The Texas Rangers are still in the AL West fight, but the same issue keeps dragging them back: they just can’t get the job done away from home.
That flaw has shown up again on this current trip. Texas opened the week holding a one-game lead in the division as it began a six-game swing in Chicago.
Since then, the Rangers dropped two of three to the White Sox and then lost the first two games against the Milwaukee Brewers. That slide has pushed them two games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West.
Saturday’s loss only added to a trend that has become impossible to ignore. The Rangers fell to 30-41 on the road with 10 games left, and that means they still do not have a winning road record this season.
Per Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required), this is now the 10th straight season Texas has finished .500 or worse in road games. The streak stretches back to 2017, when the Rangers went 37-44 away from home. Before that, Texas had a much stronger road showing in 2016, when it won the AL West at 95-67 and posted a 42-39 record on the road.
For a franchise trying to stay relevant in the division race, that road inconsistency has been a major part of the story over the past decade. Going into Sunday’s game against Milwaukee, the Rangers had not won a division title in that span and had finished a combined 196.5 games out of first place.
There is one obvious outlier: 2023. Texas finished 40-41 on the road that season, tied the Astros for first in the AL West, and lost the division tiebreaker because Houston won the season series. But the Rangers turned that same year into a championship run, winning every road game they played in the postseason on the way to their first World Series title.
Now the club heads back to Globe Life Field after Sunday’s game, hoping home can spark another run. Still, with two more road trips left on the schedule, this same weakness may end up deciding whether Texas makes the playoffs or spends October on the outside looking in for the third straight year.
In Other News...
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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 🡒]