What’s wrong with the Texas Rangers? How about everything
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Rangers are teetering toward “They may have made a deal with the devil” territory. Because not much of anything is going right in 2024, on the heels of last year’s World Series championship run.
Yes, they are only three games back of the Seattle Mariners in the American League West.
Yes, star shortstop Corey Seager is quietly heating up.
And yes, championship banners fly forever.
From there, it goes downhill.
The team’s mounting injuries have stockpiled in the corner, while a languishing offense has rendered any solid pitching useless. Texas is 2-10 since May 10, slipping to 24-27 overall and below .500 for the first time under manager Bruce Bochy. In that 12-game stretch, the Rangers have scored two runs or less six times, including twice in a three-game sweep at Colorado’s hitter-friendly Coors Field.
The offense showed only sparks of life in series losses to the Guardians, Angels and another sweep in Philadelphia.
The immediate concern is the lagging offense and the revolving door of an Injured List, particularly with the pitchers; for example, pitcher Dane Dunning returned from the IL this week, only for fellow starter Jon Gray to get added to the IL.
The broader context is that a stumbling start to the season – if you still consider late-May part of the start – was always a possibility. The Rangers didn’t get a deal done with free agent pitcher Jordan Montgomery and entered the season with starters Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle on the shelf.
The thinking was: Get the midpoint of the season around .500, get your pitchers back, and make another playoff run.
All of that is still very much in play, even if it doesn’t look like it. While the Rangers’ offense has struggled, it’s remained mostly healthy, with the exception of third baseman Josh Jung, who broke his thumb in early April and hasn’t played since. But for now, the picture looks rather grim. A losing stretch always will.
Let’s politely go over what’s gone wrong:
The injuries
The Rangers currently have 11 key players on the Injured List: Pitchers Nathan Eovaldi (15-day), Jon Gray (15-day), Josh Sborz (15-day), Brock Burke (60-day), Cody Bradford (60-day), Jacob deGrom (60-day), Max Scherzer (60-day) and Tyler Mahle (60-day); and position players Josh Jung (60-day), Justin Foscue (60-day) and Wyatt Langford (10-day).
