President of baseball operations Chris Young still believes the Texas Rangers can get better before the trade deadline, but they need to play winning baseball and get Corey Seager healthy.

ARLINGTON — Even after dropping 2 of 3 weekend games in Atlanta, the Texas Rangers entered play Monday still atop the American League West. It’s still mind-boggling that the Rangers are playoff contenders, but it’s true.

Chris Young is keenly aware of that. The president of baseball operations said on Monday the Rangers have battled to put themselves in a position to contend for their first postseason appearance since winning it all in 2023.

Young is still convinced that the team he assembled hasn’t played its best baseball yet, in part because the Rangers still haven’t played at full strength for much of the season. They can’t get to his idea of their best baseball without Corey Seager, chief among all others, returning to the active roster and contributing over the final 62 games.

The next 13, though, are the most important of the season. The Rangers have 13 games before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, and Young said on Monday that they must play winning baseball to convince him to add help.

Winning baseball in the AL West is a relative term. The Rangers entered Monday as the only team above .500, by only one game. Their lead in the division was a half-game over the Mariners, who come to town Thursday.

Young seemed to be more literal in terms of winning baseball than he was figurative. The Rangers need to pile up more wins than losses on their way to the trade deadline.

“We need to continue to play winning baseball and continue to stack on wins, get above 500 and maintain our position in the standings,” Young said.

The Rangers might have Seager for some of the next 13 games, but he acknowledged that there is a great deal of uncertainty with his back injury. He fielded grounders and ran on the field Monday, before the opener of a three-game series against the White Sox, and said afterward that he’s trending the right way.

His extended rest and slow buildup are by design. While the past four days have been good, he’s still unwilling to target a date for his return. He’s gunshy to do so, perhaps, because he doesn’t want to miss a self-imposed deadline.

“I have no idea,” Seager said. “I would love to be able to give you that answer.”

Young said that the Rangers’ needs could be different in two weeks than they are now, though it seems likely that they will still need bullpen help and a right-handed-hitting outfielder. The return of Seager could address that, as it would free up Ezequiel Duran to play outfield against left-handed pitchers.

The Rangers could use relief help now. In 2023, they added Aroldis Chapman to the bullpen in late June. On Monday, the Dodgers swung a trade with the Rockies for reliever Seth Halvorsen. Young threw cold water on the idea that the Rangers could find a deal in the coming days.

“When we made the trade for Chapman, I think we had established ourselves as one of the best teams,” Young said. “I can’t say we’ve done that at this point this year. I’m still looking to find out what this team is.”

The Rangers will be a better team with a healthy Seager and a healthy Jack Leiter, Jordan Montgomery and Cody Bradford. None is assured of a pre-deadline return, though Montgomery could be ready by the series at Houston from July 31-Aug. 2.

Some of the starters could find themselves in the bullpen.

But the Rangers have to win, Young said, for the front office to bolster the roster. And if they don’t win?

“We’ll be prepared for anything,” he said.

_{Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com}