Corey Seager’s first chance to play a regular-season road game in Dodger Stadium has been at least temporarily stymied by his left hamstring injury.
Seager wasn’t in the starting lineup on Tuesday night when the Texas Rangers opened a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team he spent the first seven seasons of his major league career with.
Tuesday was the fourth straight game in which Seager was not in the starting lineup. He was initially declared day-to-day after sustaining the injury last Wednesday against the Detroit Tigers.
Seager, 30, certainly was aiming to be recovered by the start of the highly anticipated series in Los Angeles.
“Yeah, I was hoping,” Seager said during a pregame press conference. “You always want it to be faster than it is. We’re still in the middle of the season and you are trying not to miss an extended amount of time.
“It’s the smart thing to do even though it’s not what you want to do.”
Seager left the Dodgers as a free agent following the 2021 season. He was initially hopeful that he would remain with the club but ended up signing a 10-year, $325 million deal with the Rangers.
On Tuesday, the two-time World Series MVP wasn’t interested in discussing his departure.
“That was a long time ago,” Seager said. “I can’t really remember how it went. Sorry, I don’t want to go down that path.”
Seager was then asked in a follow-up question if he was disappointed at the time.
“We’ll move on, sorry,” Seager said.
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts made it clear the Dodgers wanted Seager to stay put.
“We were all hoping,” Roberts said. “He and his representation got a deal they couldn’t refuse. … Obviously any team is better with Corey Seager.”
Seager is a four-time All-Star, and one of his appearances at the Midsummer Classic came when it was in Los Angeles in 2022 during his first season with Texas. Seager doesn’t view that as a bona fide return, though.
He views this series differently, and he hopes to play before it ends on Thursday. Seager also is aware the reaction from the fans might be a bit interesting.
“Hopefully good,” Seager said. “You always want to get a warm welcome — but I hope to get (a good) one.”
Seager said he spent part of Monday’s off day at Manhattan Beach with Chris Taylor, his Los Angeles teammate of five-plus seasons.
Seager batted .297 with 104 homers and 364 RBIs in 636 games with the Dodgers. He was named MVP when the Dodgers won the 2020 World Series in the shortened season due to COVID-19.
“Superstar. Just a heady baseball player, great competitor,” Roberts said of Seager. “He’s performed really well on the biggest of stages. A very good Dodger and I’m glad I had a chance to coach him.”
Seager also was World Series MVP when the Rangers won the title last season. He smacked a career-best 33 homers in each of his first two seasons with Texas and was runner-up for American League MVP honors in 2023.
This season, Seager is batting .271 with 13 homers and 30 RBIs across 57 games. He has reached base in a career-best 28 consecutive games.
–Field Level Media
