BALTIMORE \u2014 The trade deadline is five weeks away.<\/p>\n
The truth is the Rangers<\/a>\u2019 may be looming much sooner. <\/p>\n Before a wild, sweaty 6-5 10-inning win over Baltimore Tuesday that was so wacky a no-hit bid by reliever-turned-starter Jake Latz became a secondary story, Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young all but acknowledged the obvious. <\/p>\n Time is running out on his belief that the Rangers will make any kind of meaningful push this summer. The season reaches the statistical halfway point on Wednesday. The Rangers\u2019 offense remains the lone flaw in this team\u2019s championship aspirations. But, as flaws go, hard to imagine one more fatal than a lack of offense. <\/p>\n Rangers<\/p>\n We should say here that on Tuesday, the hitters looked significantly better. They reached all the automatic checkmarks for a Ranger win. They had a \u201ccrooked number\u201d inning, scoring three in the fourth, making it just the 20th game in which they\u2019ve had an inning that productive. They reached four runs in the seventh and they have the league\u2019s best record when getting to that threshold. And they managed to get home the winning run on a wild pitch and a fielder\u2019s choice in the 10th, Evan Carter\u2019s hand reaching the plate just ahead of the tag, though it took a review to make it official. Even MLB appeared to be in momentary disbelief.<\/p>\n We will just skip over reliever Chris Martin allowing three consecutive homers on two-strike pitches to turn a 4-0 lead into a 5-4 deficit. But, hey, it did allow the Rangers go check off another rarity: A come-from-behind late inning win.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of good things happened today,\u201d manager Bruce Bochy said. \u201cThese guys really played hard and did a great job of bouncing back. I mean, that would be a really tough one to lose there.\u201d<\/p>\n A week ago, Young suggested that getting to .500, still elusive, is not enough to put his team in the buying category<\/a>. He went a little further on Tuesday. Merely saying they are in a wild card race with little separation isn\u2019t either. He needs more definitive convincing. He\u2019s still waiting on the determination from the only one capable of making it: The Rangers\u2019 hitters. <\/p>\n \u201cI think that determination will be made by the team and the record,\u201d Young said. \u201cAnd whether we think the team is capable of winning a championship. When this season began our goals were higher than a wild card. I don\u2019t want to lower the bar for our goals, so my eyesight is set on winning a championship and if we are capable.\u201d <\/p>\n If there was one difference Tuesday that made it more realistic to believe this was the start of something rather than just another one-off, it was the presence of Corey Seager. This team won\u2019t go until he does. On Tuesday, he did it with his legs, scoring the club\u2019s first run from second on a single by Carter and stealing his first base of the season in the ninth as the Rangers tried to break a tie. He also reached base three times with a pair of hits and a walk.<\/p>\n Related:The Texas Rangers\u2019 offense won\u2019t get going until Corey Seager does<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I\u2019m hoping he can go tomorrow with all the baserunning,\u201d Bochy joked afterward. \u201cBut with the running he did – and seriously, we won this game with speed – I think that\u2019s something this club fed off tonight.\u201d <\/p>\n Young is not thumbing his nose at the chance for a wild card – it worked out fine for the Rangers two years ago – but to be a buyer, he\u2019s got to be convinced that a wild card, at least, is at hand and an AL West title remains a possibility. Last year, perhaps the Rangers believed a little too much in a bounceback that never really came. Young promised to be more proactive this year on all fronts and that may extend to his approach to the deadline. <\/p>\n At 7 \u00bd games back of Houston as of Tuesday, the Rangers are starting to push the bounds of reality there. While the Rangers were only three games out of the last AL wild card spot as of Tuesday morning , they were eighth in a race with only three berths. For context, they were third among wild card contenders in their own division. It\u2019s easy to make up the deficit \u2026 if a team plays well for the better part of a month. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s the problem: The Rangers have not played well for any significant stretch. Their best 25-game stretch this season, they went 15-10. It was the first 25 games of the year. Their best 25-game OPS was .690. Believe it or not, you just witnessed it. Ended in Pittsburgh over the weekend. The MLB average OPS is .715. That\u2019s a huge gap. <\/p>\n 7 current Rangers had 200 or more PAs for team in 2023. Their 2023 OPS, what they’ve done since start of 2024 & difference: <\/p>\n Smith .633\u27a1\ufe0f .745 = +112 \u2014 Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) June 24, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s why the tone in Young\u2019s voice has changed. He still wants to believe in this team. But there is a lot more hesitancy in his voice. How can there not? On Wednesday, the Rangers will be exactly 1 \u00bd seasons out from their World Series title. Since then, there has been only one constant: Offensive regression. To that point, there are seven 2025 Rangers who had at least 200 at-bats in 2023. Of them, only Josh Smith (.745) has a better OPS since than he did in 2023. And the droppoffs are precipitous. Josh Jung is next at -97 points, Jonah Heim, Adolis Garc\u00eda and Marcus Semien are all around 150 points lower while Corey Seager and Ezequiel Duran are all around 200 points. It is wholesale regression. <\/p>\n And largely the Rangers hitters haven\u2019t done anything to combat the individual regression with team-centric at-bats. On Tuesday, when the Rangers did put together a very team-focused three-run fourth inning that featured a leadoff walk, aggressive base running and a sacrifice fly as part of a season-best 43-pitch inning, it was an aberration. <\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen enough team connectivity and team-oriented at-bats,\u201d Young said. <\/p>\n On Tuesday, the Rangers gave him a little more to chew on in the time still left. <\/p>\n Podcast: Mavs and Cooper Flagg, should Rangers trade Corey Seager? <\/a>Texas Rangers place Marc Church on IL with elbow issue, activate Malcolm Moore <\/a><\/p>\n Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newslette<\/a><\/p>\n
Jung .781 \u27a1\ufe0f .684 = -97
Heim .755 \u27a1\ufe0f .608 = -147
Semien .826 \u27a1\ufe0f .679 = -147
Garc\u00eda .836 \u27a1\ufe0f .683 = -153
Duran .768 \u27a1\ufe0f .574 = -194\u2026<\/p>\n