The Texas Rangers have officially been eliminated from playoff contention after the team’s 4-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night, marking a disappointing season for the defending World Series Champions.
The Rangers have struggled all season due to a combination of slumps and untimely injuries, leading the team to an overall record of only 73-80 with nine games left in the year.
Texas now trails the Houston Astros by 10 games for first place in the American League West division, meaning there is nothing the franchise can do to make up the ground for the remainder of the season.
Although the season did not begin too poorly for the Rangers, sitting at 28-30 and four games behind the Seattle Mariners for first place in the division on June 1, the back half of the year sealed the organization’s fate.
Leading into the July 30 trade deadline, the Rangers had turned the season around and were seemingly prepared to challenge both the Astros and Mariners for first place in the division as they trailed by only 4.5 games.
However, Texas proceeded to go 3-7 in the 10 games following the trade deadline and have been unable to catch up, prompting the team to begin evaluating ways to improve for the upcoming year.
Winning back-to-back World Series is a feat rarely accomplished as the last MLB team to manage two straight World Series victories was the New York Yankees, who won three straight World Series from 1998 to 2000.
Rangers Manager Bruce Bochy discussed the team’s struggles last weekend and said everyone understands “how difficult it is to repeat” in the MLB, noting that the organization has already shifted on ways it can bounce back next year.
“There’s been a number of reasons why we’re not where we want to be. Every season is different, it takes a life of its own, whether guys aren’t having their normal years or injuries,” he said, per MLB.com.
“Our goal is to finish strong here. We got a bump in the road here, a pretty good one, but we’ll move on.”
The Rangers have already begun preparing for the 2025 season, as the organization opted to have shortstop Corey Seager undergo surgery for a sports hernia on his right side, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
This surgery will be the second time in the past year that Seager has had a sports hernia repaired, as he had the same surgery on his left side following the Rangers’ 2023 postseason run.
Seager waited until the offseason to have the surgery following the 2023 season due to the Rangers’ playoff success, but this also resulted in him spending the majority of his offseason rehabbing and missing the start of spring training.
Now, the 2024 All-Star will be healthy enough to work out with the team once spring training begins in February 2025.
