The Texas Rangers are in Oakland to open up the season against their division rivals. The A’s do not look like the same team who made the playoffs last season. Billy Beane was wheeling and dealing this offseason. The team has many new faces on the roster, but a familiar face the Ranger might be seeing for years to come is opening day start Sonny Gray.
Gray will be facing a healthy Rangers lineup. With a full strength lineup, the Rangers look to improve from a terrible 2014 season. No one that will be in the opening day lineup has seen Gray more than 19 times, but Gray pitched well against the Rangers last season. Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre have the faced him the most and have a combined seven hits in 34 at bats. However, Ryan Rua and Jake Smolinski both have three hits against him in six and seven at-bats. Both are in the mix to start opening day in left field. Gray will have to pitch to a healthy Prince Fielder this year. In six at-bats, Fielder has zero hits against Gray.
The Rangers are looking to bounce back and will have to face one of the top young pitchers in baseball to open the year. They will have a tough night ahead of them, but the A’s offense is not what it was the last three seasons. The A’s lost six all-stars this offseason and will not have Josh Reddick and Coco Crisp to open the season. The new look lineup for the A’s does not have the power it did last season, the infield is all-new except second baseman Eric Sogard. However, you cannot count out the A’s as long as Billy Beane is the GM. They have only had five losing seasons since Beane became the GM in 1998.
Rangers opening day starter Yovani Gallardo
Yovani Gallardo will be facing the A’s opening day. It will be his sixth straight opening day start going back to his time with the Milwaukee Brewers. Gallardo will be adjusting to the AL style of play and new batters he will be facing. The change of leagues can cause issues for players. Gallardo has been a solid pitcher since he has been in the majors with a career ERA of 3.69. Gallardo does have the advantage of not being seen by many of these players. Ike Davis has faced him nine times, and the rest of the team has about 10 combined at bats.
The 2015 Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics will see major changes this upcoming season. The A’s have many new faces and the Rangers will have many faces coming back from injury. The Rangers look to be trending upward even after a bad spring training record-wise. The Rangers only won 10 and 13 games in the Cactus League when they made the Worlds Series in back-to-back years. The Rangers are also looking to win an opening day road game for the first time since 2003. The A’s are looking to end a 10 game opening day losing streak; they last won in 2004 against the Rangers.
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This article Texas Rangers Opening Day preview appeared first on isportsweb by Juan Cruz