Eovaldi, Rangers finish season right with sweep of Angels

ANAHEIM -- Nathan Eovaldi didn’t have to pitch on Sunday. The Rangers were out of the postseason picture and a six-man rotation had already been in place for a few weeks, setting him up to only pitch once over the final road trip of the season.

But Max Scherzer landed on the injured list before the Rangers left for the final trip, freeing up the final day of the season for Eovaldi, if he wanted it. And Eovaldi always wants the ball. Manager Bruce Bochy said Eovaldi told him just that.

The Alvin, Texas, native -- in what is likely his final start as a Ranger -- tossed seven scoreless innings in Game 162, as the Rangers shut down the Angels, 8-0, to complete the 2024 season with a sweep in Anaheim.

“It was my day,” Eovaldi said. “I was able to start the first one of the year and I wanted to be able to finish it like last year again. I take a lot of pride in taking the ball on my day and being ready to go for the guys, and it doesn't really matter where we are in the standings and stuff. If I'm able to pitch, I want to be out there pitching.”

It was a fitting end for Eovaldi.

Eovaldi was part of a trio of veteran starting pitchers the Rangers signed going into the 2023 season, along with Jacob deGrom and Andrew Heaney. When deGrom went down with a UCL injury last May, Eovaldi became the pseudo ace of the rotation, earning an All-Star bid in ’23 and carrying Texas throughout the World Series run last postseason.

He finishes his Rangers tenure with a 3.72 ERA across 314 2/3 regular season innings. He made 54 starts in his two seasons in Texas, along with another 12 in the postseason with a 2.95 ERA.

“You can't have a better teammate [than Eovaldi],” Bochy said. “We don't win the World Series without him, and he is just one of those pros that you really appreciate, not just what he does on the field, but off the field and in the clubhouse. He's a special guy. That's why he's beloved by this team. Really, people throughout baseball respect him so much. I don't know what's gonna happen this offseason, but I do know it was just a real pleasure to have him on this staff.”

It wasn’t the season the reigning World Series champions wanted, but it was no doubt good to end on a high note. As the season wrapped up, it was hard for everybody to not think about what could have been.

“I think the biggest thing I learned is every season does take on a life of its own,” Bochy said. “The players, they're human, and they're going to have some down years. We, as coaches or managers, may not have our best year. This was done collectively, it wasn't one person. We’re ending the season not going to the postseason. I've said this, but you can learn more from a losing season than a winning season, actually.”

First baseman Nathaniel Lowe -- who went 2-for-4 with a homer, a double and a walk on Sunday -- noted that while he’s happy to end on a high night, both personally and team-wide, it was a frustrating season all around.

“It was a bad season,” Lowe said. “We didn't win, I didn't perform. I could have helped the team a lot better than I did. It was frustrating, dealing with all we dealt with this year, especially coming off a championship and talking about a championship standard. We had a losing record, missed the playoffs by a lot. We didn't perform. A couple homers are cool, but it would have been nice to produce all year long.”

As a manager, Bochy has never made the postseason in the season following a World Series appearance. But he’s said many times before that he didn’t come out of retirement to sit at home and watch the postseason. The goal is to always be playing in October.

He hopes to be back next year.

“[The fire to compete] always burns,” Bochy said. “It's not fun to watch these teams celebrate. If that changes then you should get out. I got back in to get to the postseason and win championships. We kept thinking, ‘Hey, we'll get on the roll and find a way to do it.’ You look at what Detroit did. I thought that would be us. I really did. I never stopped believing that, until we were eliminated.

“So I know I got some things I want to talk about as we go into Spring Training, and things that we need to do to get better. I promise you, they’re going to work hard to see what we can do to make this club better.”