It’s here. Less than 24 hours from when this Podcast is posted, Rangers Baseball is back. Opening day is a day that I truly look forward to every year. It’s made sweeter this year by the fact that it comes almost 4 months late. At this point, it doesn’t even matter to me how the Rangers do, I just can’t wait to settle in each night and watch baseball!
The sounds and sights of the season. I am a little sad that fans are not allowed, kind of wish I was a journalist who covers the team at the moment, so I could be there in person. I have made several opening days in my lifetime and they are so amazing. 
Tomorrow we start a 60 game journey like nothing we have ever experienced. The pandemic is still among us. The season may not even finish. But tomorrow we will watch the Rangers play game one of the 2020 season. 
So how will the team do? Do they even have a shot to make the Postseason? Can they win the American League West? Can their pitching staff hold teams like the Angels and Astros down enough to win games? There are these questions and more going into the 2020 season. Time will answer them, and now is the time to start getting those answers finally. I never thought I would ever be talking about opening day in late July, but here I am. 
In this opening day eve special show we will take a look at the Rangers final 30 man team and break down who they are for you. We will look at the schedule and find all the wins we can. We will break down the lineup and what we think of it. We’ll talk about Gloe Life Field and the dimensions. We will dig into the starting five and our predictions of how they will do. And then, when we are done with all that, we will debut our spoof song based on “Rock-star” by Nickleback called “2020 Baseball”. Spoiler alert, it’s funny but we are not music producers so it’s kind of terrible, and the singer is not great.
I hope you will stick with us all season and help us to grow the podcast. Our numbers keep rising, so thank you for that. Don’t forget to check out our store over at the Ranger report dot com. We hope you will choose us for news and analysis about the Rangers. We are not professional writers, but we have a passion for the team and we hope that shows. After this short break, we’ll start looking at the thirty man and breaking down the schedule. Don’t go anywhere, you’ve found the Ranger Report Podcast. 
Welcome back. Let’s get right into it shall we? Here are the thirty guys who will be on the major league club when the season starts tomorrow
Starting Pitchers:
Really no surprises here at all. Lyles and Gibson have been better than four and five starters in their career. Will they do it again? We shall see as the season progresses. 
Bullpen:
6. Jose Leclerc – Closer
7. Jesse Chavez
8. Nick Goody
10. Luke Farrell
12. Ian Gibaut
13. Joe Palumbo
14. Kolby Allard
Some of the players in the pen you may not know much about, and that is okay. Several of them would not be on the club if it wasn’t expanded to 30. Notables left off: Yohander Mendez. He was also taken off of the 40 man roster. He has been nothing but trouble, even being disciplined by the team a few seasons back when he was called up. Left hander Taylor Hearn was very close to making the team, but was beat out by Farrell, Allard and Palumbo. Brock Burke was another left hander left off. My thoughts are we will see these guys at some point during the 2020 season. 
Catchers:
16. Jeff Mathis
17. Jose Trevino
Again, no surprises here. Trevino has had a great summer camp and was good when he was called up in 2019. He is the catcher of the future. Mathis is a good veteran backup and it is so good to have Chirinos back. 
Infield:
18. Todd Frazier (1b, 3b)
19. Ronald Guzman (1b, DH)
20. Rob Refsnyder (1b)
21. Rougned Odor (2b)
22. Nick Solak (utility)
23. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (3b)
24. Elvis Andrus (ss)
Outfield:
25. Willie Calhoun (LF)
26. Danny Santana (CF)
27. Joey Gallo (RF)
28. Shin Soo-Choo (outfield, DH)
29. Scott Heineman (outfield)
30. Leody Tavares (outfield)
Really no surprises in the infield and outfield if you kept up with summer camp. Tavares is in the majors earlier than expected, but Chris Woodward said he did everything he could and more to make this club. Also, if you haven’t been watching or paying attention, Frazier was beat out by Kiner-Falefa at third, so Frazier will start at first base. Falefa looked great at third this summer. 
Schedule:
July/August:The Rangers begin the season with the 
Colorado Rockies(H) (3)
Arizona Diamondbacks(H) (2)
SF Giants(R) (3)
before facing their first AL West team. They have a day off between each of these series. Next up it is the 
Athletics(R) (3)
Angels (H) (3)
Mariners(H) (3) before another day off and back on the road.
Rockies(R) (3)
Padres(H) (2), (R) (2), and
Mariners (R) (3). August rounds out with four against the
Athletics(H)(4) 1-3 and three against the
Dodgers (H) (3). That takes us to 34 games played. They need to have 18-20 wins by this point to be on track for a postseason run. My prediction is that they will be 3-3 in July, and 14-14 in August. That would make them 17-17 after August. Reasons: The Rockies, Dodgers, Athletics and Angels all should be really good, and I think they take the series from the Rangers early in the season. I hope they surprise me, but as I was looking into the season, I don’t see them winning those series, and they are not going to sweep the Mariners and Padres.
September:
Astros (first time, by the way)(R) (3)
Mariners (R) (4)
Angels (H) (3),
Athletics (H) (3),
Astros (R) (3),
Angels (R) (1-2),
Diamondbacks (R) (2),
Astros (H) (4) 2-2.
That would make them 12-13 for September, making them 29-31.
Now I know I will be wrong on a few things so this is plus or minus three in my opinion. So the Rangers will win anywhere from 26-32 games, and that won’t be enough to win the West. I will post this on my site as well so feel free to give me your opinions as well!
Astros – 37-23
Athletics 34-26
Angels – 31-29
Rangers – 29-31
Mariners – 24-36
Prediction Time:
1st strikeout – Lance Lynn
1st hit – Elvis Andrus
1st home run – Rougned Odor
1st steal – Elvis Andrus
1st Ranger to strike out – Rougned Odor
1st Error – Todd Frazier
Well, this was longer than I intended it to be! Everyone enjoy the beginning of a sixt game Rangers season tomorrow night! Now, enjoy or debut of the song “2020 Baseball” based on “Rockstar” by Nickleback. Goodnight everybody.
