There’s no official baseball statistic on how often it is used.
My educated guess is at least twice a week it’s uttered in some clubhouse or at some news conference throughout the majors.
A player, a coach, a manager answers a question about injuries and says the team must have a “next man up” philosophy. It’s become as cliché as “one game at a time,” and the now ubiquitous, “Let’s goooo,” whenever anything exciting happens.
On Tuesday, it was Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young who rolled out a fresh “next man up” after removing projected Game 7 starter Max Scherzer (back) and superstar outfielder Adolis García (oblique) from th Texas Rangers’ World Series roster with injuries, replacing them with lefty reliever Brock Burke and infielder/outfielder Ezequiel Durán.
The Rangers lost two essential pieces after Monday’s Game 3 win, and the major question heading into Game 4 was how they would respond. Well, they didn’t hesitate in showing everyone.
Texas scored five runs in the second inning and five more in the third, the only club in World Series history to post five or more runs in consecutive innings. They hit cruise control after that and held on for an 11-7 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks and a 3-1 lead in the Series.
Not a shabby way to respond to injury/adversity.
“It’s been a theme of our team. It has,” Young said in a pregame conference Tuesday. “It’s kind of the next-man-up mentality. Our guys don’t feel sorry for themselves, and I love that. That’s a true characteristic of the Texas Rangers, and I’m proud of that. And I’m sure the guys will respond in the same manner that they have all year.”
That’s the thing with this Texas team. Most clubs have their share of injuries every season. But the Rangers’ health was hammered in 2023. They received only six starts from $185 million man Jacob deGrom before losing him to elbow (Tommy John Surgery).
Veteran starter Jake Odorizzi was expected to be in the rotation this year but had season-ending shoulder surgery in April, never pitching a game for the Rangers. Starters Jon Gray and Scherzer were left off the first two postseason series rosters because of injuries in September.
And the offense lost several key contributors for part of the year, including Corey Seager (thumb), Josh Jung (thumb) and Jonah Heim (wrist).
“This team has dealt with it many times,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Tuesday. “And I can’t say enough about the mental toughness about this club and the resilience they have shown. They don’t get down. There’s no point in it. They understand you have to focus forward. And they’ve done that.”
Texas Rangers rely on depth and next-man up philosophy
Journeyman outfielder Travis Jankowski was given the Herculean task Tuesday of replacing Garcia in right field and technically in the lineup, though Jankowski batted ninth and not in García’s cleanup spot. García had eight homers this postseason. Jankowski has hit 10 homers in a nine-season career.
Jankowski, 32, had two plate appearances in the 2023 playoffs before Game 3. Given the magic surrounding this club all postseason, naturally Jankowski had hits in his first two plate appearances Tuesday, including a two-run double in the third. He also had an excellent sliding catch in the seventh inning.
Of course Jankowski did. It just follows the Rangers’ postseason script.
“Travis has had a really nice year for us in his role,” Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said pregame of Jankowski, who signed a $1.25 million deal in January with the Rangers, his sixth big-league team. “He’s done a tremendous job. Got pressed into a starting role there for a while when we had our injuries and really picked us up when we needed it. … He’s had a nice career, and he was a big pickup for us this year because we needed him.”
Would you expect anything different from a team that is now an incredible 10-0 in road games this postseason? That sets an MLB record, breaking a tie of nine straight road wins by the New York Yankees (1996-97 and 1937-42).
The craziest part of the Rangers’ perfect run through Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Houston and now Phoenix is that this was not a particularly good road club in the regular season, compiling a 40-41 record away from Globe Life Field. That includes dropping four of their final six on the road to lose the American League West title, forcing them to settle for the second AL wild card spot.
Now, those adversity-fueled Rangers are one-win away from capturing the first World Championship in the franchise’s modern-day history (dating back to 1972). They have one more game in Phoenix and two, if necessary, back at home in Arlington, Texas.
The Diamondbacks are no stranger to comebacks, though. They battled back to make Monday’s score respectable after being down by 10 in the third inning. They came from behind in 43 of their victories this season. They were down 3-games-to-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies and won both at Citizens Bank Park in the National League Championship Series to reach their first World Series since 2001.
Making a 3-games-to-1 comeback isn’t impossible; it has happened six times in World Series history, most recently by the 2016 Chicago Cubs.
So, technically, this one isn’t over yet.
But given the Rangers’ current road mojo – and their next-man-up cliché that they’ve leaned on all year — it’s hard to fathom they don’t complete their improbable run soon.
Especially given how they responded emphatically and triumphantly Tuesday night after losing García and Scherzer.