ARLINGTON – The Rangers begin the final week of the season still in playoff contention with just a few caveats.
All they have to do to get in is win their final six games.
And have Houston lose all of its, too.
Ditto, Boston. And Cleveland.
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It’s possible. But then so was winning the 1.3 billion Powerball pot a couple of weeks ago.
This is why on Monday, Fangraphs zeroed them out with a 0.0% chance. Baseball-Reference strung it out a few more decimal points, rounded up and got to 0.1%. Hey, you get the idea. We’re not here to try to dress it up any. And, given how long the Rangers hung around just close enough to the playoff conversation, there’s not much that can be done to get a head start on 2026.
That said, here are a few things the Rangers could consider for the final week.
Play Alejandro Osuna: With Adolis García almost certainly done in Texas after this season, filling right field is going to be a priority. We’re not suggesting that another week’s worth of at-bats is going to make or break Osuna’s case, but over the last month, he’s slashed .314/.386/.353/.739. He’s earned regular playing time for what’s left. And his at-bats, which have been disciplined, are a model for what the Rangers must do better next year. He doesn’t go wildly swinging at the first pitch of a plate appearance. Among the 15 players who have had at least 150 plate appearances for the Rangers this season, he’s swinging at the first pitch only 12.6% of the time. The Rangers have had success when they put the ball in play on the first pitch, too often it ends up in an 0-1 count and the Rangers hit .206 after the count reaches 0-1. It ranks 24th in the majors. It’s time to acknowledge and reward plate discipline.
Have blunt exit interviews: It’s a standard for eliminated teams to have exit interviews with players before they all get away for the winter. The Rangers need to have some rather strongly-worded ones with a number of position players (looking at you Jake Burger and Josh Jung) about approach. The club enters the final week with a .305 on-base percentage, tied for the fifth lowest in Texas history. With last season. The offense hasn’t improved. If anything, it has regressed. The Rangers need more baserunners. Burger’s walk rate is the third lowest in baseball among the 272 players with at least 300 plate appearances. They have two others (Jung and Adolis García) in the bottom 30. The Rangers want these guys to slug, but they’ve got to find a way to contribute in some way. They’ve become all-or-nothing-offensive players. They need to know that future playing time will be dependent on improvement.
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Start a rookie: The Rangers have tapped Patrick Corbin, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle as probable starters against Minnesota at home this week. But that’s all predicated by the idea that they are “still in contention.” Once that is officially over, which could happen as early as Tuesday, the plan should change. Jose Corniell, the club’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2023 who missed all of 2024 after undergoing elbow surgery, has a 1.89 ERA in 38 innings in the minors and has a 4-to-1 strikeout to walk rate. The minor league season ended over the weekend. Corniell’s last start at Triple-A Round Rock was Saturday, in which he allowed a run in four innings. One big league start isn’t going to give the Rangers much to go on in terms of evaluation, but it will give Corniell some closure on the rehab process. And it will give him an idea of how fast the game moves at the big league level.
Get Adolis García an at-bat: There is no doubt García’s performance over the last two years has been sub-par and will lead to his departure after the season, but he was the emotional heartbeat of the club for three years, shepherding them through some painful years and then authoring the biggest swings of the run to the World Series. He deserves a final curtain call from Rangers fans at Globe Life Field, or at least what passes for a crowd over three weekday games against a 90-loss team.
Play to win: Final record doesn’t seem to matter for teams that don’t make the playoffs, but there is still value in a winning record. Go at least 3-3 over the week and the Rangers will finish above .500. It’s no consolation for not reaching their goals, but it does leave a team with a tiny bit of self-respect going into the winter.
5 things we learned about the Rangers this week: Playoffs nearly gone, Astros still on topRangers playoff tracker: How close is Texas to a spot in the postseason?
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