It’s Friday, July 25 and the Braves (44-57) are in Arlington to take on the Rangers (53-50). Joey Wentz is slated to take the mound for Atlanta against Nathan Eovaldi for Texas.

Texas still holds the best team ERA in baseball and by a good margin, 3.18 to the second-place Royals' 3.50. The bullpen of mixed parts and pieces remains among the best in baseball, their ERA second in MLB behind the Astros.

Rangers veteran All-Star second baseman Marcus Semien made it clear when he addressed what this deadline means. "I want to be adding at the deadline," Semien said in the Rangers clubhouse after a recent game. "I always want to make that a goal of mine: To make sure I'm on a team that is adding at the deadline."

Relief pitcher Chris Martin made an early exit during his appearance against the Tigers, appearing to tweak something in his right leg on a play in which the Tigers scored the go-ahead run off Martin in the eighth inning. He exited with Rangers’ training staff shortly after and was replaced by reliever Caleb Boushley.

With the Texas Rangers rotation undergoing a bit of flux, the time has likely come for Jon Gray to serve as a reinforcement.

Adolis García, who led the team with 39 home runs in 2023, is hitting .232 with 13 home runs in 96 games. The Rangers have shifted García around in the lineup, even removing him from the lineup at times for mental breaks and to work on his mechanics.

Cody’s big brother Tyler Freeman is currently an outfielder for the Colorado Rockies. He was a second-round draft pick of Cleveland in 2022 before being traded to Colorado. Tyler’s having a pretty decent year with the stick for the Rockies, perhaps providing a good example for little brother Cody’s first spin through the majors.

The Texas Rangers are still fighting to stay alive in the postseason race and a large reason for that is the success of their re-tooled and resurgent pitching staff. NEWSLETTERS Emailed Daily.