Rangers Road to Postseason Will be Blocked by Awful Run Away From Home

The Texas Rangers have been an under .500 road team much of the season. But the issues have become quite acute of late.

Texas Rangers infielder Nicky Lopez. Credit: Richard Dizon-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Wednesday’s game in Seattle was an opportunity for the Texas Rangers to turn their fortunes around on the road and build on Tuesday’s win. No such luck.

The Rangers (72-74) lost to the Mariners, 3-2, another heartbreaker for a team that desperately needs to string wins together away from home.

Tuesday was filled with promise. The Rangers exploded for double-digit runs and beat the Mariners, 10-3, in the opener. So why couldn’t Texas follow that up? There are several reasons.

Rangers Woes on Road

Texas Rangers catcher Elias Diaz. Credit: Richard Dizon-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Rangers are now 32-42 on the road and have clinched a sub-.500 record for the 10th straight season. Texas has just seven games left on the road — one in Seattle, three in Arizona and three in Minnesota to end the season. The remaining nine are at Globe Life Field in a homestand that starts next Tuesday.

Texas started the season with a decent record on the road. The Rangers were 25-24 on the road by the start of July. Since then? Texas has stumbled in a huge way. Texas is 7-18 on the road since July 1 and are 5-15 in their last 20 road games.

MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry pointed out the Rangers’ strange rhythms on the road. Texas has won each of its last four road trip openers, dating back to July 28. In those openers, the Rangers have outscored their opponents, 29-9. But in the rest of those trips Texas is 2-14, which includes 16 games, and the Rangers have been outscored, 96-47.

Another thing is hurting the Rangers on the road and that is their earned run average. Going into Wednesday’s game the Rangers’ pitching staff had an ERA of 3.17 at home and an ERA of 4.92 on the road. Per the Rangers, PR staff it’s the largest disparity in baseball.

Entering Thursday’s game with Seattle the Rangers have a 22-22-2 record in series in 2026. But, again the disparity on the road rears its head. Texas is 6-8-1 in series since the All-Star break, and all six series wins have come at home. Texas is 0-7-0 in road series since the break. If Texas loses on Thursday, then it will match its longest streak of road series losses since 2021, when the Rangers lost eight in a row.

The Rangers are in danger of joining the 1973 team as the only team in franchise history to finish the second half of the season without a road series win. In 1973, the Rangers — in their second year after moving from Washington — went 0-9-2 on the road.

The Rangers could end the season with an undefeated series record at home (6-0-1 currently). But it won’t matter to Texas in a playoff chase if it’s unable to win a series on the road. It will be the biggest thing keeping them out of the playoffs if that’s how things play out.