Tigers vs. Rangers Thursday MLB injury report, odds: Sizable money line drop with Corey Seager, Jonah Heim out of Texas matinee lineup

Thursday is often when MLB teams will rest a key everyday player or two, because teams often have to travel or play a day game after a night game. The latter is the case for the AL West-leading Texas Rangers today and probably why they are resting two of their top hitters in shortstop Corey Seager and catcher/DH Jonah Heim for their 2:05 p.m. ET home finale vs. Detroit. The moneyline at Caesars Sportsbook has dropped from Rangers -200 to -160.

Seager would be in the AL MVP race if Shohei Ohtani wasn't superhuman. The Texas shortstop is on the way to a potential career year, batting .345 with 10 homers, 48 RBI and a 1.020 OPS. He's reached base in 19 straight games. Seager has three hits, three runs scored and two RBI in this series.

The former NL Rookie of the Year (won with the Dodgers) has been limited to 49 games due to injury, though. Seager made an early exit from Wednesday's game, but Thursday was apparently was scheduled day off regardless. Josh Smith is starting at shortstop and Travis Jankowski is batting second in Seager's spot.

Heim is also simply getting a rest day with Mitch Garver catching for the Rangers and Ezequiel Duran at DH. Heim is batting .279 with 11 homers and 55 RBI. The team is 39-24 when he is behind the plate and 5-2 when Garver is, although Garver has been a bit better throwing out potential base-stealers (33.3%).

Rangers rookie lefty Cody Bradford (0-1, 5.40) will make his fifth big-league appearance and second in a row vs. Detroit. Bradford had started his first three games but pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief on Monday vs. the Tigers and didn't allow a hit or run, so he won't be out there too long on Thursday. Texas is 21-9 in day games this year and 11-1 at Globe Life Field, with six straight wins.

The Tigers, who fly out to Denver after, go with rookie right-hander Reese Olson (1-2, 4.74) in his sixth big-league appearance and fifth start. He hasn't faced Texas. 

Get more out of your SportsLine subscription! 

• Picks: NFL | NBA | CFB | CBB
• DFS: Lineup Optimizer | Picks
• Early Edge: YouTube | Apple Podcasts
• Newsletters: SportsLine Daily | Fantasy

Qualifying SportsLine members receive a 30-day free trial of Paramount+ premium. Sync your account right here.