What went wrong for the Rangers — and how to fix them
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Bradford Doolittle, ESPN Staff Writer
The lessons come hard and fast in the major leagues. In the span of less than a month, the Texas Rangers‘ dream season has morphed into, well, not quite a nightmare but at the very least a prolonged bout of anxiety. It’s a lot to digest, even for an Ivy League-educated ex-pitcher on a whirlwind career trajectory such as Rangers general manager Chris Young.
“I’ve learned a ton,” Young said, reflecting on his ongoing transformation from player to executive. “I don’t think you’re ever truly prepared for this. And I don’t think you ever really dominate all aspects of it.”
Only six years ago, Young, 44, was an active player, wrapping up a 13-year career in which he debuted with his hometown Rangers, made an All-Star team, and won a ring with the 2015 Kansas City Royals. After a couple of years working in the MLB league office, he was hired as the Rangers’ GM, working under longtime lead executive Jon Daniels before taking his place as the head of baseball operations on Aug. 17, 2022.
One year later, the first Rangers roster for which Young was solely responsible was in prime position for the American League West title. This stunning development came on the heels of a three-year stretch in which the Rangers won just 63.3 of each 162 games they played, the franchise’s lowest point in 50 years.
That didn’t stop the Rangers from launching into an aggressive spate of roster building over the past two years, adding big-name players such as Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray and Jordan Montgomery through trades and free agency.
“To some extent it was to accelerate the rebuild,” Young said. “In a market this size, I think that our fans deserve that. They shouldn’t have to go through a five-, six-, seven-year rebuild.”
It worked. Under future Hall of Fame manager Bruce Bochy, the Rangers were on pace to win more than 100 games into the third week of June. Their run differential suggested they were even better than that, marking them as a triple-digit winner all the way to the end of August. Texas’ offense was on pace to score 1,000 runs as late as June 14.
After the Rangers beat the Angels on Aug. 15, just shy of the anniversary mark of Young’s rise to the top of the club’s front office, Texas had won 12 of 14, a hot stretch that began in the immediate aftermath of its trade deadline additions of Scherzer and Montgomery.
“Championship seasons can be few and far between,” Young said. “When you have that chance, these players have earned the right, this coaching staff has earned the right, to have the support they need.”
At that point the Rangers were on pace to win 97 games but had the run differential of a 105-win team. Simulation-based probabilities gave Texas a 79% shot of winning the AL West, even though the defending champion Houston Astros were hot on their bootheels. The Rangers owned a 99% shot of making the postseason.
And then things took a turn.
What went wrong
The current standings tell the story of what came next. An eight-game losing streak, a frigid spell that stretched into 16 losses in 20 games. What had been a 6½-game lead in the division turned into a three-game deficit. Those gaudy probabilities tumbled, with Texas’ slump coinciding with hot play from both the Astros and Seattle Mariners.
What in the name of Nolan Ryan went wrong?
Injuries
The Rangers rolled through deGrom’s early-season-ending elbow injury and a monthlong injured list stint from Seager. But they went 2-7 when Seager was hurt again in late July.
The rotation ranked 11th in ERA (3.95) and sixth in quality starts through July 18, when Eovaldi turned up with a forearm strain. Since then, the starters rank 24th with a 5.02 ERA.
Josh Jung was having a Rookie of the Year-caliber season, with an .813 OPS, 22 homers and 67 RBIs, when he suffered a fractured thumb. He hasn’t played since Aug. 6.
Starting catcher Jonah Heim made his first All-Star squad but landed on the IL with a wrist problem just before the trade deadline. He’s back in the lineup but hit just .167 in his first 22 games after returning.
Most recently, Adolis Garcia hurt a knee while trying to run down a home run ball in a game against Houston. He was placed on the IL on Sept. 8. Garcia leads the Rangers in homers (34) and RBIs (100).
The bullpen
The relief staff hasn’t been a strong point for most of the season. Texas ranks 26th in bullpen ERA and has more blown saves (29) than saves (27). That’s not great.
Lately, though, things have been even worse, and at times, it feels as if the Rangers don’t have a reliever capable of navigating through a clean inning. Since the beginning of September, the Texas bullpen has a 6.80 ERA and has allowed a .985 OPS.
Regression
Remember those tales of the Rangers being on pace to score more than 1,000 runs? The regression monster has caught up to a number of key performers.
Using the All-Star break as a dividing line, you can see the respective declines:
• Adolis Garcia (.848 OPS before/.750 OPS after)
• Ezequiel Duran (.870/.603)
• Josh Jung (.835/.716)
• Leody Taveras (.812/.609)
• Jonah Heim (.812/.599)
Not all of the Rangers have fallen off. Semien and Seager have continued to mash, Nathaniel Lowe has picked up his production and Mitch Garver has been one of baseball’s hottest hitters.
But the lineup hasn’t been as deep, and an offense that was scoring 5.8 runs per game before the break has lost about a run off that average, which makes the shortcomings in the bullpen and a recent slump for the rotation impossible to mask.
Perhaps the biggest source of solace in all this is the presence of Bochy, a three-time champion with the San Francisco Giants and the 10th-winningest skipper in baseball history.
“We’ve spent most of the year in first place,” said Semien, who grew up in the Bay Area as a Giants fan. “We’ve had a little lull lately, but all in all, when you look at Year 1 with Bruce Bochy, you have to like the way we’ve played.”
Indeed, all is not lost … yet.
How they can turn it around
The nadir of the Rangers’ slide came at the worst possible time.
Everything was still on the table for Texas, one of the six existing franchises still in search of its first World Series crown, when Houston arrived in Arlington for a huge three-game series, beginning on Labor Day, that promised to be as big as anything we’ve seen in Texas baseball for a long time.
“It’s one where, it’s why you play,” Bochy said before the opener. “We’re excited. The series is going to get a lot of attention, as it should. Two teams that are tied, trying to get [to the postseason].”
It started well. No, really. The Rangers jumped to an early lead in the first game of the showdown on the strength of a 453-foot Seager blast, sending a sellout gathering at Globe Life Field into a frenzy, and led 3-0 through four innings. From that point on, the Astros outscored the Rangers 39-7 and clubbed 16 homers while completing the most resounding three-game sweep imaginable in the last installment of the 2023 Silver Boot Series.
The proper sound effect for this would be that of the helium escaping from someone’s freshly pricked birthday balloon.
“It’s part of the game and you have to let it go,” Bochy said after the series finale. “You don’t have any other choice. Obviously, it was not a good series. There wasn’t a lot we did well.”
After Texas lost to the lowly Oakland Athletics on Sept. 8, the odds were down to a 7% shot at the division and a 57% shot at the playoffs. A couple of wins over Oakland stopped the bleeding (and pushed the playoff odds to 65%), but the Rangers have work to do. Key series loom against the teams they are fighting against for position, the current series in Toronto (the Rangers won the opener on of a four-game set on Monday) and two remaining series against Seattle.
Texas has a clear mission: pass either the Mariners or Blue Jays. The final two AL spots will go to two of those three contenders, as the Orioles, Twins, Astros and Rays all have close to 100% probabilities by now.
To do that, a few things are going to have to happen.
Better health
They need Garcia back, though at least in prospect Evan Carter, they introduced an intriguing replacement. Eovaldi needs to ramp up to something like a full workload. Meanwhile, Jung is making progress, having taken some swings off a batting tee over the weekend. His thumb isn’t going to be quite right until the offseason, but there is increasing hope he can get back and help later this month.
More innings from the rotation
Look, neither Mariano Rivera nor anyone like him will be walking through the Rangers’ bullpen door. As Bochy and pitching coach Mike Maddux shuffle roles and try to identify favorable matchups, the worst thing for the relievers, and for the coaching staff, is for the group to be gassed on top of everything else.
That’s why the onus is on the rotation, where the bulk of Texas’ current pitching talent lies. Simply put, the starters must consistently work deep into games. Scherzer has to be Scherzer, the future Hall of Fame ace, and not the guy who was battered around by the Astros. Eovaldi is working his way back in real time, getting two starts off the IL but on severely limited pitch counts. His stuff was much better the second time and that trend has to continue. Let’s not forget that before he was injured, Eovaldi was leading the AL in innings and was positioned to make a solid run at this year’s AL Cy Young Award.
The Rangers could really use Montgomery and Gray getting hot, and for Andrew Heaney to basically keep doing what he’s been doing. No one in this trio needs to go on a historic scoreless innings streak, but they do need to get into the sixth and seventh innings consistently. This would give the Texas offense a chance to build some runway early in games and Bochy a chance to be more fine with how the Rangers match relievers with different segments of opposing lineups.
If the core five of the Texas rotation can be steady, that gives Bochy the luxury of using his solid rotation depth hurlers — Martin Perez and Dane Dunning — in multi-inning, medium- and high-leverage relief stints to shrink the responsibilities of the back of the bullpen.
Stars being stars
Semien and Seager need to keep producing like the top-10 MVP candidates they’ve been all season. And when (or if) Garcia comes off the IL, the streaky powerhouse of a right fielder needs to catch fire.
In the 25 games before his injury, Garcia hit .147 with a .555 OPS, but he won a key game against Minnesota on Sept. 3 with a game-ending homer, one that seemed to provide the perfect launching point for Texas in the Houston series.
“That was a great moment for us,” Semien said before taking on the Astros. “Definitely needed that moment to get the ball rolling going into this series.”
But the Rangers soon learned one lightning-strike moment won’t save their season. It’s more a challenge of weathering the ups and downs of a stretch run as a contender.
Globe Life Field is situated amid a sort of mecca for leisure activity, adjacent to the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park, which features towering roller-coaster tracks that dominate the horizon and serve as metaphors of the Rangers’ campaign — and, perhaps, its hope. Because no matter how steep the plunge is on one of those rides, you still have the promise of another climb directly ahead.
“The difference between good and great in this league is very small,” Scherzer said. “You always feel like you’re on the edge of being great. But it’s hard to be great in this league because everybody is so good. The difference is just all the little things.”
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Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer
With schools playing as many as 16 games this season in the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff format, we waited a little longer than usual to unveil our 2024 ESPN All-America team.
Postseason performances should matter, especially when you’re talking about up to four games.
Headlining the team is Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, who turned in All-America performances at three spots. (We limited him to one position on our list.) The receiver/cornerback was the cornerstone of a Colorado team that won nine games in 2024 after suffering through seven straight losing seasons.
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty and Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts are the only repeat selections from last season. Ohio State and Texas each have three first-team selections to lead the way, and Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith is the only true freshman on the team.
OFFENSE
Ward made the most of his one season at Miami after transferring from Washington State. A Heisman Trophy finalist, he tied for the FBS lead by accounting for 44 touchdowns (39 passing, 4 rushing and 1 receiving) on the ACC’s No. 1 offense and threw just seven interceptions in 454 pass attempts. Ward, who started his career in the FCS ranks at Incarnate Word, had 10 games with at least 300 passing yards and set a Miami record with 4,313 passing yards.
Second team: Dillon Gabriel, Oregon
The mere fact that Jeanty made a run at Barry Sanders’ hallowed NCAA rushing record of 2,628 yards tells you everything you need to know about Jeanty’s 2024 season. He led the country with 2,601 rushing yards and scored 30 touchdowns. Jeanty was the Heisman Trophy runner-up to Hunter, and defenses aligned to stop him all season. Even so, he entered the Fiesta Bowl with 1,882 yards after contact, according to Pro Football Focus, which was more than any other FBS player had in total rushing yards.
Second team: Dylan Sampson, Tennessee
Everybody in and around Arizona State’s program already knew Skattebo was an elite running back, but he showed the rest of the country in his two postseason outings. Skattebo finished second to Jeanty with 1,711 rushing yards and had 21 touchdowns. He also caught 45 passes, and in the Big 12 championship game win over Iowa State and playoff loss to Texas, he rolled up 450 all-purpose yards and accounted for six touchdowns, one a 42-yard pass in the Sun Devils’ double-overtime loss to Texas.
Second team: Kaleb Johnson, Iowa
Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who has been a head coach at the NFL and collegiate levels, said he has never had a receiver like Smith, with his blend of size, speed and ability to track the ball in tight coverage. A true freshman, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Smith was uncoverable in the Buckeyes’ first two playoff games, with four touchdown catches and 290 receiving yards. He’s tied for third nationally with 14 touchdown receptions and averages 17.3 yards per catch.
Second team: Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona
Nash is the first San José State player to be named a consensus All-American. The 6-3, 195-pound redshirt senior became the fourth player in FBS history to earn the receiving triple crown in the regular season with 104 catches, 1,382 receiving yards and 16 touchdown catches. Nash had 39 catches of 15 yards or longer, according to Pro Football Focus, and 71 catches resulting in a first down, leading the nation in both categories. He also threw two touchdown passes this season.
Second team: Xavier Restrepo, Miami
Warren came to Penn State as a quarterback, and that athleticism was on full display in his sensational redshirt senior season. He caught 104 passes for 1,233 yards and 13 combined touchdowns (8receiving, 4 rushing and 1 passing). The 6-6, 261-pound Warren became the first tight end in Big Ten history to catch 100 passes in a season and won the John Mackey Award as the top tight end in college football.
Second team: Harold Fannin Jr., Bowling Green
Despite a left ankle injury that sidelined him for the SEC championship game, Banks was the centerpiece of a Texas offensive line that paved the way for one of the most balanced offenses in the country. The Longhorns were one of six FBS teams to average more than 275 passing yards and 160 rushing yards per game. The 6-4, 320-pound junior won the Lombardi Award this season as the nation’s best collegiate lineman and has been a starter at left tackle since his true freshman season.
Second team: Wyatt Milum, West Virginia
Jackson’s versatility has been a huge part of Ohio State’s run to the national championship game. He returned for his senior season after earning All-Big Ten honors at left guard each of the previous two seasons. He continued his stellar play at guard through the first half of this season but moved to left tackle after Josh Simmons suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Second team: Willie Lampkin, North Carolina
Florida’s offensive line improved steadily in the latter part of the 2024 season, when the Gators won their last four games, and Slaughter’s play was a big reason. A redshirt junior who has announced he will return for the 2025 season, Slaughter allowed just one sack and one quarterback hit in 728 snaps in 2024, according to Pro Football Focus.
Second team: Cooper Mays, Tennessee
Booker was a powerful blocker in the run game during all three of his seasons at Alabama and was a two-year starter at left guard. He also started one game this season at left tackle. Booker recorded a team-high 87 knockdown blocks and didn’t allow a sack in 715 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. He declared for the NFL draft following the Crimson Tide’s bowl game.
Second team: Bill Katsigiannis, Army
From the time he stepped foot on campus, Campbell was a fixture on LSU’s offensive line at left tackle, and this season, he played every offensive snap (866) in 11 of LSU’s 12 games. Campbell shared the Jacobs Trophy as the SEC’s top blocker with Texas’ Kelvin Banks Jr. Campbell is headed to the NFL after three seasons in Baton Rouge and is rated as the No. 2 tackle in the draft by ESPN’s Mel Kiper.
Second team: Josh Conerly Jr., Oregon
It might be a while before college football sees another iron man like Hunter, who played a staggering 1,440 snaps this season. In addition to playing more than 650 snaps on both offense and defense, he even played some on special teams — talk about an all-purpose player! Hunter tied for fourth nationally with 96 catches and ranked second with 15 touchdown receptions in winning the Biletnikoff Award as the country’s top receiver and led Colorado on defense with four interceptions and 11 pass breakups.
Second team: Desmond Reid, Pittsburgh
DEFENSE
Carter played through a painful shoulder injury in Penn State’s playoff semifinal loss to Notre Dame and still managed a sack. He led all FBS players with 23.5 tackles for loss, including 12 sacks. The 6-3, 252-pound junior moved from linebacker to edge rusher this season and established himself as one of the most dynamic defenders in the country. He had four games with multiple sacks and is projected to be one of the top defenders taken in the 2025 NFL draft.
Second team: Kyle Kennard, South Carolina
The defensive front was Michigan’s strength, and it was dominant in the upset win over Ohio State in the regular-season finale. Graham was the rock of that unit and a disrupter in the interior against both the run and pass. He had 7.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and 26 pressures and is headed to the NFL, where he’s projected by ESPN’s Mel Kiper to be the top defensive tackle taken in the 2025 draft.
Second team: Rylie Mills, Notre Dame
After transferring from Texas A&M, Nolen had his best season at Ole Miss. He’s big (6-3, 305 pounds) and has great burst. Nolen led all SEC defenders with 12 tackles for loss in league games and is the kind of interior pass rusher all defenses covet. And as a run stopper, he was ranked second among all interior defensive linemen, according to Pro Football Focus.
Second team: Derrick Harmon, Oregon
Ezeiruaku blossomed as a senior and leaves BC as one of the top defensive players in school history. At 6-2 and 247 pounds, Ezeiruaka was a pass-rushing dynamo with 16.5 sacks to rank second among FBS players. He was third nationally with 20.5 tackles for loss en route to winning ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors and the Ted Hendricks Award as college football’s top defensive end.
Second team: Jack Sawyer, Ohio State
The Butkus Award winner as the nation’s top linebacker, Walker is the third Georgia player to win the award since 2017. He’s a fierce tackler wherever he lines up and led the Bulldogs with 10.5 tackles for loss. Walker played more snaps at inside linebacker than he did rushing the passer, but he still finished with 34 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.
Second team: Jihaad Campbell, Alabama
One of the best stories in college football, Dolac started his career at Buffalo as a walk-on, then missed most of last season because of a shoulder injury before transferring to Utah State for a semester and going through spring practice. But he knew he belonged closer to home and returned to Buffalo to have a huge senior season. He led the nation with 168 total tackles and led all linebackers with 18.5 tackles for loss to go along with five interceptions.
Second team: Jay Higgins, Iowa
The epitome of a do-it-all linebacker, Hill went from being one of the best true freshmen in 2023 to one of the best defenders in the country this season. And, yes, he has another season remaining at Texas. The 6-3, 235-pound sophomore led the Longhorns with 113 total tackles and tied for fourth among FBS linebackers with 16.5 tackles for loss. He also had four forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and an interception.
Second team: Danny Stutsman, Oklahoma
Barron was already widely viewed as one of the top cornerbacks in college football but only raised his stock in helping limit Ohio State star receiver Jeremiah Smith to one catch for 3 yards in the Longhorns’ playoff semifinal loss at the Cotton Bowl. Barron, a 5-11, 200-pound redshirt senior, was the Thorpe Award winner as the best defensive back in college football and tied for the team lead in a talented secondary with five interceptions.
Second team: Jermod McCoy, Tennessee
In his second season at Cal after transferring from UNLV, Williams led all FBS players with seven interceptions and tied for third with 16 passes defended. He finished his college career with 14 interceptions and scored touchdowns this season on an 80-yard kickoff return in the opener against UC Davis and a 40-yard interception return against Cam Ward and Miami in a 39-38 loss to the Hurricanes.
Second team: D’Angelo Ponds, Indiana
Watts has been everything you could ask for in the back end of the Notre Dame defense. He erases mistakes, makes big plays in big moments and raises the game of everybody around him. The 6-foot, 203-pound redshirt senior leads all FBS safeties with six interceptions and is second on his team with 74 total tackles. He has 13 interceptions over his past two seasons and will go down as one of the best safeties in Notre Dame history.
Second team: Malaki Starks, Georgia
There’s no shortage of talent on the Ohio State defense, and adding Downs in the transfer portal helped spur the Buckeyes to the national championship game. He has uncanny instincts and is a force against both the run and pass. The 6-foot, 205-pound sophomore was a Thorpe Award finalist after earning Shaun Alexander Award honors as the national freshman of the year in his first season at Alabama. Downs ranks third on his team with 76 total tackles, including 7.5 for loss, and has two interceptions.
Second team: Michael Taaffe, Texas
SPECIAL TEAMS
Zvada came to Ann Arbor by way of Arkansas State and kicked his way into Michigan history in just one season. His winning 21-yard field goal in the final minute gave the Wolverines their fourth straight victory over rival Ohio State, and he was money all season for the Maize and Blue. Zvada was 21-of-22 on field goal attempts and made all seven of his tries from 50 yards or longer.
Second team: Kenneth Almendares, Louisiana
The Trojans led the country in net punting, and Czaplicki’s ability to keep opposing offenses backed up against their own goal line was a big part of USC’s improvement on defense. Czaplicki, the Ray Guy award winner as the nation’s best punter, averaged 47.8 yards per punt, and opponents returned only 13 of his kicks. He had just one touchback all season, and 25 of his 43 punts were downed inside the 20-yard line.
Second team: Alex Mastromanno, Florida State
Shanks did a little bit of everything for UAB. The redshirt freshman led the nation in punt return yards (329) and punt return average (20.6), and he returned two punts for touchdowns, including a 58-yarder against Tulsa; he accounted for 311 all-purpose yards and four TDs in the game. Shanks also tied for the team lead with 62 catches and racked up 656 receiving yards to go with six touchdown receptions.
Second team: Rayshawn Pleasant, Tulane
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