Texas Rangers ace Nathan Eovaldi’s Cy Young-caliber season is likely over after suffering a rotator cuff strain, dealing a major blow to the team’s playoff hopes.
Eovaldi is expected to miss the remainder of the 2025 season, team President of Baseball Operations Chris Young announced Tuesday, just hours before he was slated to make a crucial start against the Los Angeles Angels.
The right-hander has put together one of the best seasons of his career, collecting a record of 11-3 with a career-low ERA of only 1.73, which led the MLB for a short period following his most recent start.
Young described the loss as a “big blow” for the team as it looks to make a late run to the playoffs, with the Rangers currently on the outside looking in on the playoff hunt.
“He’s been just a tremendous teammate and competitor for us all year long. We hate to see this happen to somebody who’s been so important to the organization, but it seems par for the course with how some of the season has gone. So hate it for Evo, hate it for the team,” Young added, per MLB.com.
Eovaldi’s injury came days after he experienced soreness following his last start, prompting him to skip his scheduled bullpen session and undergo an MRI on Tuesday, which revealed the strain.
While discussing the diagnosis process, Eovaldi said he requested the additional evaluation on his shoulder, stating that the soreness was worse than what he typically experiences.
“It just felt like it was getting a little worse, so I shut it down and had the trainers look at it,” Eovaldi explained, per ESPN.
“Obviously, it’s just frustrating given how great the season’s been going. … I don’t want to rule out the rest of the season, but it’s not looking very great.”
Young said Eovaldi is likely to be placed on the 15-day injured list, though no definitive decision has been made at this point in the process.
This injury comes as the Rangers are looking to climb the American League standings, with the team currently sitting 4.5 games out of the final wild-card slot.
With only 29 games remaining in the regular season, the Rangers must begin stringing together wins for this team to have any chance of making the postseason.