Texas Rangers 2026 Season Final Check-In: An Honest Analysis

The Texas Rangers were hopeful of winning the American League West, but unfortunately, their goal of that fell short Sunday. They finished the 2026 season with a record of 80-82, placing them second in the division. Despite ending the season two games under .500, it's still a little bit of an improvement, as far as where they were placed in the AL West. At Globe Life Field, they finished with a record of 45-36, but a disappointing 35-46 on the road. I'll discuss the latter record later on in this story. Manager Skip Schumaker was honest about something that I had been thinking about for the longest period of time. He stated that teams that were terrible should've been winnable. He hit the nail on the head on that, because this is one of the issues I had with the Rangers. Losing against sub-.500 teams are both embarrassing and unacceptable. The American League West has been the worst division in the league this season. In fact, the American League as a whole has been terrible. You can't afford to lose a plethora of games against teams that have losing records. Speaking of Skip Schumaker...

Skip Schumaker

If I had to give a grade to the first-year manager, it would be a C-. He did a decent job, but not great. I had no other issues with him or thought that he needed to be let go as skipper. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does in 2027, if there is a next season. He'll be managing the Rangers for two more years, so he isn't going anywhere.

Now, I'll be going over some important notes, some of the player's performances, and offer more thoughts about the Rangers. I'm going to be brutally honest about them and offer constructive criticism. I refuse to be delusional, sugarcoat anything, or coddle them. Don't get me wrong. I love my team, but from a fan's perspective, it's a way for me to analyze them honestly.

To finish the month of September, the Rangers record was 12-11. Compare that to September 2025, they finished four games under .500 at 10-14. This season's September record was a bit of an improvement. One main reason was because they were able to stay in the playoff chase for as long as they did.

League Stats

• 19th in Batting Average (.292)

• 25th in Runs Scored (673)

• 22nd in ERA (4.32)

These stats are highly concerning and needs to be addressed. When you have categories that are ranked near or at the bottom, there's a dire need for improving in those areas. The rankings of these categories need to be at least in the top ten in the league. As for the pitching, I'm highly disappointed in the performance of the entire rotation. They allowed 677 earned runs, 189 home runs, 495 walks, and blown 20 saves. Looking at these stats are concerning. All of these categories have to sharply decrease. Another issue that's concerning is that the offense keeps swinging at the first pitch. According to Statcast, the Rangers had done this 42% of the time. I've criticized the Philadelphia Phillies for going for the long ball instead of having plate discipline. The Rangers are no exception, and this is an area they really need to cut down on. Seeing them ranked last in runs scored was not that surprising to me. The runners in scoring position (RISP) is another area the Rangers had struggled with during the 2026 season. In the over 3,400 at bats, 432 runs were scored out of the 851 hits they had. The lack of scoring opportunities and extra base hits is one of the reasons why they didn't win the division. For example, seeing two men on base with one out and nothing happens is beyond frustrating. You can't go from winning a World Series title nearly three years ago to having lackluster on field performances and also lackluster stats.

The Rangers desperately need more bats during the offseason. The following information are just rumors, meaning nothing has been confirmed or made official. So, take them with a grain of salt. One of the names that might be a great fit for this team is Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the New York Yankees, according to Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter. He'll be a free agent, but he might offer the Rangers a bit of an offensive boost. Other names that the Rangers are rumored to be interested in including Luis Arráez and Alec Bohm, both from the Phillies. Not only them, but also Ian Happ from the Cubs. Happ, 31, would be a great addition to the Rangers, because he's an outstanding power hitter, has great discipline at the plate, and wonderful defensively. The ball club's payroll is currently at $146 million, so if they make the right moves and spend modestly, chances are we might see another blockbuster move like last offseason when Marcus Semien was traded to the New York Mets for Brandon Nimmo. I'll keep everyone updated on any Rangers offseason news, as well as the Winter Meetings. Who knows? We might see one of the players I just mentioned as a Texas Ranger.

Now, it's time to go over how well some of the following players performed this past season.

Brandon Nimmo: 14 home runs, 62 RBI, 7 stolen bases, and 65 runs (.260 BA)

Wyatt Langford: 17 home runs, 44 RBI, 64 runs, and 7 stolen bases (.238 BA)

Jake Burger: 28 home runs, 90 RBI, 71 runs, and 4 stolen bases (.228 BA); had the most strikeouts out of all the batters with 167

Corey Seager: 20 home runs, 51 RBI, 57 runs, and 2 stolen bases (.227 BA)

Joc Pederson: 26 home runs, 53 RBI, 56 runs, and 2 stolen bases (.235 BA)

Kyle Higashioka: 7 home runs, 18 RBI, 20 runs, and no stolen bases (.218 BA)

Danny Jansen: 8 home runs, 26 RBI, 21 runs, and one stolen base (.203 BA)

The final stats of the first five players have been solid. 90 RBI from Burger is outstanding but needs to cut down on the strikeouts. We need to see him cut that total down below 100 or cut in half. Langford was close of having a 20/20 season and has the potential of having another opportunity to reach that threshold next season. As I've stated earlier, the RISP and not taking advantage of scoring opportunities cost them the division. These need to be better if the Rangers want to win the AL West in 2027 and return to the Postseason.

On to the pitchers and four of them have been unimpressive to me. Longtime veteran pitchers Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi finished the 2026 campaign with records of 11-11 and 11-10 respectively. Not only that, but both ended up with a 4.20 ERA. Meanwhile, Kumar Rocker's final overall record of the season was 6-11 with a 4.38 ERA and MacKenzie Gore of 8-11 with an ERA of 4.58. The rotation overall was disappointing. I would rather see the Rangers focus on getting some arms during the offseason before any hitters that they're interested in. We're in need of more pitching. Giving up home runs too early in games isn't going to cut it and both deGrom and Eovaldi can't keep bailing out the rest of the rotation anytime they're in desperate need of avoiding series sweeps. The offense needs to score more runs to make it easier on the pitchers in order for them to win games. With ERAs well above four, it's both an eye sore and unbearable. I'd like to see the ERAs of some of the pitchers decrease to at least 2.50, because anything above a three in my opinion is cause for concern. An ERA of at least 3.50 might be considered as acceptable for a starting pitcher, but to me, it's too high. Keep in mind that the Rangers had the best ERA in the league back in 2025 with a 3.47. To end the 2026 season, it was 4.10. I would like for them to have an ERA of at least 3.25 at the end of the 2027 season.

How many wins do I see them winning next season? Until they address and improve on the areas I have mentioned in this story, honestly, they'll win at least 82 games. I know I'll get a lot of flak from my fellow Rangers fans, but mediocrity and inconsistency doesn't bode well with me. Consistency matters and losing games to bad teams isn't going to help us win the division in 2027 or games in general. The pitching has to be solid and consistent. More scoring opportunities need to happen and leaving less men on base is also a must. I would give the Rangers a D, not because they didn't fight hard enough to try to win the AL West. Their overall performance was atrocious and some of the categories I highlighted earlier in this story caused me to give them this grade. Finally, we need to win more road games and series, especially against National League teams. I feel like they get easily intimidated by playing teams such as the Dodgers or Padres, losing those series. If the Rangers were to somehow get one or more of the rumored players mentioned in this story, that would be a huge win for them during the offseason. Imagine Ian Happ, Brandon Nimmo, and Jake Burger in the lineup. Three power hitters. That would be a dream come true for me. This offseason is where the Rangers need to make big moves. The goal isn't to spend more money than the other teams, but to make wise moves that will capture everyone's attention. If we do get a big name in the offseason, I'll publish it on here.