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Texas Rangers second baseman Josh Smith singles during the fifth inning during the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners at Globe Life Field on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in Arlington.<\/p>\n
Smiley N. Pool\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
ARLINGTON \u2014 The Texas Rangers<\/a> beat the Seattle Mariners 8-3. This came right after Cincinnati defeated the Rangers 9-4. Mind you, these are not game scores. They are three-game series sweep totals from the local squad\u2019s first homestand.\u00a0<\/p>\n Globe Life Field \u2026 where baseballs go to die?<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n I\u2019ll readily admit it\u2019s a small sample. But I will also say that, even seated high behind home plate in the press box, Jake Burger absolutely crushed a Bryan Woo pitch to left field, 98 mph exit velocity and all the rest, and Randy Arozarena did not even need to jump at the wall. Just lift his glove. \u00a0<\/p>\n The Rangers hit two home runs in their opening six-game homestand. They didn\u2019t hit much of anything while getting swept by the Reds<\/a>, but if\u00a0Joc Pederson and backup catcher Kyle Higashioka have your only long balls after six home games, it\u2019s fair to wonder if it\u2019s going to be another long, dry summer for the Texas hitters.\u00a0<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Now don\u2019t get me wrong. The bottom line is that the Rangers\u2019 outstanding pitchers were better than the Mariners\u2019 outstanding pitchers, and given that Seattle is the defending AL\u00a0West champ and supposedly the club Texas needs to chase, it\u2019s just fine to be sitting at 7-5 with the Mariners down in the basement at 4-9.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n And manager Skip\u00a0Schumaker doesn\u2019t think the dead air inside Globe Life is any kind of a factor in the low-scoring baseball (4.0 runs per game, both teams) played here the last six days.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s pitching, quite honestly, for both teams. We have faced some pretty\u00a0dang good starting pitching in this homestand, and we\u2019ve thrown some good guys at them, too,\u2019\u2019 Schumaker said. \u201cI can\u2019t give you right now that it\u2019s the ballpark. I wouldn\u2019t use that as a crutch at all.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, Rangers president Chris Young said the team\u2019s data said that fly balls are carrying 4 feet deeper this season than last. I\u2019m not sure exactly how that\u2019s calculated \u2014 is this all fly balls? Just deep fly balls? What about balls that fall into the half-line drive, half-fly ball category? \u2014 but I\u2019ll take their word for it. When college teams played here in February, Oklahoma won the tournament by outscoring three teams 32-6. Young said that data from those games indicates the balls were flying. Naturally, metal bats played a fundamental role in that.<\/p>\n Seattle Mariners right fielder Rob Refsnyder makes a leaping catch at the wall on a ball off the bat of Texas Rangers second baseman Josh Smith during the third inning of a baseball game at Globe Life Field on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in Arlington.<\/p>\n Smiley N. Pool\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n \u201cThe narrative of this stadium is \u2018extreme pitchers\u2019 park\u2019 that suggests balls are being held here. But it normalized last year in August and September,\u2019\u2019 Young said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The suggestion is that when it heats up, even with the retractable roof slammed shut just as it was on a wonderful spring afternoon Wednesday (sad face\u00a0emoji), the baseballs carry better. Maybe that will be the case. Certainly traveled deep enough to right field on an October night a few years back when Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia came up late in a game with Arizona.\u00a0<\/p>\n The most significant thing about life in the less gorgeous but considerably cooler Globe Life facility is that the Rangers win here. They win a lot. And if they\u2019re going to compete with Seattle or whoever emerges as the top competition in the West, they need a great home record. That was never a problem in the three years that Bruce\u00a0Bochy managed here.\u00a0<\/p>\n Texas is the only MLB club to have won at least 10 more home games than road the last three seasons. Seattle and Philadelphia did it the last two but not three. The Rangers were 50-31 here in 2023 when they won the World Series and were 44-37 a year later when they finished below .500. Last year, with an 81-81 finish, the Rangers went 48-33 in this park. Terrible on the road, they consistently made up for it at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s why the opening sweep by the Reds seemed a little on the scary side, even after the club went 4-2 against the\u00a0Phillies and Orioles on the road<\/a>. Now they have evened the score here at home and won\u2019t play another game here until April 21 after a nine-game swing through Los Angeles, Sacramento and Seattle.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The bats need to heat up on the road because that has been a different game for the Rangers. Texas outscored Baltimore and Philly 32-27 the first six games out of town. They tied Seattle and Cincinnati 12-12 over six games here. Yes, a wildly different game.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur record here the last three years has been phenomenal,\u2019\u2019 Young said. \u201cSo if we can do what we did on the road and start to play well at home, we should have a good year.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n MacKenzie Gore\u2019s nine strikeouts in five scoreless innings got the ball rolling Wednesday and a surprisingly well-staffed bullpen (so far) did the rest. It stands to reason there will be some interesting and important baseball played here as spring turns to summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Just don\u2019t come here looking for Home Run Derby.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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