Texas Rangers: What to know about the team ahead of 2023 Opening Day

Well, how big is today for baseball fans? It is the first time every team is playing on opening day since 1969 and to keep that same energy going. There's some big changes in the major leagues this year. Joining me to talk all things. Texas and all things baseball is locked on Rangers podcast host Bryce Patrick. Good morning to you Bryce morning. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. First off the Rangers. They've got a new starting picture Jacob to groan from the Mets. Tell us all about him. So Jacob to Grom is was the biggest story of the offseason by far when he's healthy. He is the best pitcher in baseball a kind of picture that we haven't seen in generations as fastball does everything you want it touches triple digits. It moves it curves. It does everything you want. He is has been healthy for the most part the last couple of years. He has had some injuries. He is a two-time Cy Young winner. He has been just absolutely incredible when he's on the hill and he is worth every single bit of the hype, but he's not the only new pitcher on this Texas team. They also brought in Nate the Evaldi a right-handed pitcher from the Red Sox and a lefty Andrew Heaney from the Dodgers who just had a breakout season with Los Angeles. He joins Mark. They joined Martin Perez and John Gray in this rotation, which was the weak point of his team last year, but now it's probably its greatest strength. Okay, also new first season rather under new manager Bruce Bocce. He actually coached the Giants team that beat the Rangers in the World Series. Let's talk about him. Bruce Bocce hasn't been in baseball since 2019 when he left the San Francisco Giants. He is a surefire candidate for the Hall of Fame and by joining the Rangers. He hasn't been a manager since 2019. He delayed his induction into the Hall of Fame. Of course, he has to be elected and all that good stuff, but the Rangers GM Chris Young has a relationship with him. He pitched under him back when Bocce was with him in San Diego. He convinced him to get off his couch and come manage this Texas Rangers squad brings a lot of pedigree to a team with a lot of expectations that have been skyrocketing for basically the entire offseason. Okay, big rule changes as well. I know Chris Sadeghi talked a little bit about this early on doing our morning show daybreak. Tell us about the changes particularly the pitch clock. So the pitch clock is something that I has been in baseball for a little while in the minor leagues. I've seen a lot of minor league games with it. It's something that will make a big deal for the moment and might seem like a little bit of an intrusion, but eventually by the end of the season, I think most fans will kind of forget that it's even there help speed up the game. It takes out some of the, you know, more boring parts of baseball gets batters in the boxes just kind of keeps the game moving. It's not necessarily just to speed things up, but to make it more action-packed. There's also limited pickoff moves. There are bigger bases. So may basically we'll see some more stolen bases. We think and shift restrictions. So Corey Seeger, who's the Rangers shortstop their big free agent signing from last winter. Not this most recent one was one of the ones most affected by the shift. So it should be a huge offensive season for him a bunch more base hits falling in and he's already coming off a career high 33 home runs last year. So if you had more singles in that were taken away by the shift, this could be a really big season for the Rangers star shortstop another change quickly. If you can go through this one for the first time each team will play each other all 30 teams. What are your thoughts on that? I think it's exciting and I think it's a good thing for the Rangers. They're in a tough division. The Houston Astros are the defending world champions and the Seattle Mariners just broke their long playoff throughout the Angels have Mike Trout and Shohei Otani. So this division is stacked and for the Rangers to be able to play them less often. I think it's going to be a good thing and a good thing for fans of the Rangers and all major league baseball teams to get to see all the other teams. I think it's really exciting and a good change for baseball Bryce. I got 30 seconds opening day prediction for how the Rangers will do this season. I think they're going to win 85 games. I think they'll be right there and think of it and just snag the last wild card spot. It's going to be a tough battle to get it. There's a lot of great teams in the AL but I think this rotation and the offense a little better than people think it think it is and adding Bruce Bochy, Jacob Graham and all the things they've added. I am really optimistic on a team that I have not been optimistic on in a while. So I'm thinking this is the year. They finally Blake break that playoff drought. Okay, I'm sure a lot of Rangers fans happy to hear that Bryce appreciate you for joining us and you can get the latest insight into the Rangers daily with Bryce's podcast locked on Rangers. It's free wherever you get your podcast as well.