The Texas Rangers have struggled to kick off the Major League Baseball season, going 16-26 in their first 42 games heading into Monday’s action. The offense hasn’t been good, but Adrian Beltre has been decent enough for the Rangers. Now, it looks like he’ll be going back on the disabled list and the team will have to try to survive without one of their key bats.
Beltre missed a few games at the end of April with an injury to his left hamstring, and he aggravated it on Sunday against Houston. It hasn’t been revealed how serious the injury is, but if he went on the disabled list once, it would be a surprise if Beltre didn’t go back on the DL. At 39 years old, Beltre is hitting .314 with a homer and 12 RBIs, which doesn’t sound like much, but the Rangers need all the hitting they can get right now. It looks like Isiah Kiner-Falefa will pick up more time at third base for the Rangers, and he is hitting .245 with a pair of home runs and 11 RBIs. However, the Rangers are going to see how long Beltre will be out for and then go over the rest of their options.
This shouldn’t affect the Rangers’ odds to compete too much as they need a lot more than Beltre to improve in the American League West. The Rangers are tied for 21st in runs, 22nd in slugging percentage, 27th in batting average and 29th in on-base percentage. Beltre could push that up a little bit, but not enough to make a huge difference. Then there is the pitching, where the Rangers are awful. They’re 26th in ERA, WHIP and quality starts, along with 28th in opposing batting average. Beltre can’t do much about that and until they improve on that end, the Rangers aren’t going to do much.
Finally, if you have Beltre on your fantasy team, it should be on your bench and you can find someone to replace him there. If you’re starting Beltre, you have much bigger problems. That being said, it won’t be hard to find someone else anyway because Beltre isn’t doing much.
Odds To Win 2018 World Series
Houston Astros +500
Boston Red Sox +600
New York Yankees +650
Arizona Diamondbacks +1000
Chicago Cubs +1000
Los Angeles Angels +1200
Cleveland Indians +1400
Los Angeles Dodgers +1400
Washington Nationals +1600
Atlanta Braves +1800
St. Louis Cardinals +2200
New York Mets +2200
San Francisco Giants +2250
Milwaukee Brewers +2500
Toronto Blue Jays +2800
Colorado Rockies +3000
Philadelphia Phillies +3000
Minnesota Twins +4400
Pittsburgh Pirates +4400
Seattle Mariners +5000
Detroit Tigers +15000
Oakland Athletics +17500
Tampa Bay Rays +20000
Texas Rangers +25000
Chicago White Sox +50000
San Diego Padres +50000
Baltimore Orioles +75000
Cincinnati Reds +75000
Kansas City Royals +75000
Miami Marlins +75000
*Odds courtesy of BetDSI Sportsbook.
