The Texas Rangers embarrassed themselves throughout the entire 2024 season. Their “title defense” started with a tepid product placement for Toyota instead of a real parade. The season continued on in this grotesque vein until it mercifully ended with the Rangers missing the playoffs entirely. The Rangers retained almost their entire core from the World Series team, including GM Chris Young and Skipper Bruce Bochy. The hangover year can be tolerated if 2025 is a good season. The Rangers are playing not just for the 2025 World Series, but the honor and legitimacy of their 2023 title.
The Offense: The Rangers boast a potent attack from top to bottom. This is one of the deepest lineups in the AL. Marcus Semien starts at second base. He spends the first two months of every season asleep. He spent the backend of last season in a mental fog too after a collision with RF Adolis Garcia. Garcia was very clutch for the Rangers during their title run. He looked off for the entirety of last season. A return to form from these two players will make or break the Rangers. One can talk about pitching and bullpen, but the Rangers will start Semien and Garcia every day and hit them 1 and 4 most likely. If they are both blackholes in the lineup again the Rangers will falter.
Excellent third baseman Josh Jung missed last season with a severe wrist injury. He was crushing for a week before some dunce the Tampa Bay Rays had irresponsibly slinging the ball ended his season. Jung was unable to return to form at the end of the year, having to be shut down. Jung has shown his ability to be a top-end third baseman. Last season was a total disaster for him. He had a plethora of momentum entering last season. The year will define his career in many ways.
The same can be said for Leody Taveras and Evan Carter. Both outfielders were exceptional during the World Series run. Taveras regressed to the jokish failed prospect that he looked like for years. His defense in center got worse, in addition to him not being able to hit lefties. Evan “The Little Savior” Carter’s falloff is even more troublesome. The bright kid with the sweet lefty stroke has been living a nightmare since his World Series dream. Rangers fans were shocked and appalled to learn about Carter’s “Chronic back issues.” Carter lost his entire 2024 season, which obviously affected him. The little slugger who saved the collapsing 2023 Rangers in September will begin the season in AAA… If Carter never returns to form it will be an awful tragedy in Rangers history. He will also be placed alongside Cliff Lee in the pantheon of clutch pennant warriors.
Jonah Heim is another player who did so little last season that he is now on the hot seat. Former Yankee Kyle Higashioka was brought in to catch in addition to Heim. Heim is not even the starter anymore, being demoted off the rip. Last season Chris Young kicked the can down the road amidst the haze of champagne smell to sign an automatic out backup catcher. This could have done more damage to Heim than anyone can imagine. As it stands, Heim is one more awful season away from full-time fatherhood.
Corey Seager will be at shortstop again this season. He does not have any injuries entering the season this time. He will be expected to be the hard carry star of the offense for years to come. They gave him a 10 year deal, afterall.
Nate Lowe was traded for a lefty pitcher, Robert Garcia. He will be replaced by a mix of Jake Burger and Joc Pederson. Burger is a beefcake slugger who spent the last couple years languishing on the Marlins. He is above average, like Nate Lowe. His contract is cheaper than Lowe’s as well.
Joc Pederson will hit against righties. He has pop and spent years on the West Coast. He will DH some too. He is really the only bat the Rangers added this offseason. Wyatt Langford will be the other main outfielder. The young slugger from Florida showed flashes of brilliance last season. He has pop and extreme speed. He is one of the most important players for the Rangers to develop. Rounding out the outfield is Kevin Pillar. Pillar was the best defensive CF in baseball a decade ago. He does not have much left and will be used mostly as a defensive replacement. The fact he made the team over Evan Carter speaks to the depth of Carter’s struggles.
Ezequiel Duran and Josh Smith will be the two utility guys off the bench. Smith had a career year last season, revamping his swing and becoming a legitimate offensive threat. Smith can also play pretty much any position. Duran has shown he can hit. He can play pretty much zero positions.
The offense looks VERY strong. Even if Heim is bad again, Higashioka’s presence is a welcome reprieve. The Rangers gave themselves depth at first, even if Jake Burger is about as good as Nate Lowe. Semien and Seager will presumably show up before August this season. Jung will actually play. Langford should turn in a 5 WAR season. Taveras will likely do nothing. Hopefully Carter will have things sorted out soon. A Carter/Langford/Garcia outfield would be extremely strong. The offense starts to look really bad when those combos start involving Pillar, who couldn’t hit even in his prime and a listless Leody. The Rangers should relentlessly hammer teams offensively this season.
Pitching: The Rangers have the best pitcher in baseball: Jacob deGrom. Jake spent the majority of last season recovering from Tommy John Surgery. He pitched at the end of last season and looked like Peak Jake. deGrom is an S class paragon. He is so electric that casual baseball fans go out of their way to watch his starts live. The callous and foolish have dismissed the prodigious talents of Jacob deGrom because of his injury history. If Jake can stay healthy he will win another Cy Young. The Rangers are putting him at the back of their rotation and giving him an extra day of rest in between starts. This means Opening Day will not be started by deGrom, which is a great shame. Playoff warrior Nathan Eovaldi will get the nod instead. Nate is very talented. He throws fastball/slider/splitter and is a proven playoff warrior. Tyler Mahle is expected to be another arm the Rangers turn to every fifth day. He missed time in Spring Training due to arm trouble. He missed all of last season too. He cannot be counted on at all.
Jon Gray broke his wrist in Spring Training and will not be ready until July. Cody Bradford hurt his arm and will also miss a long stretch. Andrew Heaney was allowed to walk to Pittsburgh for pennies on the dollar. Dane Dunning never developed after 4 years of starts and will begin the season in AAA, which is sickening. That leaves top pitching prospects Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter as the 4th and 5th starters. Both are very green. Leiter has been given one shot after another and cannot cut it in the bigs due to lack of control. He adjusted his pitch mix this Spring, so hopefully the “CAN’T MISS” prospect will finally show the second overall pick ability fans have been waiting for.
The Rangers bullpen looks very suspect. Jose Leclerc is an Athletic. Josh Sborz has arm trouble. The Rangers brought tall righty Chris Martin back. He is old but talented. Robert Garcia, the lefty from the Lowe trade, will be another major option. Young flamethrower Marc Church is a name to keep an eye on. He is a top prospect with a live arm. Jacob Webb, Atlanta’s 5th best reliever in the last few seasons, joins the Rangers pen.
The Rangers enter the 2025 season with a very similar roster to that of the 2023 Championship team. They will try to hammer teams offensively, ride some established “name” starting pitchers, rely on “name” prospects to fill the other innings and finish games with… ? But hey, that’s why they have Bruce Bochy. No skipper has ever managed a pitching staff better.
The Rangers front office and ownership group spent all of 2024 clout chasing and pretending to have a tradition of winning. 2025 will determine if 2023 is seen as a flash in the pan or not. No one can take that title from the Rangers, but this season will define if the average baseball fan remembers the 2023 Rangers or not. In many ways this season is like the 1988 Mets season. After the dream of the 1986 title they slept through 1987. It was the subsequent year and the choke against the Dodgers in the 1988 NLCS that went on to define that entire Mets era. If the Rangers have another losing record this season the core of the 2023 season will be scattered to the winds. This season will define not only the present, but the past and future as well. This season is exponentially more important than last year. They were playing with house money last year, although with a tenth as much as ownership thought. This season really matters in a way previous ones did not. Will the Rangers show 2023 was for real and compete this season in an awful AL West? Will they revert back to the laughingstock existence that defined them before 2023? The health of Jacob deGrom will be the most important factor in determining this going forward. Jake is everything the Rangers always lacked. Even though he spent much of the title year on the shelf, his presence defined and changed team culture.
Prediction: The Rangers will win 91 games and the AL West behind a blistering offense. Jacob deGrom will stand tall. The bullpen will be iffy and will need to be bolstered at the deadline. Wyatt Langford will have a huge year.
