Jacob deGrom will make 1st Start for Rangers Sunday

Jacob deGrom will make his first start for the Texas Rangers on Sunday, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reports.

Bruce Bochy said Jacob deGrom will make his Cactus League debut on Sunday against the Mariners.

— kennedi landry (@kennlandry) March 17, 2023

The Rangers are taking the cautious route with deGrom, which is likely the prudent thing to do with his injury history. A side ailment forced a slight delay to the start of spring training for deGrom, but all signs point to him starting the season and likely Opening Day for the Rangers. He did start in a minor league game earlier this week, going two innings while striking out five over two innings. DeGrom is expected to throw about three innings Sunday versus the Seattle Mariners.

The Rangers have already stated that deGrom will be on a pitch count to start the season, as they don’t want him throwing more than 75-80 pitches in his first couple of outings. Everyone knows that deGrom has been injury prone over the past few seasons. How many starts he can make this season will likely go a long way toward deciding whether or not the Rangers can compete in the American League West.

As for the Rangers, it will likely take more than a healthy deGrom to beat out the Houston Astros in the ALW. The Rangers stand at +1000 to win the division. That’s a far cry from the Astros, who are at -200. You can find the odds for every team to win their division on the FanDuel Sportsbook.