How the Rangers can turn season around

By David Mullen

The prospects of a bounce back season for the Texas Rangers in 2025 seemed realistic. A cadre of starting pitching was getting healthy, a retooled bullpen would bring more options, the lineup of everyday players was also getting healthier, and youth was being added to a veteran squad. The Rangers were ready to rebound from a disastrous 2024.

Even positive mojo was in the Rangers’ favor. In San Francisco, under current Texas manager Bruce Bochy, the Giants won the World Championships every other year between 2010 through 2014. The Rangers won the World Championship in 2023, so 2025 is the year the Bochy magic leads the Rangers back to prominence.  

So far, so bad. The Rangers have, at best, played losing baseball. At worst, the Rangers have played uninspired baseball. Is there still time for manager Bochy to right the ship? 

Uncharacteristically, pitching has been the Rangers’ greatest asset this year. Starters Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle have six wins each and sub-2.40 ERAs. Eovaldi, expected to return in mid-June, was off to a great start with four wins and a microscopic 1.56 ERA. Twenty-five-year-old prospect Jack Leiter has grown into a dependable starter, and recent acquisition veteran Patrick Corbin has cranked out innings from the left side.  

Texas pitchers have an overall ERA of 3.12, the best in the American League. The New York Mets — who can hit — and the Giants — who struggle to score runs — are the only teams in MLB with a better team ERA. In early June, the Mets are 19 games over .500 in the NL East, and the Giants are 11 games over .500 in the NL West, baseball’s most difficult division. The Rangers are three games under .500.

So, logically, if the Rangers can score more than three runs per game, they will win more games than they lose. But this current Rangers roster is mired in a season-long hitting slump. In the AL, Texas is second to last with a .225 batting average (only the Chicago White Sox are worse), are tied for second worst in runs scored and tied for third worst in total HRs. Injuries have also plagued the starting lineup — Sam Haggerty has gone from minor league journeyman into an everyday big leaguer — as both Josh Jung and Corey Seager have spent time on the IL.

Is the Rangers offense really that bad? After all, the Rangers scored 16 runs against a hot Minnesota Twins team on June 10. Before the outburst, the team had been shut out nine times and held to one run or less in 20 of their first 67 games. In more than half of their games, the Rangers have scored three runs or less. 

In the mediocre AL West, the Rangers are still in contention. Houston leads the division, but the losses of Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman and the injury status of DH Yordan Alvarez make the Astros vulnerable. The Seattle Mariners have excellent pitching but also are failing at hitting. The Los Angeles Angels struggled each year to get to .500 and the Athletics, once three games over .500, lost 20 of 21 games in May and are out of contention. The Rangers, facing a division deficit of 4.5 games, could take over the division lead with a brief winning streak. Here are a few ways that the Rangers can win the West. 

Go with a set lineup. Bochy likes to tinker with the batting order. I believe that a player must know his role and feel comfortable about it. If Marcus Semien hits first one day, second the next and seventh the following day, you are giving him one more thing to worry about. Hitting a 100 MPH fastball is hard enough.

Bat Josh Smith first and Evan Carter ninth. Smith is not the Rangers long-term leadoff hitter, but he has the Rangers’ best average and plays aggressively. Carter becomes a “second” leadoff man by batting ninth. 

The 2, 3 and 4 spots in the lineup belong to 2B Seager, LF Wyatt Langford and full-time DH Jake Burger. 

The Ranger DH position, meant to be a split of Burger and (injured) Joc Pederson, has been the least productive in all of MLB. Burger alone has the best potential to turn that stat around.

Bat 3B Josh Jung fifth, 2B Semien sixth and OF Adolis Garcia seventh. Then alternate the eighth spot between catchers Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka, based on matchups. Heim has had one good career year, which is not enough to earn the everyday catcher spot.

Play small ball. The Rangers’ goal must be to get at least three runs a game. The team can’t rely on a three-run homer to get the runs. Get a lead early, even if it is one run that involves stealing bases, laying down sacrifice bunts and hitting to the right side. Early leads bolster the confidence of a starting staff. If a pitcher consistently holds a team to one run over six innings and sees that he is still behind by one, it affects his psyche.  

Get their swagger back. The Rangers are still made up of the core of the 2023 World Championship team. They need to act like it. The division title is very attainable with more than 90 games remaining in the season. Meekness shows weakness. Winning solves everything. The Rangers seem to lack the championship swagger necessary to win. 

Bochy needs to rekindle the spark to keep his own World Series streak alive.