The Seattle Mariners rolled into Texas last weekend needing to prove something. In a season in which they hoped to use a 2022 playoff appearance to wrest the American League West title away from the Houston Astros, the Mariners instead were 29-27 and 6.5 games behind the first-place team they would face the first weekend of June -- not the Astros, but the ... Texas Rangers?
It did not go as planned. The Mariners got swept and left Arlington shell-shocked and discombobulated (and in fourth place in the AL West). The Rangers, meanwhile, continue to crush teams with a relentless offensive attack and a starting rotation that has excelled even without Jacob deGrom, who announced on Tuesday that he will undergo elbow surgery and miss the rest of the season.