If you followed the Texas Rangers at all during the 2025 season, it was hard to miss the discourse surrounding the team’s clubhouse chemistry.
Much of that discourse began when Kevin Pillar made his comments about the clubhouse after leaving the team and it didn’t go away throughout the season. After 2025 came to a close, Texas made some big changes like parting ways with manager Bruce Bochy, trading Marcus Semien and moving on from Adolis García and Jonah Heim.
Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi joined the SportsDay Rangers podcast and spoke with our own Evan Grant and team historian John Blake, and he was asked about the differences he saw in the clubhouse in the 2023 season vs. the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
The short answer: Winning solves a lot of problems.
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“I feel like we kind of have those waves,” he explained. “In ’23 at the beginning of the season, the clubhouse vibes were amazing, right? But if we’re out there winning a lot of ball games, and we’re not really losing too many, I know, August, the clubhouse vibes weren’t very good. We went on that tough stretch and had a lot of guys that were injured, but we had the right guys come back and pick us up when we needed to, and we were able to get hot at the right time.”
You know how 2023 ended. It was capped with confetti, a shiny trophy and a parade.
But since Texas’ first World Series title, things haven’t gone according to plan. Over the last two seasons, the Rangers have compiled a 159-165 record and missed the playoffs both seasons.
Eovaldi feels that the pressure of getting back to the World Series was problematic.
“In ’24, felt like we had a lot of expectations on ourselves,” he said. “Obviously, we were just coming off winning the World Series, and we wanted to get back to doing that, and kind of have that and kind of have that chip on your shoulders, and then when you don’t start performing the way that you know you’re capable of, you start to put more pressure on yourself, and you didn’t do as well. I think it all comes down to the coaching staff, everybody that you have a part of it, right? Like there was no pointing fingers last year. It’s not like we were saying the pitching is great and the offense isn’t, and vice versa.”
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Things look very different in Arlington this season and Eovaldi’s leadership will be leaned upon heavily during a season of transition as Texas ushers in a new era under manager Skip Schumaker.
Spring training will be especially important for a team that is undergoing as much change as the Rangers saw this offseason.
“We’ve lost a lot of our key members, especially the ones that we had in ’23 with Marcus [Semien], Jonah [Heim], [Adolis García], all leaving now and going to different teams, and the big trades and stuff,” Eovaldi said. “But I feel like that’s the importance of having spring training, right?
“You got new coaching staffs, you got new players, you got new guys joining the team, and we got to get on that same page in spring training, and I feel like a lot of the times that starts day one, and we kind of just build off of everything that we’re able to get going from spring and roll into the season.”
Spring training for the Rangers kicks off when pitchers and catchers report to Surprise, Ariz. on Feb. 10.
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