Texas Rangers players are seen in the dugout during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox at Globe Life Field, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Arlington.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
ARLINGTON — We’d hate to overdramatize anything. Hyperbole is not our game. But let’s consider what’s at stake for the Rangers during a four-game series with Seattle at Globe Life Field that begins Friday night:
First place in the AL West.
Maybe direction for the trade deadline.
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Maybe the long-term direction of the franchise.
Chris Young and Ray Davis are waiting for a sign on which way to go and not just for the remainder of the season. They’ve been waiting all year for the Rangers to reveal themselves for who they are. Unless, of course, the signs have been there all along, and they’ve simply chosen to dismiss them. As the Rangers head into this series with Seattle, they are in first place in the AL West, but they have hardly played like a first-place team.
At 51-51, they are at exactly .500 for the season. They are at exactly .500 since the start of last season. They are at exactly .500 since June 19, 2024, a span of more than two calendar years and 354 games. At that sample size, that looks more like an identity than just a stretch.
And yet, Young is still willing to be moved by this team to push for more players and take another shot at the playoffs. That is, if the Rangers can string together definitive winning baseball for a 10-day stretch that begins with Seattle and winds up on Aug. 2 in Houston, which currently trails the Rangers by two games.
All the Rangers have to do is convince him.
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If the Rangers can’t convince Young of their worth, it might just convince him that the team has stagnated and that selling at the deadline is the way to go. It brings to the fore the long-simmering referendum on the wisdom of continuing to bet on this core when nearly two years of results suggest it isn’t good enough. And if that’s the verdict, no assumption about the future of this roster, including the place of stars such as Corey Seager and Jacob deGrom, should go unquestioned.
“The next four games — the next 10 days honestly — it’s going to say a lot about our team,” manager Skip Schumaker said moments after the Rangers’ loss Wednesday night. “It’s a big series for both teams. We are both in a spot to go one way or another.”
At least the Rangers sound like they know what’s at stake.
“I think we need to show that we’re the better team, plain and simple,” said first baseman Jake Burger of the task ahead. “We need to do it on all sides of the ball — pitching, defense, hitting. It’s a pivotal series for both of us. And we should treat it as a playoff series. You look at this series, and if you split this, it’s a failure. Every single pitch matters.”
Every single pitch mattered over the first week after the break, too. And the Rangers went 2-4, losing both series. Along the way, they suffered their most lopsided defeat of the season, a 15-1 thrashing at Atlanta, and a seven-run loss at home. They lost with their dueling aces on the mound. They lost a game on defensive bungling.
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They suffered more injuries, which might not be all that surprising, considering the only team with an older average age for hitters and pitchers, according to Baseball-Reference, is Atlanta. The Braves, however, have a payroll that outclasses the Rangers by $70 million. They invested in experienced reinforcements. When the Rangers suffer injuries, they’ve turned to rookies. The performance has been uneven, at best.
So, what to make of this series?
Well, as Schumaker said earlier this week, “everything begins with starting pitching.”
And over the last month, the Rangers have trended very poorly in that regard. Since June 23, the Rangers have a 4.79 ERA, 24th in baseball, and the starters have averaged 4 2/3 innings per start. Compare that to Seattle, which will send its top four starters to the mound. The Mariners have the third-best rotation ERA (3.17) and their starters average six innings per outing. Perhaps the average innings pitched contrast is more dire than the ERA. It sets Seattle up to use its strong, late-inning relievers. The Rangers have had to turn to the rookies to bridge middle innings. That has not gone well.
“It’s going to be all of our guys against theirs,” said Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi, who will start Saturday against right-hander Bryan Woo. “It’s just going to be big that the starting rotation carries it.”
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But Eovaldi and deGrom have stumbled out of the gate in the second half. They combined to allow nine runs in 8 2/3 innings in their first starts, consecutive losses to Atlanta and Chicago. The Mariners are rolling on five consecutive quality starts from their rotation. In the lone game that didn’t qualify out of the break, Bryce Miller, who starts Friday, came up a third of an inning short.
On offense, the Rangers are still without Seager, uncertain about Josh Jung and are enduring another slump by Burger, who has a .153 batting average and .528 OPS in July. Despite it all, though, the Rangers have the sixth-best WRC+ in baseball this month. On the other hand, Seattle’s offense continues to underachieve. Even with a game-changing grand slam earlier this week, 2025 MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh has a .576 OPS for the month, right in line with his .573 mark for the season.
“We have a perfectly timed off day,” said overachieving Rangers infielder Nicky Lopez, who has taken on the role of official hype man. “We need to obviously put every loss behind us. We have a big series ahead of us, and we still control our own destiny at this point. So, we’ve got to turn the page.”
A week ago, a day after the Rangers were throttled 15-1, Lopez had the clubhouse music on unusually loud to infuse some energy into the room. The Rangers responded with a win. On Friday, he says the music will be loud again.
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“We’re going to be energized and fresher and a little healthier,” he said.
Would be great. After all, Chris Young is waiting. And the Rangers are running out of time to convince him that the last 354 games are just a phase.