ARLINGTON -- Will home cooking be enough to get the Rangers to the postseason?
Texas will play 15 of its 24 regular-season games in September at Globe Life Field, tied with Kansas City in the American League for the most home-friendly schedule in MLB to conclude the year. For the Rangers, that could mean all the difference between postseason baseball and being at home in October.
Since the start of 2023, the Rangers’ 180-130 mark (.581) at home is third in the American League, behind only the Mariners (.585) and Rays (.583).
Texas improved to 38-29 (.567) at Globe Life Field with Tuesday’s 8-5 win over the A’s, its third straight victory. The club owns the third-best home record in the AL and 8th-best in MLB.
“It's a real thing,” first baseman Jake Burger said of home-field advantage. “We feel comfortable in this park. I think it's something that we can keep building on to help us. … We have a lot more home games than we do road games to finish the season. I think having that advantage for those 15 games can definitely help us continue the momentum.”
“I wish I could tell you the reason why we've been bad on the road,” said manager Skip Schumaker. “I wish I could tell you, because that's what keeps you up at night in my position. … We're significantly better here. Having said that, we have a chance to play some really good baseball in a stadium where we've played good baseball for the majority of the year. I hope that continues to happen.
“I don't have a reason, and I wish I could give you some made-up one, but it won’t be true. We've been trying to figure out exactly what it is. But [15] games here is a big deal for us, and hopefully we can make a push and make the most out of it.”
As for the specifics, the Rangers have a team ERA of 3.60 at home this year, tied for fourth in the American League. They have a 4.93 road ERA, 13th in the AL.
“We've had success here,” said ace Jacob deGrom, who has a 2.42 ERA at home and 5.86 ERA on the road. “We need it. We still have some games on the road that we gotta go win, so we can't just think of it like that. We just gotta go out and try to win every game. But playing here at home for the majority of the games left is definitely a huge plus.”