opened with a clean inning, Kohei Arihara followed with 4 innings and then Kasey Kalich gave us 2.2 innings. Unfortunately, this game went 15 innings and we lost 4-3. Game 4 - We scored early and often, plus Kumar Rocker was dealing, but he had a finger blister developing. He was pulled in the 6th and we won 10-0! Game 5 - A third straight poor start from Alex Wood. This time, he didn't make it through the 3rd and gave up 5 earned runs. We did score 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th and one in the bottom of the 8th, but we lost 7-6 in 13 innings. Game 6 - With our season on the line again, we turned to Hans Crouse and he didn't disappoint. He pitched 6 innings, gave up only 3 hits and walked no one. We won 4-2 to force a game 7. Game 7 - Kumar Rocker (still dealing with the blister issue) was not 100% recovered from his last start, but we decided to use him as a follower behind an opener. Ky Bush faced the first 5 batters, Kumar followed with 4 really strong innings but at 55 pitches he was out of energy. Jack Walker gave us 2.1 innings in relief, but gave up 3 runs. We were able to score early off Anthony Kay (5 earned in 2.1 innings) and won 7-3! We are headed to the 2025 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers! Game 1 - Alex Wood only faced one batter and left with back spasms. After Jack Walker finished the 1st inning, AJ Alexy took over in the 2nd inning and after a clean inning, he came back out for the 3rd. Back to back errors by our SS to start the 3rd and it started to unravel. After 3 straight walks, we was replaced with Ronny Henriquez who gave up a 2 run double to Rhys Hoskins. After 3, we were down 6-3. We couldn't muster a comeback and lost 8-5. Game 2 - Brusdar Graterol had an excellent 7 inning start which wasted a nice 7 inning start from Kohei Arihara (4 earned though). We lost 5-0. Game 3 - This game was crazy! After tying the game up at 2 in the bottom of the 7th, the game lasted until the 19th inning! Unfortunately, we ended up losing 5-2. The game lasted 7 hours and 53 minutes! Game 4 - Season on the line and we turned to our ace. He didn't disappoint with 5 strong innings. We ended up winning 4-2 to force a game 5. Game 5 - Alex Wood finally gave us a good postseason appearance. He dominated for 7 innings and we won 9-4. Walker Buehler left in the 1st inning with a pulled abdominal muscle. Game 6 - Kohei Arihara was hit hard and was pulled after giving up two hits to start the 4th inning. Brusdar Graterol was electric again and we were down 4-0 heading to the top of the 8th inning. Here is what happened in that 8th inning. Bottom of the 9th, DeMarcus Evans come in to pitch. After working a 3-1 count, Will Smith hits a walkoff homer and the LAD are the 2025 World Series Champions! Not the end of the season we were looking for, but LAD was truly a much better team. We will look to make some improvements and build towards a 2026 playoff run!!!