Three years ago, the Texas Rangers stood atop the baseball world, as the won a Wild Card spot and took down the Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, and Arizona Diamondbacks en route to their first World Series championship in franchise history. Since then, it has become clear that, while they were not quite the flash-in-the-pan that the 2013 Boston Red Sox were, the 2023 Rangers ought to be considered evidence for the fact that, once you punch your ticket to the postseason, anything can happen. It stands as their only playoff appearance since 2016, but what an appearance it was.
Although they haven’t been quite as bad as the 68-win team they were in 2021 and 2022, the Rangers have been the definition of mediocre since their championship, winning just 78 games in 2024 and 81 in 2025. Because of this, they decided to part ways with future Hall of Fame manager Bruce Bochy, replacing him with Skip Schumaker, and retooling this winter. But, for 2026, will they be any better?
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2025 record: 81-81 (3th, AL West)
2026 FanGraphs projection: 81-81 (5th, AL West)
The Rangers lineup will certainly look quite different than it did last season. Gone is playoff hero Adolis García, who was non-tendered in November and subsequently signed in Philadelphia. Gone is 2023 AL MVP finalist Marcus Semien, flipped to the Mets in the first blockbuster deal of the winter. Gone is 2023 Gold Glove catcher Jonah Heim, whose lackluster bat and mediocre defense over the last two seasons has turned him from an All-Star catcher into Sean Murphy’s backup in Atlanta. In are Brandon Nimmo (acquired in the Semien trade), Danny Jansen (signed to a two-year deal this past December), and Andrew McCutchen (signed as a non-roster invite this past week, although projected to make the team by FanGraphs).
These moves make the Rangers lineup different, but aside from Nimmo — projected by FanGraphs to have a 110 wRC+ this year — Texas in essence returns the same run producers as last year. Shortstop Corey Seager and left fielder Wyatt Langford look to be main drivers once more, Jake Burger and Joc Pederson are expected to be competent but unspectacular stopgaps, and Evan Carter and Josh Jung are kind of just there, albeit with lingering high expectations.
In truth, much like the 2024 Yankees with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, the 2026 Rangers offense will carry them as far as Seager and Langford can. Fortunately for the Rangers, much like the 2024 Yankees, the real strength of their team is not their lineup, but the depth of their pitching staff. So long as they’re healthy, Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi give them one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball, while new trade acquisition MacKenzie Gore has been a breakout candidate in each of the last few seasons. Jack Leiter hasn’t quite lived up to his pre-draft hype, but looks to be at least competent middle-of-the-rotation depth serving at the bottom of the rotation. And, sometime this summer, 2023 World Series hero and former Yankee Jordan Montgomery expects to return to the mound, as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.
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Because of this strong starting rotation, the Texas Rangers project as a dangerous opponent in a short postseason series. But will their so-so offense hit well enough, and their rather old and injury prone rotation stay healthy enough, to get them there in an AL West that boasts two true contenders in the Mariners and Astros, but no true runaway favorites? Only time will tell.
More Pinstripe Alley MLB team season previews can be found here.
