Rangers 'Humbled' After Musgrove No-Hitter, Still Believe in Offensive Mantra

The Texas Rangers hit the ball very well before San Diego's Joe Musgrove threw a no-hitter against them on Friday night. Now, it's back to the drawing board. Or is it?

Chris Halicke | Apr 10, 2021

ARLINGTON, Texas — Hitting a baseball is arguably the hardest thing to do in all of sports (If you don't believe me, there's a really cool YouTube video that describes how hard it is to hit). Even the best hitters in the game fail seven out of ten times.

Nevertheless, big league hitters find a way to make a living doing it. And the best teams find ways to consistently force pitchers into the strike zone, grind out at-bats, and give themselves the best chance to drive the ball through a hole, into a gap, or over the fence.

That is exactly what Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward has preached since his tenure in Arlington began in 2019. This year, while trying to establish a young core with which to contend, that mantra is taking the next step in its evolution.

"We're trying to instill things that are going to help us win a World Series," Woodward said. "What we're trying to preach works in the regular season, works in the postseason, works on the moon. Getting these guys to understand when critical moments come up — the most difficult moments come up — and you're facing elite pitching, that's why yesterday was a good test and measuring stick. It kind of humbled us a little bit."

Joe Musgrove's no-hitter against the Rangers on Friday night was a harsh reality check for a Rangers team that had hit the ball relatively well in its first six games of 2021. They hadn't faced any slouches on the mound either. Their win on Wednesday was over Toronto's Hyun-Jin Ryu, who was the runner up in the National League Cy Young voting in 2019 and finished third in the American League voting last season.

As this team builds toward contention, whenever that may happen, they want to instill the necessary tools it takes to compete beyond the regular season. Pitching in the postseason gets much, much better. Teams can no longer rely on the long ball as their primary source of run production. They have to scratch and claw for each and every base.

Who knows how far away this Rangers team is from getting back to heart-pounding postseason at-bats. It could be two years. It could be four. For now, it's about their development into becoming that high caliber offense, both individually and collectively.

"Listen, I want our guys to do damage against mediocre pitching, and score a bunch of runs," Woodward said. "But how do we match up against the best [in the game]? When we're facing a guy on top of his game, can we beat him? Can we have quality at-bats? Can we control the strike zone? I know that feeling as a hitter when you feel a little bit overmatched. Can we still compete? And I think that's the biggest test for younger hitters."

Chris Halicke covers the Texas Rangers for SI's InsideTheRangers.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisHalicke.
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Published Apr 10, 2021

CHRIS HALICKE