{"id":746509,"date":"2026-07-08T17:06:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/746509\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T17:06:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:06:29","slug":"why-the-most-average-rangers-you-ever-saw-still-have-a-shot-in-al-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/746509\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the most average Rangers you ever saw still have a shot in AL West"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung (6) and right fielder Brandon Nimmo (24) celebrate after scoring with manager Skip Schumaker (left) and quality control coach Rod Barajas during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Globe Life Field on Friday, June 19, 2026, in Arlington.<\/p>\n

Smiley N. Pool\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

ARLINGTON \u2014 When your Rangers<\/a> scaled the dizzying heights of first place in the American League West<\/a> last week, I was determined to get to a game and report back to you on this wonderful news. Drove to Arlington twice, in fact, but kept winding up at soccer games instead<\/a> where I saw Egypt, Australia and Spain score three goals in two games. Portugal came up empty.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Not so different from Skip Schumaker\u2019s offense on most nights.<\/p>\n

Now, Tuesday was another story as the Rangers returned to action and used a five-run, eighth-inning burst to grab an 8-3 win<\/a> over the hapless Angels. Some fireworks display for an offense that had an on-base percentage below .300 for the season at Globe Life Field.<\/p>\n

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The win lifted the Rangers back within a half game of first-place Seattle, but let\u2019s not make too much of this just yet. For the most part, the Rangers remain \u2014 and this is a challenging marketing slogan but you never know what\u2019s going to sell these days \u2014 The Most Average Team You Ever Saw.<\/p>\n

By losing twice to Detroit over the weekend and then having off days Friday and Monday due to the World Cup\u2019s presence here, the Rangers had slipped back to .500 at the 90-game mark. That\u2019s 45-45 on the heels of a season in which they went 81-81<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say improvements have not been made in\u00a0Schumaker\u2019s first season. It\u2019s just that they don\u2019t present themselves in the preferred bottom line fashion of the won-lost record, mostly because hitters who were supposed to carry this offense are so frequently missing. No Corey Seager, no Wyatt Langford at the top of the order Tuesday, no Danny Jansen behind the plate, and it has been that way for a while now.<\/p>\n

Schumaker indicated Tuesday that it would be highly unlikely for Seager (lower back inflammation<\/a>) to play prior to next week\u2019s All-Star break, but that perhaps Langford (hamstring strain) would get back by the weekend.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo it\u2019s been kind of a crazy first half, when you\u2019re the guys that you kind of dreamed on what it could look like together, but we just haven\u2019t had it,” Schumaker said. \u201cThose guys, Corey and Wyatt together, I don\u2019t know what kind of percentage [of games] they\u2019ve played together, but it can\u2019t be many.”<\/p>\n

The answer is 25 of the first 91 games through Tuesday, and it will be 25 of the first 96 at the All-Star break. And 19 of those 25 happened between the start of the season and April 21, so\u00a0Schumaker has written the names Seager and Langford on the same lineup card just six times in more than 2 1\/2 months.<\/p>\n

But therein lies the story of this season for the Rangers.\u00a0Schumaker spoke Tuesday while wearing a T-shirt that featured three pictures of Ezequiel Duran with the words \u201cThe Solution\u201d in large type. These shirts will be featured at Saturday\u2019s 6:05 p.m. home game against Houston. I won\u2019t call it a giveaway because a special ticket is required, so these shirts must be a hot item.<\/p>\n

Not quite as hot as Duran, however, who in the absence of so many regulars has started games at first base, second, short, third, left and right field and now routinely bats third, fourth or fifth in the lineup. Duran\u2019s 45\u00a0RBIs are second only to Jake Burger on the team despite the fact Duran has never really shown above-average hitting skills before this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had to win a roster spot this spring to make the team,” Schumaker said. \u201cThe way he\u2019s been playing all these positions, what he\u2019s done for our team, I think it should be part of ‘The Solution’ for the All-Star Game, as well. We\u2019ll see what happens as far as guys bowing out or whatever.”<\/p>\n

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For now, the lone Ranger in Philadelphia will be Jacob\u00a0Latz<\/a>, whose 2026 tale is even more surprising. After failing in a bid to earn a rotation spot in Arizona, Latz started in low-leverage bullpen situations. But after retiring the first 30 batters he faced, he earned his way to the ninth inning. I should say late innings because after recording his initial save on April 25, Latz now has 18 saves, including five in which he pitched at least two innings.<\/p>\n

That may have happened in Goose\u00a0Gossage\u2019s time, but no one really does it any more.<\/p>\n

Throw in\u00a0Nicky Lopez, cut by the Cubs before the Rangers scooped him up and benefited from his .324 batting average (including two RBIs Tuesday night) and Elias Diaz filling in at catcher and batting upwards of .280, and you see what this team is about. Basically, it\u2019s a clubhouse filled with\u00a0Schumaker types \u2014 not untalented by any means but guys just willing to do whatever it takes to help the team grab a win.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, Lopez drove in the first two runs, Duran drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth, Justin\u00a0Foscue came off the bench with a pinch-hit home run and two RBIs and Diaz had a pair of hits.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not the Turnaround Gang of old, and it\u2019s not exactly the No-Name Offense although that comes closer to telling the story. Mostly, though, it\u2019s hope. In a weak division, the Rangers are very much alive, and a little health could go a long way in August and September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung (6) and right fielder Brandon Nimmo (24) celebrate after scoring with manager…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,4368,4,149,1567,69,3240,87965,87966,88469,88018,88704],"class_list":["post-746509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas-rangers","tag-baseball","tag-commentary","tag-mlb","tag-rangers","tag-texas","tag-texas-rangers","tag-texasrangers","tag-tp-jake-burger","tag-tp-skip-schumaker","tag-tp-wyatt-langford","tag-tp-corey-seager","tag-tp-globe-life-field"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116885454083791047","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}