The Texas Rangers have now used the ‘opener’ strategy on multiple occasions over the last few weeks. This includes the first two games of the series vs. the San Diego Padres. Reliever Connor Sadzeck opened Friday night’s eventual win and reliever Alex Claudio opened last night’s game which resulted in a win.
Texas has had some success with the strategy; however, don’t expect them to carry on with it for too much longer.
The Rangers are using an opener for two reasons: (1) they now have 18 pitchers on the roster due to September call-ups and (2) they only have one starting pitcher that they can trust.