Trailing rivals by two games, the Texas Rangers enter a high-stakes road trip fueled by a must-win mentality in a desperate postseason push.
The Texas Rangers closed their homestand at 71-73 with 18 games remaining and little room for error in the postseason race.
Texas sits two games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West and two games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the third and final American League Wild Card spot.
Sunday’s 8-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays allowed the Rangers to split the four-game series and finish the homestand with a winning record.
They now head west for a road trip through Seattle and Arizona.
All hands on deck
Manager Skip Schumaker leaned heavily on his entire roster Sunday, using pinch hitters, pinch runners and even removing a reliever after only one inning.
According to Kennedi Landry from MLB.com, Schumaker emphasized that he approaches every game expecting Texas to win and believes his players carry the same mentality.
“I come in thinking we’re going to win every single day,” Schumaker said.
“That’s the hard, honest truth, and those guys do as well.”
Jake Burger played a major role Sunday by homering twice.
Burger explained that the Rangers are treating every remaining game like a postseason game and still believe both the division and Wild Card remain within reach.
He acknowledged that dropping the previous two games against Tampa Bay could have created panic, but said there continues to be strong belief throughout the clubhouse.
“I think there’s a lot of belief,” Burger said.
“I think when you lose those two games [against the Rays], it’s easy to hit the panic button a little bit. But I think there’s a lot of belief in this clubhouse amongst the guys. It’s still right there for us, both the Wild Card and the division. We just have to show up every single day and do our jobs.”
Texas lost those two games at Globe Life Field despite attempting late comebacks in each.
Saturday’s defeat marked the Rangers’ first consecutive home losses since July 4-5 against the Detroit Tigers.
Jacob deGrom started Saturday and delivered a quality start, giving up two runs on four hits (two home runs) with seven strikeouts and a walk in six innings before Texas eventually lost 6-3 in 10 innings.
Rangers’ mindset
deGrom acknowledged the urgency of the situation afterward.
He said the Rangers understand where they stand and know they need to win a significant number of games while playing strong baseball over the final stretch.
“That’s the reality of it,” deGrom said Saturday.
“We know what our record is. We know we gotta win quite a bit. We gotta play really good baseball to get in this. I think we can do it. It’s keeping that positive mindset. Like we said, this one stings. It was a close game, and we weren’t able to win it. We gotta show up tomorrow and go from there.”
deGrom also stressed the importance of maintaining a positive mentality despite painful losses and avoiding dwelling on games the team wishes it could replay.
That mindset will become increasingly important as the margin for mistakes continues shrinking.
Veterans such as deGrom bring significant value in situations like this because they understand how to handle pressure without allowing individual results to dictate their preparation.
His calm approach can help stabilize a clubhouse during a tense stretch.
Burger offers a different but equally useful presence.
His power can change games quickly, while his willingness to embrace the urgency of the moment reflects the mentality Texas needs throughout the roster.
Schumaker’s willingness to use nearly every available player also highlights how much versatility will matter over the final weeks.
Pinch runners, bench bats and relievers could all determine close games.
Texas opens a three-game road series against the Seattle Mariners tomorrow.
