Max Scherzer officially added to Rangers' ALCS roster, Jon Gray also makes cut for Astros showdown

The Texas Rangers are getting their big midseason acquisition back in the form of Max Scherzer. He came over at the trade deadline and was shortly thereafter diagnosed with an injury that was expected to cost him the season, but he is officially on the ALCS roster.

Jon Gray, another pitcher who suffered an injury and was not expected to return for some time, is back on the ALCS roster also. Both he and Max Scherzer will be impactful adds this late in the game.

Reporter Jared Sandler commented:

"BIG NEWS! Both RHP Max Scherzer and RHP Jon Gray are on the ALCS roster. They replace RHP Matt Bush and LHP Brock Burke."

The Houston Astros are the current World Series favorite, so the Rangers need all hands on deck. There was no guarantee that either of these hurlers would be back at all this year, so this is quite the fortuitous news for them.

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Rangers get Max Scherzer, Jon Gray back

The Texas Rangers are going to need a lot of help to get past the Houston Astros. They are going on the road to face the defending world champions. With no team left having more than 90 wins, and the National League having two teams with not even that many, the Astros can likely see their repeat victory.

Max Scherzer is back

They dominated the season series, winning nine of the 13 matchups. They were outmanned in them, so they will be grateful to have two very good pitchers back on the roster.

It's likely that they'll be held off till the latter games, given that they're recovering from injuries. Scherzer's age and health has to be considered, which could be an advantage.

They could be the two two pitchers on a lot of teams, and they'd likely be facing lower Astros pitchers. That's a key advantage that could play a big role in deciding this series.

Regardless, the Rangers can rest easy knowing they have a somewhat full strength roster for the biggest series of the season yet.