The Texas Rangers needed to win Sunday and needed the Astros to lose. Neither happened, and the Rangers missed the playoffs for a third straight season since winning the World Series.
MINNEAPOLIS — The curious use of the Texas Rangers‘ pitching staff Sunday, the one ball that Corey Seager hit about six feet, the first-inning ball down the line that Ezequiel Duran played into a double … none of it mattered in the end.
The Astros beat the A’s, who selected Larry, Moe and Curly as their first three pitchers, and won the American League West. Even if the Rangers had won their season finale, they wouldn’t have won the division title.
They lost to the Twins, 6-4.
The record shows that Houston won the West with 81 wins and 81 losses, becoming the first team in baseball history to win a division with a sub-.500 record, and it was still one game better than the Rangers.
The early, heavy bullpen usage Sunday and the all-to-familiar lack of offense can be dissected in future stories and podcast episodes. Ultimately, what matters most after Game 162 is that the Rangers once again didn’t function properly.
Among the contributing factors: Payroll was slashed; the wrong players were hurt too often and then weren’t good enough once they were right; the rotation regressed after a banner 2025; the bullpen was overworked; and players who needed to step forward instead stepped on a rake.
As hard as the Astros tried to give the division away, the Rangers reciprocated even harder.
“The goal was to make the postseason and make a run, and we didn’t do that,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “That’s the sentiment in the clubhouse. That’s how the coaches feel. The bottom line is we just weren’t good enough.”
When the difference in playing on or going home is one game (two, really, factoring in the tiebreaker), there are plenty of losses among the Rangers’ 82 to dwell on. There were at least three this month.
But the Rangers were also lousy on the road, especially in division games. And the division was bad. They weren’t good against teams with losing records, which led to their losing record.
They know what their flaws were.
“We’re disappointed, and it comes to a head today,” right fielder Brandon Nimmo said. “Right now, it is disappointing, and you think of all the times you maybe let one game slip away.”
Yet, they entered the final week of the season with a one-game lead in the AL West. They wanted to win the division, which would have meant being the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and playing host to the White Sox in a best-of-3 wild-card series.
The Rangers gave away two games on their final homestand, which made them reliant on the disinterested Mariners and lowly A’s to beat the Astros. They did it once each in six games. The Rangers have no one to blame but themselves.
A few openly took the blame, beginning with Schumaker. He said the road woes and inability to consistently beat winning teams are his fault. So, too, are players not rebounding from slumps or regressing from previous performances.
Jacob deGrom, who allowed six or more runs in five starts this season, was kicking himself, too. Actually, he hadn’t stopped since allowing eight runs Friday.
“I think when you look back on it, there are some guys who didn’t have the seasons that they wanted to have, and it’s probably a little bit a reflection of the record,” Schumaker said. “That’s on this seat.”
As for Sunday, well, MacKenzie Gore was pulled from his 34th start of the season after allowing one run in only 2 1/3 innings. He didn’t have the zip he normally has on his pitches, caused by a lingering health issue, and Schumaker didn’t want him going through the Twins’ lineup more than once.
It was 1-1 when Chase Silseth entered, and 3-1 three batters later. Then came the rest of the Rangers’ high-leverage relievers: Robert Garcia, Tyler Alexander and Jakob Junis, who allowed two more in the fifth.
Gore was two starts removed from dealing with a cramping issue, and his velocity dropped in the second inning. He retired the final seven batters he faced but didn’t have much left.
“You’re going to go out there and give them whatever I had,” Gore said.
The four Rangers runs came on homers: a solo shot in the second by Danny Jansen, a solo shot by Elias Diaz in the eighth and a two-run Seager homer in the ninth.
It wasn’t good enough, just like the Rangers’ season. It’s up to ownership and the front office to fix the roster before Opening Day in 2027, March 25 at Houston.
Considering the anticipated labor dispute, don’t make any firm travel plans. There’s no telling when the Rangers will be on the field again.
But it won’t be Tuesday in the playoffs. The Rangers’ season is over.
Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com
