After beating the Detroit Tigers 10-4 on Thursday, the Texas Rangers have won seven of their last eight games to propel themselves to a tie atop the American League West with the Seattle Mariners with a 45-43 record.
The Rangers have flown under the radar all season. They did not make any splashy offseason free agency signings, instead executing some more savvy, under-the-radar trades like when they acquired MacKenzie Gore from the Washington Nationals for a handful of prospects and Brandon Nimmo from the New York Mets for Marcus Semien in a rare “baseball trade” featuring two established Major League players.
The only member of the Rangers who is having a bonafide All-Star-caliber season is closer Jacob Latz. The 30-year-old Latz burst onto the scene this year and established himself early as the Rangers’ best ninth inning option, recording 18 saves and a 1.71 ERA. Jacob deGrom, who just turned 30, is leading the AL with a 10.8 SO/9 and has shown flashes of his old self, but is no longer a true ace. Similarly, 36-year-old Nathan Eovaldi is still a productive player, but is not looking like the frontline starter he was for the first three years of his Rangers career.
Their most expensive and high-profile position player, Corey Seager, is on pace for career-lows all across the board. Seager was also just placed on the 10-day injured list because of lower back inflammation, his third trip to the IL this season. One of those was also because of lower back inflammation, the other was because of a concussion.
The Ranges are 21st in runs scored, 16th in total bases and 15th in OPS. On the pitching side, they are 10th in team ERA. Their run differential is almost exactly even -2. All pretty middle-of-the-road numbers.
Just looking around their division, they do not have the flashiness of the Mariners, who boast one of MLB’s deepest starting rotations and superstars in Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh. The Houston Astros have Yordan Alvarez, who many believe to be the frontrunner for AL MVP (including our own Trevor May). The Athletics have a prolific offense and some of baseball’s most promising young stars. The Los Angeles Angels, while their record does not show it, are still a fun team to watch because of Mike Trout’s late-career resurgence
But still, the Rangers are in first place and are in line to make it back to the postseason for the first time since they won the World Series in 2023.
Just like now, that 2023 Rangers team was overlooked all year, and was picked by few to make noise in the postseason. As the 2nd AL Wild Card team, the Rangers swept their way past the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card round and the Baltimore Orioles in the ALDS before beating the Astros in a tense seven-game series in the ALCS and the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games in the World Series.
That team had a bit more firepower though. Seager finished second in AL MVP voting. Semien finished third. Adolis Garcia hit 39 home runs. Josh Jung finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. Seager, Semien, Garcia, Jung, Eovaldi and Jonah Heim were all named All-Stars.
The Rangers were very active during the trade deadline in 2023, adding veterans Max Scherzer, Aroldis Chapman, Jordan Montgomery and Austin Hedges to try and push for the postseason. This year, they could do the same. Second base is a clear area of need, with six different players spending time at Semien’s former position. They could also look for an upgrade in the outfield and to add more pitching depth, both in the starting rotation and the bullpen.
One potential roadblock–the Rangers have a very weak farm system. Ranked 25th at the beginning of the season by MLB Pipeline, the Rangers have just two top-100 prospects, 20-year-old infield prospect Sebastian Walcott (MLB No. 10) and 21-year-old RHP prospect Caden Scarborough (MLB No. 66).
With the AL as weak as it is, even if the Rangers do not end up winning their division, they should still be right in the thick of the Wild Card race. People counted them out in 2023. The team looks a bit different now, but the Rangers might just have it in them to pull off another surprise run in October.