Rangers look for return to 2023 form

By David Mullen

In the 2025 baseball season, there may be only one team that can keep the Los Angeles Dodgers from winning their second consecutive World Series. And despite the hope and hype coming from the American League teams in the AL East, it could be the Texas Rangers that gridlock LA’s rush to another title.

The Rangers are just one year removed from being World Series Champions. After a 2024 season filled with overwhelming injuries and underwhelming hitting, Texas learned the hard way. They added offensive power and retooled their pitching, which will be tested early due to injuries to starters Jon Gray and Cody Bradford and reliever Josh Sborz. 

The key to the Rangers season will be how their current starting rotation can get through the early months before Gray and Brandford return. Jacob deGrom must return to his Cy Young-Award winning past. In nine seasons with the New York Mets, deGrom had 209 wins, a 2.52 ERA and won the Rookie of the Year and two Cy Young Awards.

After signing a 5-year, $185 million guaranteed contract with Texas, he is 2-0 in nine starts with a 2.41 ERA in nine games over two seasons. Injury free through spring training, deGrom is returning to form. But with deGrom’s history preceding him, the re-signing of starter Nathan Eovaldi looks prophetic.

The lineup is not perfect with Marcus Semien in leadoff. It may not matter if the Rangers best player, SS Corey Seager, remains healthy all season. Texas has complete confidence in Wyatt Langford as a number three hitter.

The acquisitions of Joc Pederson and Jake Burger, a right-handed power hitter with a “good old boy” charisma that Rangers fans will embrace, make the starting lineup much better than in 2024. If 3B Josh Jung stays healthy and C Johan Heim replicates his 2023 start, the Rangers will run away with the AL West title.

Beginning an inevitable decline, the Houston Astros are not the feared team of the past decade. 

Ranger killer Jose Altuve is getting older and moving to a new position. New 1B Christian Walker will be pressured to perform immediately. And after starters Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown, the remainder of the Astros rotation is unproven.

The Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels are a mess. Seattle can’t seem to find enough hitting to support a fine starting staff. The Angels are Mike Trout’s next injury away from a 100-loss season. 

The AL West’s most intriguing team is the Athletics. This is a young club full of potential. Lawrence Butler, Brent Rooker and C Shea Langeliers are read to bust onto the scene. Shortstop Jacob Wilson will win the AL Rookie of the Year. Mason Miller is the best closer in the American League. The A’s will play their home games in a minor league ballpark in small market Sacramento — 90 miles from Oakland and a world apart — but without big city pressure. 

In the AL East, the Yankees, AL Champions in 2024, have gone downhill since their five-game World Series loss to the Dodgers. They lost Juan Soto to the crosstown Mets and 2023 Cy Young Award-winner Geritt Cole to Tommy John surgery. They still have MVP Aaron Judge and added veterans Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt to help try to fill the void left by Soto and the oft-injured Giancarlo Stanton. A capable Max Fried will try to fill in for Cole.   

The time has come for the young, talented Baltimore Orioles team to gel. Gunnar Henderson is the team’s best player, Adley Rutschman is looking to rebound and Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser are getting better — the offense is set. But the Birds’ pitching keeps them from becoming a division winner.

The Boston Red Sox are the most improved team in the division. They won the Alex Bregman sweepstakes, and he joins a potent lineup. The Red Sox success hinges on the health of Irving’s Trevor Story at shortstop. He has MVP potential. The Tampa Bay Rays are regressing. They just don’t hit on a consistent basis. And the Toronto Blue Jays are a team in disarray, not able to commit to the future of star 1B Vlad Guerrero Jr.    

In the AL Central, the Kansas City Royals are ready to compete at the highest level. The addition of 2B Jonathan India joining SS Bobby Witt Jr. up the middle will be exciting to watch. Witt Jr. will win the AL MVP. The Minnesota Twins best players can’t stay healthy, as Royce Lewis is already out with a hamstring injury and the thrilling Byron Buxton all too familiar with the injured list.  

The Detroit Tigers will start banged up out of the gates, but the one-two punch of pitchers Tarik Skubal and Jack Flaherty will keep them competitive until the lineup returns to full strength. I love watching the Cleveland Guardians 3B José Ramírez play baseball, but he can’t carry the team that did not improve in the offseason. The Chicago White Sox are the AL’s worst team and will lose more than 100 games.

 If deGrom remains healthy — and that is a big “if” — the Rangers will win the AL West. The surprising Red Sox will win the AL East, and the Royals will win the AL Central. Baltimore, New York and — with a late charge — Detroit will be the wild card teams. Despite East Coast pundits believing that AL Champions must come from east of the Mississippi River, the Rangers will win the American League.

The Dodgers are heavily favored to win the World Series. The one team that stands in their way could be the Rangers. It would be a matchup LA would not want to see.