The Texas Rangers will soon hit the road to open their 2026 season with a road series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Earlier in Spring Training, first-year manager Skip Schumaker announced that Nathan Eovaldi would get the ball on Opening Day, but we know now who will follow him.

The Rangers have announced that Jacob deGrom and MacKenzie Gore will follow Eovaldi on the mound in Philadelphia.

Eovaldi will make his sixth career Opening Day start and acknowledges that each of them are equaliy as special.

“I think they’re all very special, whether it’s the first or this one,” Eovaldi said while meeting with the media after the announcement.

For deGrom, 2026 marks a season in which he got a fully healthy Spring Training followed by a 2025 season that saw him make 30 starts.

There’s no doubt that if healthy, then deGrom has the ability to wedge himself into the American League Cy Young award conversation.

Starting the third game for the Rangers is Gore, who was acquired in a trade from the Washington Nationals over the offseason.

The game will mark Gore’s first start in a Rangers uniform, coming against a Phillies team with whom he is familiar from his time in Washington.

There is no doubt that the starting staff will once again be the strength of the Rangers team this season.

In 2025, the Rangers featured the best starting staff in all of baseball and have the means to do the same in 2026.

Health will, of course, be a big factor in determining the success of the Rangers' pitching staff. Each of the main starters has spent significant time on the Injured List in the last couple of seasons.

The Rangers will still need to decide who will be the fifth starter after a Spring Training battle between Jacob Latz and Kumar Rocker.

Texas will be at Globe Life Field for a two-game exhibition series against the Kansas City Royals before they crunch their roster and travel to Philly for the season’s opening series.

Overall, the Rangers no doubt have the team in place to compete for their first postseason spot since winning the World Series back in 2023.

Led by the strong starting staff, the Rangers have seen significant improvements in quality of at-bats from an offensive standpoint during Spring Training. They hope those will carry over to the regular season to right the wrongs of the last two seasons.

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