Rangers Falling Further and Further Behind in the Race to Postseason

A team under .500 is not making it to October.

Aug 13, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy (15) walks to the mound to make pitching change during the eighth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Globe Life Field. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Two weeks ago the Texas Rangers were right where they needed to be in the wild card race. They had just taken down the New York Yankees who, at the time, were the bottom spot for the American League wild card. Since then, it has been disastrous. They are now 17 games under .500 against teams that are better than .500. Even if they make it to the playoffs, that could end up going really badly.

The Rangers now sit three games under .500 (62-65) and have lost 10 of their last 12. With only 35 games left on the season the team is going to have to have quite the turn around to get back into the race to the postseason. The club now finds themselves six games back chasing both the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox who are tied for the bottom spot at 68-59.

Imploding Bullpen

Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

There was a little bit of confusion when the trade deadline rolled around and management went after pitchers to add to the bullpen with Phil Maton and Danny Coulombe. Their pitching staff has been arguably the best all season led by Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom. The offense however has been struggling all-around, so, why not go after a bat?

Well, now it is looking like they should have pursued much better arms. For whatever reason the pair has been significantly worse since joining the Rangers.

Maton was posting a 2.35 ERA when he was with the Saint Louis Cardinals this season. They used him in 40 games and he struck out 48 by the time he went to Texas. Since joining the Rangers' organization his ERA has skyrocketed to 6.48 and he has had double the homers than he did with the Cardinals.

The Rangers have the second-lowest bullpen ERA in the AL (3.50) and the second-most blown saves in baseball (24)

— Rangers Nation ⚾️ (@rangers__nation) August 16, 2025

Coulombe came out of the Minnesota Twins' bullpen where he was exceptional and if he was performing half as well it would have been a saving grace to the Rangers. With the Twins he was posting a career low ERA of 1.16. With the Rangers? 5.68. The pair of newbies has given up game after game in the last two weeks specifically. Unfortunately, they aren't the only two struggling, but also Robert Garcia.

Garcia was looking like a top reliever until recently. His last seven games he has posted an ERA over SEVEN. He has had 11 hits and five earned runs in only six innings. Someone in the bullpen has to figure out how to close out games if the Rangers have a hope of catching either the Red Sox or the Mariners.