Rangers Boss Explains Why He Believes Texas Lacked Toughness, Grit in Key Areas

The Texas Rangers are going into their offseason look to remake significant parts of their team, including their mindset.

Texas Rangers General Manager Chris Young. Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

It isn't often that Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young offers criticism of his team, even watered down criticism.

But on Monday, as he delivered a post-mortem of why the Rangers didn't make the playoffs for the third straight year since winning the World Series in 2023, Young offered several perspectives as to why his team fell short.

He was asked about two key areas where Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said the team fell short in 2026, which included winning games on the road and their record against teams that were .500 or better.

Young had several reasons why, but the one that drew the most attention was his belief that at times his team played with a lack of grit and toughness.

Rangers Lacked Grit, Toughness

Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker. Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Young responded to a direct question from Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required) about whether the team lacked it in those areas.

“I think at times, Evan, we did [not show grit and toughness],” Young said. “I mean, frankly, not to the level that we needed to have it. You can't be as under .500 on the road as we were and say that we were as tough as we needed to be. It would be disingenuous in suggesting that. There were times where we did, and there were times where the team showed great fight and great resilience. But, the consistency of it wasn't to the level that was needed for us to be a playoff team.”

The Rangers (80-82) finished one game behind the Houston Astros in the American League West. The Astros won the division with the worst record by a division champion in baseball history. Just two additional victories somewhere would have allowed Texas to play in the postseason, which starts on Tuesday.

But the Rangers were 35-46 on the road, well below the Astros’ 42-39 record away from home. Texas was also 33-38 against teams with a record of .500 or better. The Astros had a record of 29-26 in those games.

Young believes that manifested itself, and can be corrected, in several ways. That starts with roster construction. He said the Rangers will be looking to get younger, more athletic and better defensively. They also want players that can run the bases better and play the sort of small ball game that was successful for them at times in 2026.

Young said everything will get a hard look this offseason. He also knows that grit and toughness are intangible items and more difficult to measure. Some of that will be looking for players that can embody those intangible traits on the field and off.

He never felt his team was complacent during the season. But he did admit there were times he felt some players and the team overall was more conservative on the road.

“Were we pushing the limits of what was necessary to win at times? I don't [think so],” Young said. “I think just from a health standpoint, you know, we had some guys like Skip referenced that were nursing a hamstring and they're out there playing at 75%. In the back of their mind, they're playing more with the mindset of ‘don't get hurt’ than to ‘how am I going to score on this base hit?’ And that's a hard way to play the game.”