CLEVELAND — If we’re being honest here, Bruce Bochy did everything backward.
When , it was with the hope that over a three-year deal, he’d eventually guide the Rangers to their first World Series. Ideally, that would have happened at the end of a steady, upward, three-year trajectory. Then the decision about his future would be his and his alone: Manage the Rangers into his 70s or go out on top.
He had to go and mess everything up by conjuring that old Bochy postseason devil magic in Year One, taking the Rangers where they have never been and setting up the bar so high that anything less than another title would be considered moving backwards. Yet here the Rangers sit, about to enter offseason mode before the calendar turns to October. For the second straight year.
This one has been even more frustrating than 2024, which could be easily labeled a World Series “hangover.” Might not be accurate, but it’s at least plausible. This year, there are no excuses. For anybody. Except maybe the pitchers. The pitchers were pretty close to perfect. The recalibrated and reconstructed hitters, who hit .233 against the four-seam fastball last year, well, they entered Friday hitting .233 against the four-seam fastball. The offense was consistent. We’ll leave the context of that to you.
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Put it this way about 2025: On Friday, we felt compelled to ask Bochy: “Is this the most underachieving team you’ve had in nearly 30 years of managing?”
“I’d have to go through all the years because it’s funny, as a manager, you go in every year thinking you’re going to get there, you’re going to win,” Bochy, who has had 13 winning seasons, 14 losing seasons with this one still to be determined, said. “So, I’m not going to put that on this [team]. But I think we all feel like we underachieved because we believed we would get there this year and we didn’t.”
Because of that, and his expiring contract, the biggest pressing question entering the offseason is who will manage the Rangers in 2026?
It’s something Bochy and President of Baseball Operations Chris Young must discuss. Quickly. Probably before the middle of next week. The Rangers need to know Bochy’s desire to manage the Rangers, even if they may look different next year. When he was given the keys to the club in the fall of 2022, Bochy was given a team on a two-year spending binge. All he had to do was come in and manage a group of veterans, at which Bochy has always been outstanding. He has said he wants to keep managing, but does he want to manage a team that may have to reshuffle its deck?
The Rangers also need to know how to proceed because they’ve got an excellent potential successor on hand in Skip Schumaker. Rest assured, though, that clubs who have already made managerial changes and those that do so in the first week of the season will be calling on Schumaker.
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There is no question that Young holds Bochy in high regard. The question is whether the roster’s lack of performance is forcing it to consider a younger team and one that needs more, um, guidance. Or chastising. Schumaker is 45 and managed a young Miami team to a playoff berth in 2023.
Bochy’s biggest strength is to not be too handsy with his lineup and to treat players like adults, to trust them and let them play while he deftly handles a pitching staff. Trouble is, if a clubhouse isn’t properly policed by its leaders, it’s too easy for guys to test boundaries like little kids. And the next thing you know, Sabrina Carpenter is singing a song about you: Manchild.
Young has already acknowledged the payroll is likely to drop this offseason and the power balance in the division has shifted. Seattle now looks like it has a roster built for a multi-year run. The Mariners’ starting pitching is at least the equal of the Rangers. Up the middle, they have a possible MVP at catcher and a future MVP in center. In the middle, the Rangers have Corey Seager, who has missed 140 games the last three years, and 35-year-old Marcus Semien, whose second consecutive sub-.700 OPS season ended a month ago. Neither Semien nor Seager, both on the IL, made the trip to Cleveland; Nathan Eovaldi and Wyatt Langford, also on the IL, both did.
“I love him,” Young said of Bochy earlier in the week and he wasn’t changing course on Friday. “I love working with him. He’s been wonderful. He came here to win a World Series, and he’s helped us accomplish that.
“We’ll figure out what the future holds.”
There are other issues that must be discussed, too.
Bochy will be 71 next April. There were times he looked worn down this season. Then again, if you watched this offense all year, people are probably saying the same thing about you. From this point of view, Bochy is still best captured in the words of Mike Maddux: “Walk slow. Talk slow. Think fast.”
The offense must change. Globe Life Field plays larger than expected. The Rangers can’t expect to slug their way to wins. It will require more daring on the bases and an occasional bunt. In the last week, there was a game against Miami that might have been won if Cody Freeman bunted in extra innings; Bochy chose to have him try to hit the ball through the right side. It wasn’t a bad call, given Freeman’s bat-handling ability, but the Rangers’ unwillingness to play small ball has been noticeable this year. Would it have made a difference in the playoff race? Probably not. Are you going to ask Bochy to move on because he didn’t bunt enough? Unlikely. The reason this team isn’t going to the playoffs isn’t because of a lack of bunts.
It must all be discussed, however. The GM-manager (or, in this case, President-manager) relationship is the most important in the organization. Young’s admiration for Bochy is admirable, but admiration isn’t what drives a successful work relationship.
They must both understand and share the same vision.
If they do, it’s great to have a Hall of Famer on the job. If they don’t, Bochy has given the Rangers everything they could have possibly asked for. He may have just done it too fast.
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