No matter how Sunday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers turns out, the Texas Rangers are staring at a seventh straight road series loss. That’s the kind of slide that doesn’t just look ugly on the schedule - it starts eating away at a season. The postseason is still there for Texas, but the margin is shrinking fast, and the clock is ticking on a turnaround.
A lot is contributing to the mess. The offense hasn’t found a real identity, and the first inning has become a brutal early tell: if the opponent scores right away and Texas doesn’t answer, the game has basically gone sideways before it settles in.
That’s one issue. The bigger one, though, is harder to patch.
The bullpen has become the Rangers’ fatal flaw.
At the trade deadline, relief help was one of the clearest needs on the roster. Chris Young added Chase Silseth and Adam Macko, but that hasn’t come close to solving the problem.
Texas does have Jacob Latz, who has emerged as a superstar closer this year and often works the eighth as well, and Jakob Junis has been excellent for much of the season in a setup role. But those arms only matter if they’re entering games with a lead to defend, and the Rangers haven’t been able to get there often enough.
The numbers since the All-Star Break are damning: Texas relievers have allowed the most runs in baseball in innings five through seven. That weakness showed up again on Saturday, when a strong start from Cal Quantrill was undone by Peyton Gray giving up two runs, one earned, in the seventh of a 5-3 loss to the Brewers.
Some of that damage came while Junis was out for a chunk of this stretch, which shuffled everybody up the depth chart. At one point, the bullpen had as many as five rookies in it, and that kind of setup was asking for trouble. Silseth helped, but he also ended up covering the eighth frequently when Junis was unavailable, which undercut the idea that he would provide extra depth.
Even when the group has been at full strength, the Rangers still haven’t had enough. The front office banked on help coming from injured arms eventually returning, and there has been some movement there.
Jordan Montgomery and Cody Bradford came back, but then Nathan Eovaldi went down. Montgomery has struggled badly in relief with a 5.73 ERA, and Eovaldi’s injury pushed Quantrill back into the rotation.
That’s not a disaster considering how well Quantrill has pitched as a starter, but it still leaves the bullpen thin.
There was also the possibility of using Jack Leiter once he returned from injury, but his latest setback may have closed that door. Robert Garcia is scheduled to start a rehab assignment, though by the time he’s ready, the Rangers may already be out of runway.
The broader indictment on Young is hard to miss. The bullpen wasn’t properly addressed over the offseason, and when the trade deadline arrived, the Rangers again came up short.
Silseth was a useful pickup, and Macko still has a chance to contribute, but Texas needed another veteran reliever with high-leverage experience and didn’t get one. The result is a bullpen that keeps handing away games - and a team that keeps paying for it.
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Rangers May Need To End Joc Pedersons Leadoff Run Now
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Cody Freeman has emerged as the cleaner fit for that role because of his stronger on-base work and better strike-zone judgment, the kind of traits that can give the Rangers a steadier start to games. If Schumaker decides to make a change, it would not just be about one cold stretch for Pederson, but about trying to unlock a lineup that has been searching for more consistent offense. [Read more 🡒]