The Texas Rangers led the majors last season in ERA for the first time in franchise history. They believe they have the arms, especially in the rotation, to do it again.
SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Texas Rangers are entering their 55th season, and the franchise is prepping for its 66th season when including the forgettable run as the Washington Senators 2.0 from 1961 to 1971.
That’s a lot of baseball, much of it bad and most of the good driven by robust offense. The offense continued to be the focus, though because of how mediocre it has been the past two seasons.
The offense is the reason the Rangers finished 81-81 and out of the postseason. The hitters didn’t back their pitchers, starters or relievers, and the thin margins in games left little room for error.
How bad was the offense? Rangers pitchers, for the first time in franchise history, led the majors in ERA (3.49), and the team still couldn’t reach the postseason.
The notion that the Rangers could pull off a team ERA repeat has been quickly dismissed, in part because it has happened only the one time. There were some painful bullpen departures in the offseason, the Rangers are still operating without a closer and pitching coach Mike Maddux left for the Angels.
The pitchers don’t see it that way. Maybe they were buoyed Tuesday by the first day of spring training, when anything is possible, but the pieces and the tools to be a top-tier pitching staff are in place.
“We were able to piece it together last year, and we made everything work really well,” right-hander Nathan Eovaldi said. “I think this year is going to be the same thing.”
Eovaldi is at the top of the pitching pyramid, along with Jacob deGrom. They helped the Rangers’ rotation posted the game’s best ERA (3.41) in 2025, and Eovaldi posted the better numbers of the two.
He had a 1.73 ERA but managed only 130 innings because of shoulder fatigue and a sports hernia. DeGrom made 30 starts in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery and trimmed his ERA to 2.97 in his final start.
Both have checkered medical histories, and neither is getting any younger. Eovaldi turns 36 on Friday, and deGrom hits 38 on June 19. Each wants to pitch without any pitch counts or innings restrictions, but the Rangers also going to monitor their dynamic duo.
That starts now, with manager Skip Schumaker saying that both will be slow-rolled this spring as they build toward pitching in the season-opening series at Philadelphia.
But “workload management” is a dirty term for Eovaldi. He said that he doesn’t think he needs restrictions, but also conceded that he hasn’t figured out how to consistently reach 30 starts. He’s done that only twice in his career.
DeGrom just did it, for the first time since 2019. The Rangers held his pitches and innings down for much of last season, in part because of the Tommy John surgery and the fact that deGrom hadn’t cleared 92 innings in a season since before COVID.
No one believed he would start 30 times, except him. He had some help from the Rangers, and he might get it again.
“I think the plan that they implemented last year will be similar to what you see this year,” said Schumaker, who was a special assistant in the front office last season. “We’ll see what happens. These things are fluid. I don’t want to put a number of innings on him, but making sure that he can go the entire season and be ready for October is the goal.”
The Rangers also added left-hander MacKenzie Gore to the rotation, which excites Eovaldi. The development of Jack Leiter, in which Eovaldi played an important part, is another reason why Eovaldi believes the Rangers will be strong on the mound.
Leiter said that he is working on a cutter to add to his repertoire, and Eovaldi is trying to dial in his slider to throw to left-handed hitters. Cody Bradford is throwing bullpen sessions on his way back from internal-brace elbow surgery, and the Rangers like what Jacob Latz or Kumar Rocker can provide as the potential fifth starter to open the season.
Eovaldi lauded president of baseball operations Chris Young for rebuilding the bullpen following the departures of Shawn Armstrong, Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb and Danny Coulombe, who remains a free agent. The Rangers re-signed Chris Martin and added Jakob Junis, Alexis Diaz and Tyler Alexander.
As Eovaldi said, no one thought a year ago that the Rangers were going to be one of baseball’s top pitching staffs. They posted the best ERA in the game. At minimum, thanks to the rotation, Young believes the Rangers can contend.
“Obviously, I’ve got a pitching background, and I subscribe to ‘starting pitching is the key to success,’ ” Young said last month. “It sets an expectation for the team on a daily basis. When you walk in the clubhouse, when you come in through those doors, our players are going to know we expect to win today. That’s what this rotation is going to allow us to do.
“Now, it’s up for us as an organization to get the best out of each of these players, both on the pitching side and the position-player side, and for this group to come together in a way that plays day in, day out with a winning spirit and a competitive mindset and an expectation to win.”
Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com
