Way Too Early AL West Prediction Puts Rangers Back in Playoff Mix

The Texas Rangers made two significant moves in the offseason but need the overall lineup to bounce to contend for the playoffs in 2026.

Texas Rangers first baseman Jake Burger. | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers are already tired of missing the playoffs. Two years away from the postseason is enough.

Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young operated on a limited budget this offseason. He flipped second baseman Marcus Semien to the New York Mets for outfielder Brandon Nimmo. He shipped a few prospects to the Washington Nationals to bolster the rotation with MacKenzie Gore.

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Meanwhile, he remade the bullpen again, luring back Chris Martin on a one-year deal, while also signing Tyler Alexander and Alexis Diaz as relief options.

But Young has been clear this offseason — for the Rangers to return to the playoffs they need their holdover offensive pieces to perform better. The offensive slash numbers have dropped each of the last two seasons since the 2023 World Series title. He didn’t blow up the team because he believes the players he has can play better.

Will they? Here’s a way-too-early prediction for the AL West.

Way-Too-Early AL West Prediction

Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker. | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

Will the Rangers turn it around enough to get into the playoffs? It’s more than likely. It’s not clear if Texas can enough to win the division, but a wild card berth is attainable. It’s early, but here’s how we see it shaking out:

Seattle: 95-67

Texas: 91-71

Houston: 90-72

Athletics: 81-81

Los Angeles Angels: 72-90

Clearly, the division will be competitive. Seattle reached the AL Championship Series and that pitching staff, combined with a talented lineup that gets better with the addition of Brendan Donovan, should allow them to win the division the second straight year. Plus, the Mariners have owned the Rangers of late, and that will be difference in their win totals being the difference in the season series.

As for the Rangers and the Astros, well, each is separated by a game for a reason. Houston has remade itself this offseason, signed Tatsuya Imai and his heading for a six-man rotation. Like Texas, Houston is hoping that its holdovers stay healthy and rejuvenate its offense. A full healthy season from Yordan Alvarez, who missed most of last season, is what the Astros need. It’s possible the division has enough talent for three teams to make the playoffs.

The season series between Houston and Texas should be highly competitive. Both teams match up well. The Astros could draw any four of Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jack Leiter and Gore in a three-or-four game series and that’s a potential gauntlet.

For Texas the need is clear — the offense must be better. That falls to players Josh Jung, Jake Burger, Joc Pederson and Evan Carter, starts the Rangers have identified that need to improve. The lineup also needs to stay healthy. Burger, Pederson and Carter missed chunks of time last year. It falls to new hitting coach Justin Viele, who was on staff the past few years and is now in charge of the hitting room, to figure things out.

The belief is the Rangers will figure out enough of the offense to support what could be another elite rotation backed by a solid bullpen. The margins will be tight, but from here Texas returns to the playoffs and improves by 10 games from a season ago.