ARLINGTON, Texas — Kumar Rocker will start Friday night for the Texas Rangers against Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Dylan Cease in the opener of a three-game series at Globe Life Field. Cal Quantrill faces José Soriano on Saturday, and Jacob deGrom starts Sunday’s finale against a Toronto starter still to be announced.
The Rangers released the weekend matchups Thursday. First pitch is 7:05 p.m. CT on Friday, 6:05 p.m. CT on Saturday, and 1:35 p.m. CT on Sunday, with all three games on Rangers Sports Network.
Entering Thursday night’s finale against the Boston Red Sox, Texas was 76-76 and tied with the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West. Houston holds the tiebreaker. With 10 games left, the Rangers were one game out of the third and final American League wild card. Toronto (76-77) is 1 1/2 games out of that spot, TSN reported.
In late June, Texas won all four games of a series against the reigning American League champions at Rogers Centre. Toronto dropped two of three at home to the Detroit Tigers this week, avoided a sweep with a 5-1 win Wednesday, and has Thursday off before the trip to Arlington.
“We’ll try to go 1-0 every day,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said after Wednesday’s win. “That’s it. It’s going to be another tough series [against Texas]. It will be a good off-day for everyone [on Thursday], but every day and every series is going to be tough and really important.”
Kumar Rocker Faces Dylan Cease in Friday Opener
Rocker is 5-11 with a 4.54 ERA over 28 games, 25 of them starts, in his third major league season. His most recent start came Saturday at Chase Field. He went 4 innings in a 6-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Nathan Eovaldi followed him with 2 2/3 innings. Rocker has allowed multiple earned runs in all but one of his past nine games, TSN reported.
On June 28 at Rogers Centre, Rocker threw 6 scoreless innings against Toronto, allowing 4 hits and 1 walk with 5 strikeouts. He did not factor in the decision, and Texas won 3-2 to finish the sweep, MLB.com reported. Across two career starts against the Blue Jays, Rocker has allowed 2 runs over 9 innings with 10 strikeouts.
Cease is 11-5 with a 2.38 ERA and started the All-Star Game for the American League in July. In November 2025, he signed a seven-year, $210 million contract with Toronto, the largest free-agent deal in franchise history. His run of 19 straight starts with at least 7 strikeouts ended Sept. 2 at Cleveland, one short of the major league single-season record, CBS Sports reported.
Over his last two starts, Cease allowed 5 runs in one and walked 5 over 5 innings in the other. Toronto originally had him lined up for Saturday before moving both Cease and Soriano up a day, Blue Jays On SI reported.
Cease took the loss against Texas on June 27 at Rogers Centre. His line in the 7-4 Rangers win was 4 2/3 innings, 4 hits, 4 earned runs, 5 walks, and 10 strikeouts. He has a 7.71 ERA over four career starts against the Rangers in Texas.
Cal Quantrill, Jacob deGrom Follow Against Toronto
Quantrill’s back tightened after the fifth inning Sunday at Chase Field, and he finished 6 innings in a 7-6 win over Arizona. His line was 6 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 0 walks, and 4 strikeouts on 70 pitches. Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said on Rangers Sports Network before Thursday’s game that Quantrill threw about 10 pitches off the slope that day.
“He’s feeling better today,” Schumaker said. “Threw, I don’t know, not too many off the mound, off the slope today. Just out there, maybe 10 pitches total. But he felt good, and he’s ready for his next start.”
Quantrill is 9-5 with a 2.90 ERA over 31 appearances, 14 of them starts, and 108 2/3 innings. Since the start of August, he has a 1.80 ERA over nine games, eight of them starts. In three career starts against Toronto, he has a 1.59 ERA and 21 strikeouts. The Port Hope, Ontario, native’s father pitched for the Blue Jays from 1996 to 2001 and was an All-Star in 2001.
The Los Angeles Angels traded Soriano to Toronto on Aug. 3. On Monday against Detroit at Rogers Centre, he retired the first 16 batters he faced and carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, The Canadian Press reported. A leadoff single in the seventh ended the no-hit bid. Soriano finished with 4 runs allowed on 5 hits and 5 strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings. In eight career games against Texas, six of them starts, he has a 2.84 ERA.
deGrom is 11-9 with a 3.79 ERA and 194 strikeouts over 154 1/3 innings in 29 starts. Tuesday against Boston was his first start since groin tightness at Seattle. He went 5 innings and allowed 3 hits, 2 runs, and 1 walk with 8 strikeouts on 92 pitches. Schumaker said afterward that deGrom did not feel 100%.
The 38-year-old two-time Cy Young Award winner has a 1.65 ERA in three career starts against Toronto. His last one came in 2025, when he held the Blue Jays scoreless over 5 innings. He went 12-8 with a 2.97 ERA that season and was voted American League Comeback Player of the Year.
Toronto has not named a Sunday starter. That turn in the rotation was a bullpen game Tuesday against Detroit, a 10-1 loss.
The New York Mets visit Globe Life Field from Sept. 22 to 24. Texas closes the regular season with three games at the Minnesota Twins from Sept. 25 to 27.
