Rangers vs. Reds: Series Recap

Jackson Park hosted the WBA’s seventh meeting of the 2023 campaign with the Rangers, Reds, and Nationals fighting for playoff seeding. The Rangers who entered the day with a record of 2-3 would play all four and a half games on the day. In game one, they would finish off their 21-6 victory that had been suspended on the Fourth of July due to inclement weather. Derek Astarita picked up a win on the mound and added a whopping 12 RBI to double the Reds’ entire team total in their third victory of the season (Rangers 21, Reds 6).

The Reds would be without Brian Marra for personal reasons. The four-time champion and borderline Hall of Famer has struggled offensively over the last couple of seasons and has seen his power decline after nearly a decade in the league. Credit to him, he has had a renaissance as a pitcher in the second half of his career; however, there are questions about whether he still wants to play. Along with Marra, the Reds were missing Cameron Carey and their free agent acquisition Tommy Ruck who was unavailable, so Cincinnati was forced to play with only Ryan Casano and Shane O’Neill. Casano started for Cincinnati but was quickly chased from the game as Derek Astarita put on a power showcase, slugging a couple of homers in a seven-run first inning for the Rangers. After pulling Casano early, rookie Shane O’Neill debuted on the mound and finished the game, recording the first three strikeouts of his career. Nolan Rivera managed the two-man lineup of the Reds with four strikeouts in a complete game victory (Reds 10, Rangers 16).

After two straight games, these teams were becoming familiar with each other and in the second sequel of this budding rivalry the two teams would go back and forth. After a 4-run second inning, the Reds took a 7-3 lead against Astarita and the Rangers. However, the Rangers offense would battle back against Shane O’Neill in his first WBA start. Andrew DePascale and Nolan Rivera would get three and four hits respectively in the game and Derek Astarita would drive them in as he accounted for 9 of Texas’ 10 runs in this one. Despite Astarita’s MVP effort, the Reds’ Casano and O’Neill – who started the game by themselves but would add Cameron Carey in the fifth – each hit two homers and had more than five hits in the game to will Cincinnati to their first victory in nearly two months. O’Neill also picked up his first WBA victory on the mound (Rangers 10, Reds 11).

The Nationals would look to clinch the one seed in their final game of the regular season against the Rangers. They were also welcoming back Drew Zimmerman from an oblique injury that kept him out for the majority of the season. D. Zimmerman would have two hits and an RBI in his return. Washington’s offense broke out for 15 runs with a complete team effort as each player collected at least one hit. Anthony Gambardella would get the win on the mound for Washington who has won a lot of close games and looks to be the favorite going into the 2023 playoffs (Nationals 15, Rangers 7).

After three and a half games the Rangers would finish their season series with the Reds all in one day. The Reds would score 12 runs in the first inning and never look back as each Red collected at least 5 RBI. The Rangers defense was clearly fatigued as they committed 7 errors in the game and helped the Reds with an unimaginable 17 unearned runs. Ryan Casano exercised his demons against the Rangers on the mound as he began throwing submarine to keep the Rangers at bay and pick up the win (Reds 24, Rangers 10).

After 22 games, the WBA regular season only has two games left between the Tigers and Rangers. The Nationals finished right in line with their preseason prediction, a 9-3 one seed patiently waiting in the championship. The Reds also finished in line with the preseason power rankings that projected them to finish 5-7. The Tigers, Rangers, and Reds all have a shot at the two seed and more importantly avoiding the volatile Wild Card game. There is a scenario in which each team can automatically make it into the semi-finals, however, the most likely outcome is one that inserts the surging Tigers into the next round. They would have to split with Texas and avoid being outscored by 9 or more runs in the two games.