Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager reacts after striking out during the first inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Globe Life Field on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Arlington.
Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News
Can a blowout victory against your in-state rivals on getaway day compensate for what was otherwise an ugly series?
Only if it can create sustainable momentum in the days that follow.
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The Rangers — who beat the Houston Astros 8-0 Sunday at Daikin Park — are now tasked with that challenge after a series loss to start a nine-game road trip. A six-game stretch against the Colorado Rockies and the Los Angeles Angels, both of whom sit dead last in their respective leagues, represents a theoretically strong opportunity to do so.
We’ll see you back here this same time next week to see if they actually did.
Until then, though, here are five things we learned about the Rangers last week.
Postseason perspective
The Rangers have trudged through a difficult start to their season, brought an under-.500 record into the latter stages of this road trip, have an offense that remains flawed, a superstar in the midst of a career-worst slump and an expected franchise cornerstone still on the mend.
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And, if the regular season ended today, they’d be a playoff team.
Thank a relatively weak American League, if you’d like, or the club’s ability to remain afloat through an arduous early-season slate. The Rangers are currently the third of three wild card teams and are only a game behind the Athletics in their own division. The gap between them and the bubble teams — specifically the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays — is also only one game.
This is not to say that the Rangers will be a playoff team or that they’ve played playoff-caliber baseball.
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It is to say, though, that they’ve hardly played themselves out of the race more than a quarter into the calendar.
Speaking of that superstar’s slump
Rangers shortstop Corey Seager, first sunk by an on-field skid, now hampered by back spasms, has gotten off to a well-documented and uncharacteristic start to his season.
How uncharacteristic has it been exactly?
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Seager — a player synonymous with additive production — has the lowest Win Probability Added of any Rangers hitter this season. That figure, which Baseball Reference describes as “a metric that measures how much a player directly contributes to their team’s chances of winning on a play-by-play basis,” is in the negatives for the first time in his 12-year career.
His current 0-for-27 skid and seven consecutive hitless games are both the worst of his career. His .639 OPS is the worst he’s ever registered in any 42-game span in four-plus seasons with the Rangers and the second-worst of his entire career. His 27.5% strikeout percentage is nearly 10% higher than his career average while his .179 batting average is nearly 100 points lower. He’s hit .083 against sliders (which he hit .311 against last season), .194 against sinkers (which he hit .309 against last season) and has swung and missed at a career-high 37.2% of the four-seam fastballs that he’s offered at.
Jake Burger has become the club’s king of clutch
Texas Rangers first baseman Jake Burger (21) watches his RBI single to left field during the ninth inning Arizona Diamondbacksa at Globe Life Field in Arlington, May 13, 2026. The Rangers later walked it off with a 6-5 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
Anecdotal proof, like the first baseman’s go-ahead home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday or his go-ahead home run against the Houston Astros on Sunday, certainly suggests as much. Statistical proof does, too. Burger’s .316 batting average in high-leverage situations, as defined by FanGraphs, is the fifth-best in the American League among players who’ve had 20 or more plate appearances in those scenarios this season. His .837 OPS is the sixth-best. His 133 wRC+ is the seventh-best.
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Maybe that’s what Rangers manager Skip Schumaker means when he claims that Burger can “carry” a lineup for weeks at a time when he’s hot.
“He really does have that clutch gene,” Schumaker said. “You guys have seen it. I’ve seen it plenty of years.”
A major first for Kumar Rocker
Texas Rangers pitcher Kumar Rocker (80) hurls a pitch to the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning at Globe Life Field in Arlington, May 13, 2026.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
Lost in the early stages of Wednesday’s wild win vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks, before the Rangers trailed and before they rallied for a momentous win, their former third overall draft choice notched something of a career milestone.
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Right-hander Kumar Rocker, for the first time in his big league career, saw a stolen base attempt thwarted behind him. Diamondbacks outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt attempted to steal second base in the third inning, but thanks to Rocker’s time to the plate, an on-target throw from catcher Danny Jansen and a well-placed tag from shortstop Corey Seager, he was thrown out.
Baserunners had previously been 17 for 17 on stolen base attempts while Rocker was on the mound. Rocker’s ability to hold runners has been a developmental focus since last season, and at times, like against the Detroit Tigers earlier this season, it’s been exposed as a work in progress. The 26-year-old has acknowledged on multiple occasions, including Wednesday night, that it remains a “priority” for him.
“I hope there’s many more like that,” Rocker said, “because that was great.”
Nathan Eovaldi can only be bested by himself
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi throws against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)
Eric Christian Smith/AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith
Only two Rangers pitchers have totaled a 0.41 ERA or better, 20 or more innings, 20 or more strikeouts and three wins through any three-start span in the wild card era.
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Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi and … right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.
OK, so, technically only one pitcher meets that criteria, but the Alvin native has now done it twice in his three-plus seasons with the club. Eovaldi logged three consecutive scoreless starts between April 29-May 11, 2023, and checked the above statistical boxes en route to the All-Star Game. He’s allowed all of one combined run in his last three starts, capped by seven scoreless innings against the Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon, and has struck out 22 batters in that span. The 36-year-old has done so despite the fact that he allowed five or more runs in three of his first six starts this season and missed one turn in the rotation because of side tightness.
It seems as though Schumaker, who reiterated his confidence multiple times in the midst of Eovaldi’s early-season struggles, might’ve been on to something.