Rangers Rotation Drawing Some Deserved Credit Ahead of 2026 Season

The move to acquire MacKenzie Gore is proving to be a good one for Chris Young and Texas.

Texas Rangers hat | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

When the Texas Rangers and president of baseball operations Chris Young pulled off the surprising trade that acquired left-handed pitcher MacKenzie Gore from the Washington Nationals, it opened some eyes around the league.

If you listed some of the top potential landing spots for Gore, the Rangers would not have been on many people's lists. In the end, Young was able to give first-year manager Skip Schumaker a very solid top 3 in the rotation to roll out. Does it solve their lineup needs? No, but in this day and age, pitching wins.

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Adding Gore with Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi gives Texas a rotation that, when healthy, is right up there in terms of the top rotations of the division. The key phrase there is 'when healthy'. Just where does the Texas top part of the rotation rank? According to Jared Greenspan of MLB.com, it ranks in the top 10.

Rangers Top of the Rotation Ranked in Top 10 To Begin 2026 Season

Jacob deGrom | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

There is a slow power shift beginning in the American League West after the Seattle Mariners won the division last season, following a Houston Astros collapse late in the season. The Mariners went all the way to the American League Championship Series before falling to the Toronto Blue Jays. Texas needed to make an addition to their rotation with deGrom and Eovaldi if they wanted to remain in the mix. They did that with Gore.

"deGrom is 37 now, and he looks a little different on the other side of his second Tommy John surgery. But the two-time Cy Young Award winner is still elite: Last season, he threw 172 2/3 innings, his highest single-season total since 2019, while compiling a 2.97 ERA and a +33 pitching run value that ranked in the 98th percentile of MLB,'' wrote Greenspan.

There is no doubt that the key to the Rangers' rotation is deGrom, even at 37 years old. He is still elite and has top-of-the-rotation stuff, but remaining healthy might be his biggest obstacle of the season. If he does, this rotation has a chance to help Texas bounce back in 2026.

Gore is coming off a good season in 2025 with Washington. He went on to win only five games, but his WAR was a career-best 3.0; he struck out 185 in 159.2 innings with a 4.17 ERA. He was a National League All-Star.

Just as important as the top of the rotation is going to be for the Rangers, so is the backend, which is going to be settled in spring training. Skip Schumaker will have a starting rotation that is good at the top and will need to remain healthy and prove they are a top 10 1-2 punch in 2026.

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