Texas Rangers’ Josh Jung, right, is congratulated by Texas Rangers’ Jake Burger (21) after crossing home plate with a home run in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Sue Ogrocki/AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
CLEVELAND – It sounds somber and sobering to even think. The Rangers may have finally realized they can’t rely on Corey Seager.
So, how about a different thought: It may be just what they needed.
If anything has become clear on what might be a season-defining road trip, it’s that Seager’s availability is no longer guaranteed. Another flare-up of back “discomfort”, an injury that sent him to the IL in May, caused him to be pulled from the lineup while he was squatting on the top step of the dugout about to walk onto the on-deck circle in the first inning Tuesday.
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The Rangers responded with an effective yawn. They bounced back from their first deficit in nearly a week thanks to Jacob deGrom having his best fastball of the season and recording 17 straight outs after a first-inning homer. They took the lead when a guy in his second major league outfield start forgot how many outs there were and tossed a ball into the stands. And then they shut the door the only way they know how, with Jacob Latz slamming it for a 4-2 win over Cleveland.
It was their sixth straight win, their longest winning streak since last September, when they were also without Seager. It was their sixth straight road win, giving them their longest road winning streak since 2023. Now, the AL West leaders are a mere two games back of the No. 2 seed in the AL playoff race.
“They are doing whatever they can to win,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “We talked about that early in spring training, to win the day. It doesn’t matter what type of adversity comes your way – and we have been hit with a lot of adversity this trip – but credit to these guys, they just keep stepping up and keep impressing. A lot of guys that are playing everyday roles who may not have thought they were going to play in everyday roles at the beginning of the season.”
The Rangers have had to do without a lot this year. They have been without Evan Carter in the starting lineup for 26 of their 86 games this season. Without Seager for 36. And without Wyatt Langford for 46. But Seager, in the fifth year of a 10-year deal, is the club’s franchise cornerstone, a fact that was only underscored when Marcus Semien was traded last winter.
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And yet Seager has appeared in only 98 of their last 162 games. The Rangers have a winning record with him. But they’ve spent too often looking like a team waiting for him. Therapists have a word for that: Codependence. It’s not a great condition.
Make no mistake. The Rangers want him back. It’s just that they are starting to function like a club that doesn’t necessarily depend on having him back. Which is probably a good thing, because back issues are tricky and often chronic. More so for shortstops moving deeper into their 30s.
Their newfound independence has allowed them to win six straight and seven of the first nine on this road trip despite losing Langford again, despite having to scramble twice for starting pitchers, despite Seager playing in only three games and Brandon Nimmo missing the last two.
“Here’s what I know about baseball: it doesn’t stop for anybody,” Schumaker said. “These guys have a will to win, and they all have a will to win themselves. I don’t think anyone’s relying on anybody. These are team wins; it’s a team game.
“We, of course, want Corey and Wyatt and Brandon. We have some really good guys not playing right now, and there’s no question that we want them back in the lineup. But that’s why you have a bench and a farm system and a front office willing to step up.”
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On Tuesday, after deGrom allowed a double and a homer to the second and third batters of the game, he showed a fastball that averaged 98.7 mph, his best of the year, and ticked over 100 mph five times. He hasn’t thrown that many 100 mph fastballs since before elbow surgery in 2023. It resulted in 17 straight outs that got him through the sixth.
Meanwhile Joc Pederson tied the game with a third-inning homer after super-utility/energy guy Nicky Lopez singled to lead off the third. It was Pederson’s fifth homer of the road trip.
The Rangers then took the lead in the seventh when Cleveland’s Cooper Ingle caught Alejandro Osuna’s fly ball for the second out of the inning, thought it was the third and tossed it into the stands. That is a two-base error, which allowed Duran to trot home. Josh Jung added his first homer in three weeks, an opposite-field shot, in the eighth to give the Rangers a bit of room. And Latz, pitching for the second straight day, needed just 12 pitches to retire the side in order in the ninth.
“Whoever is in the starting lineup has put together quality at-bats,” Jung said. “The last two days, the starting pitchers we’ve faced have been tough; they’ve gone deep into games. But we’ve scratched and clawed and found ways to get runs and that’s what really good teams do.”
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Another thing really good teams do: Find a way to not rely on any single savior, but rather on everybody.
“It’s unfortunate what happened to [Seager] a couple minutes before the game, but there is a next-man-up mentality,” said Jake Burger, who also over the weekend challenged the team to have more of a “warrior-like mentality.”
“I think you can look at this season and be frustrated that we’re right around .500, but we’re also in first place in the division and that’s kudos to a lot of guys in the clubhouse who are stepping up. And I think that’s what needs to be the highlight of this team – that everybody is stepping up. Obviously, you are bummed about injuries. Injuries suck. But every team has them. And this team has fought to stay in contention with the full nine that are out there every single night.”
Yeah, maybe they can’t rely on Seager as much anymore. But if they’ve learned to rely on themselves, they may just be in a better place.