Texas Rangers third baseman Ezequiel Duran walks to the batters circle for an at-bat against the Baltimore Orioles at Globe Life Field in Arlington, August 8, 2026.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The trade deadline has officially passed, and as much as we’d like to use this as a vehicle to rehash the events of it, the Rangers didn’t offer much to rehash.
That means that the actual baseball, and the next two months of it, can now take center stage.
We can get down with that.
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Here are five things we learned about the Rangers last week as they continue to vie for a postseason bid.
The opportunity ahead is as good as it gets
Of all the “opportunities to stage a run” that the Rangers could face — and they’ve had plenty of theoretical ones this season — the week at hand provides arguably their best chance yet. The Rangers will play two arguably directionless (and, in one case, home stadiumless) in-division teams on the road against the Los Angeles Angels and West Sacramento Athletics this week.
The Angels, who are 45-73 and committed to a teardown at the trade deadline, dismissed general manager Perry Minasian a month and a half ago.
The Athletics, who are 47-71 and have the second-worst record in the American League, parted ways with general manager David Forst last week.
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Yeah, this is, like, the kind of two-city road trip that a team needs to capitalize on. The issue is that the Rangers truthfully haven’t done that this season when provided a seemingly easy opportunity. They’re only 37-29 against teams with sub-.500 records this season, and against the Angels and Athletics, they’re a ghastly 5-8.
That all might explain this next section.
Stuck in the middle with you
The Rangers have had an exactly .500 record on 19 different occasions this season, and after Sunday’s loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Globe Life Field, returned to their dead-even status once again. That’s tied with the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates for the most instances leaguewide this year. If records can’t convince you of a team’s capability (and, hey, this season of all seasons may be the best time to throw them out the window), statistics may. The Rangers have a collective 14.7 WAR that ranks 12th in the league, a .717 OPS that ranks 16th in the league and a 4.28 ERA that ranks 20th in the league.
If you are what your record says you are, and if numbers don’t lie, then the Rangers can’t ignore the fact that they’ve been a league-average team.
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That may be enough to clinch a playoff berth in a season like this one.
Do the Rangers have one of baseball’s best leadoff hitters?
The answer is kind of unequivocally yes, because since the Rangers moved designated hitter Joc Pederson atop their order, he’s slashed .280/.351/.625 and hit 19 home runs. Only Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (1.118 OPS) has been more productive in the leadoff spot than Pederson (.976) among players who’ve taken 200 or more plate appearances in that spot.
It’s been convenient for a team that’s been in need of an early spark for two-plus years, and even more so, it’s convenient for a team in the midst of a playoff push. Pederson, a two-time World Series champion, has been one of the more ardent in-house believers that the Rangers are contenders. He’s said so with his words and his play, like in Friday’s series opener against the Orioles for example, when he bashed a late-game home run to give the Rangers a win.
“I think it’s the energy that he brings in on a day in and day out basis,” Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, also a two-time champ, said. “Obviously, when he hits it, everybody knows it was a good one.”
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He’s hit more than a few of them lately.
One utility Silver Slugger is out, another may be in
The Rangers traded their most-recent major award winner at the trade deadline when they shipped infielder Josh Smith to the Toronto Blue Jays for pitcher Adam Macko and some financial relief.
Smith, who began this season as the club’s everyday second baseman, won the league’s Silver Slugger award at the utility position two years ago when he starred at multiple positions around the diamond. Rangers utility star Ezequiel Duran, who’s done the same this season in his stead, may be in line to win that hardware himself.
Duran’s 3.5 WAR, per FanGraphs, ranks seventh among all AL hitters, and of the six ranked ahead of him, none have played more than three defensive positions this season. Duran has played all but catcher, and his prowess at shortstop, second base and in the outfield has allowed the Rangers to survive a number of injury-induced absences.
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“I think he’s just continuing to work really, really hard,” right fielder Brandon Nimmo said, “and try to be better in the big leagues.”
Cody Bradford is back, and that’s important
Bradford returned from a nearly two-year absence last week, and in his first start since elbow surgery sidelined him for all of last season, he stymied the San Francisco Giants. The 28-year-old now has a 2.86 ERA in his last 14 starts since the start of the 2024 season, and among all starting pitchers who’ve thrown at least 78 innings in that span, only 15 have been better.
Yes, of course, we understand that some serious stipulations and manipulations were needed to fudge that statistical reference point. We understand that Bradford’s 2.86 ERA is not the same as Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale’s 2.40 ERA, or Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal’s 2.41 ERA, or Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes’ 2.54 ERA, given that the latter three have been healthy in that time period.
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It is to say, though, that when available, Bradford has been an especially effective starter.
He just needs to remain on the mound to prove that.