The stage is set. The curtain goes up for perhaps the final magical act of Bruce Bochy\u2019s managerial career on March 27 when the Boston Red Sox come to Arlington. Is Bochy prepared for one last encore, one final hurrah?<\/p>\n
Bochy has managed 27 seasons and reached five World Series. He suffered his only loss with the San Diego Padres when they faced a team Rangers\u2019 fans are all too familiar with \u2014 the 114-win Yankees of 1998.<\/p>\n
Since then, Bochy\u2019s teams are 4-0 in the World Series, winning three times in San Francisco and in 2023 with Texas. None of those teams won more than 94 regular-season games. The last two didn\u2019t even bother to win their own division.<\/p>\n
The message is clear: Give Bochy a fighting chance with a club, and he will get them where they need to go.<\/p>\n
After winning his second World Series with the Giants in 2012, his team fell to 76-86 the next season. They bounced back to win it all as an 88-win wild card team in 2014. Does last year\u2019s 78-84 season on the heels of the Rangers\u2019 lone World Series win give Bochy another springboard to one more October surprise in Texas?<\/p>\n
All we know for sure is his 2023 team could hit. The Rangers led the American League in everything that season \u2014 batting average, walks, home runs (tied with the Twins), runs batted in, on-base percentage, slugging percentage. Bochy believes that president of baseball operations Chris Young has supplied him with the tools to do that all again after the club slumped and fell out of the top half of the American League in almost every hitting category last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this team could potentially outslug the team in \u2018’23,\u2019\u2019 Bochy said during spring training in Arizona. \u201cI think that\u2019s a true statement.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
This was never Bochy\u2019s path to success in San Francisco. His lineup cards were not the subject of envy around the National League. Beyond catcher Buster Posey, he rarely had a true star in his everyday lineup. But those teams could pitch and field and hit situationally. And Bochy maintained a belief in his players and led with a steady hand that he has maintained in Texas even while working with markedly different rosters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s up to the manager to adapt to the club he has. And this is a team that\u2019s going to be known for their slug,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Players who are capable of delivering 30 home runs based on their recent performance include leadoff man Marcus Semien, shortstop Corey Seager, right fielder Adolis Garc\u00eda, first baseman Jake Burger and designated hitter Joc Pederson. Catchers Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka (with the Padres in 2024) combined for 30 last year, and that was a down year for Heim. How many can Wyatt Langford hit in Year Two after getting off to a slow start in 2024 and finishing with 16? Third baseman Josh Jung has hit 30 in 168 games the last two seasons.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean Bochy plans to go full Cito Gaston on this team (if you recall the former Toronto World Series manager who famously sat back and stuck with the same lineup and whose style was described as \u201cinert\u201d by Bill James). Three-run homers are great, but you can\u2019t always count on them to carry the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to get away from playing the game, too,\u2019\u2019 Bochy said. \u201cSo we do have some guys who can run the bases, steal some bases, put some runs on the board. You can\u2019t just rely on slug. You\u2019re asking for trouble, and that\u2019s something I\u2019ve talked about.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I mix it up? Do I tweak the lineup a bit so it doesn\u2019t have the same look and make it a little tougher on pitchers? We\u2019ve talked about it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Bochy is almost certain to write the names Semien-Seager in the 1-2 spots whenever the veterans are available. Everything else could be a bit of a crapshoot. Langford\u2019s hot spring has probably earned him the No. 3 spot, at least a share of the time. But against a tough right-handed pitcher, Bochy might opt for Pederson, who destroys right-handers.<\/p>\n
The manager was slow to move a slumping Garc\u00eda out of the middle of the order last year but with so much potential for power throughout the lineup, Bochy has acknowledged that 2025 could be different for some.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not going to see it day-to-day \u2014 \u2018yeah, he had a rough day, move him down.\u2019 Production is going to play a part in all of this. Last year we had some guys with up and down years,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cSome things will have to be earned.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
And Bochy will have to find a way for this team to regain its defensive footing \u2014 so good in 2023, so average at best in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe slipped a little bit. We were in the middle of the pack,\u2019\u2019 Bochy said. \u201cDefensively, we\u2019re going to be a little better than last year. I really think Burger is going to help us at first. I know Nate ([Lowe]) won a Gold Glove ([in 2023]); I think Burger has a chance to win a Gold Glove. We need to get back to being top-five defensively, where we were in \u201823.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The pitching may be in a state of flux the first month, but there\u2019s little reason to think it won\u2019t be better than it was a year ago. He won\u2019t have the rotation stability he had in San Francisco. But Bochy has already demonstrated a readiness to adapt and to win with the hand that he has been dealt. If he can find a way to get back into the six-team AL playoff mix this fall, who\u2019s ready to bet against him?<\/p>\n
In conclusion, Bruce Bochy is a seasoned manager with a proven track record of success. With the Rangers, he has a team that can hit and has the potential to outslug their opponents. While there may be some questions about the pitching and defense, Bochy has shown that he can adapt and win with the hand he has been dealt. If he can find a way to get the Rangers back into the playoffs, it could be a memorable final act for the veteran manager.<\/p>\n
A: Bochy has managed 27 seasons and reached five World Series, winning four times.<\/p>\n
A: The Rangers’ ability to hit and score runs will be crucial to their success this season. They have a lineup with several players capable of delivering 30 home runs, and Bochy believes they can outslug their opponents.<\/p>\n
A: The Rangers will need to improve their defense, which was average at best last season. They will also need to find a way to stabilize their pitching rotation, which may be in flux the first month of the season.<\/p>\n
A: While it’s difficult to predict with certainty, Bochy has a proven track record of success and has shown that he can adapt and win with the hand he has been dealt. If the Rangers can get back into the playoffs, they could be a formidable opponent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bruce Bochy’s Final Act: Can He Lead the Rangers to Another October Surprise? The stage is set. The curtain goes up for perhaps the final magical act of Bruce Bochy\u2019s managerial career on March 27 when the Boston Red Sox come to Arlington. Is Bochy prepared for one last encore, one final hurrah? Bochy has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/2AT5XEV5GBDJTDWXJ5TKINYVZY.jpg?auth=32d07fab52640d83204d5ef95c0a88216984956e41ecab20fc741c7ac6e33974&height=630&width=1200&smart=true&quality=80","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2336,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334\/revisions\/2336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}