The Blue Jays lost the rubber match with Tampa Bay yesterday 13-0 to lose the series and fall ten games below .500. With contention out the window for the club, much focus has turned to Tuesday’s trade deadline, which appears to be one of the most important for the organization in years.

However, the team still has to play baseball games and will welcome the disappointing 51-52 Texas Rangers to town for a three-game series. The defending World Series Champions have played well in July, managing a 13-6 record to stay in the playoff mix in the AL West and Wild Card. Let’s take a look at what they bring to the table this weekend.

Friday, July 26, 7:07 EST: Andrew Heaney (4-10, 3.60 ERA) vs Yusei Kikuchi (4-9, 4.54 ERA)

Saturday, July 27, 3:07 EST: Michael Lorenzen (5-5, 3.53 ERA) vs Kevin Gausman (8-8, 4.55 ERA)

Sunday, July 28, 1:07 EST: Jon Gray (5-4, 3.73 ERA) vs Jose Berrios (8-8, 4.08 ERA)

The Rangers rank 16th in the Major Leagues in team ERA (3.97), which is boosted to 10th when speaking about their starting pitching in particular (3.81). The team’s best pitcher has been World Series hero Nathan Eovaldi, who leads the staff with a 3.31 ERA and 1.7 fWAR. The team has also benefitted from Max Scherzer’s return from injury, as he’s posted a 3.57 ERA and 1.08 WHIP through seven starts. Luckily for the Jays, they won’t have to face either veteran righthander this weekend.

Friday’s starter Andrew Heaney has been excellent of late, orchestrating a 1.61 ERA and 0.99 WHIP over his last four starts. He leads the club in starts with 19 while lowering his ERA to a respectable 3.60 mark in recent weeks. He will look for more run support going forward, as his ten losses have him in a tie for second most in the Major Leagues.

Saturday’s starter Michael Lorenzen has been steady, but unspectacular this season. He has managed to avoid giving up a lot of hits to opponents (.216 BA against), yet has a less-than-ideal strikeout-to-walk ratio through 97.0 innings (73:46). The former Red, Angel, Phillie, and Tiger may be lucky to have an ERA as low as his 3.53 mark this year.

Sunday afternoon’s starter Jon Gray has a 3.73 ERA and 1.26 so far on the year. He has been a dependable middle-of-the-order starter for the team, even if his underlying numbers don’t wow you.

The Rangers bullpen ranks 24th in the Major Leagues with a 4.30 ERA on the season. Leading the relief core has been lights-out closer Kirby Yates, who has locked down each of his 18 save opportunities while engineering a 1.22 ERA and 0.89 WHIP on the year. After injuries limited him to just 15 games from 2020-22, Yates appeared to regain his dominant 2019 form when he saved 41 games with a 1.19 ERA for the San Diego Padres.

Set-up man David Robertson has been excellent in his age-39 season, repping a 3.02 ERA and 0.92 WHIP with a 13.30 K/9, his best mark since the 2014 season with the New York Yankees.

The team has struggled to find dependable innings aside from Yates and Robertson, as the rest of their bullpen has been mediocre at best. Perhaps the return of last year’s postseason stud Josh Sborz will help shore up the rotation. He’s been held to just 12.0 innings on the year due to injuries.

After ranking third in OPS in 2023’s World Series winning season, the club has fallen all the way down to 19th this season. This is despite the fact that most of the same characters have returned from last year’s squad. Simply put, they just aren’t as scary of a team in 2024.

Many of the team’s best hitters from a year ago have seen their stats plummet, from Corey Seager (1.013 OPS vs .838), and Adolis Garcia (.836 vs .666), to Marcus Semien (.826 vs .724). Couple this with the lack of a breakout from top prospects Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford and you get a team that has drastically underperformed.

One player that has surprised this year has been third basemen Josh Smith. Taking advantage of the vacancy left by the injured Josh Jung, Smith has managed an .835 OPS on the season, while also appearing in 22 games at shortstop this season. The former LSU Tiger has slotted in as the three-hitter in Bruce Bochy’s lineup in recent weeks, sandwiched between the team’s best hitters. His positional flexibility makes it more likely that Smith could be a player that the team can rely on for years to come.

Like the Blue Jays’ recent opponent in the Rays, the Rangers have been hovering around .500 for most of the year. Tampa has appeared to have thrown in the towel on contention this year by their recent trade of Randy Arozorena to the Mariners, but the Rangers have more of a reason to buy at this year’s trade deadline. Despite their record, they sit just 1.5 games back of Seattle and 2.5 games of Houston in the AL West. Much like last year, the division appears to be a three-team race that may come down to the final week of the season. It remains to be seen whether the team will put faith in their offence to improve as the season carries on into the final couple of months.