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On Monday, 24-year-old pitcher Carter Baumler watched Texas Rangers’ manager Skip Schumaker walk out to the mound for a chat. That usually means the pitcher is getting bad news: he’s coming out of the game. But instead of being sent out of the game and back to the minor leagues where he has toiled since getting drafted in 2020, the new coach told Baumler he would be the team’s newest big league pitcher.
The heart-warming episode spread across social media and has given credence to the old baseball cliche “hope springs eternal.” But will that pre-season warm and fuzzy moment be the highlight of the Rangers’ 2026 season?
Had Baumler’s fateful mound visit happened last spring, it likely would have been the brightest spot of the 2025 campaign for the team that has managed to make the near-miraculous 2023 World Series title seem like it happened in 2013.
Another injury-filled season where the biggest names in the offensive lineup disappointed led to a perfectly mediocre 81-81 record. The offseason has also been eventful for the club with some major names saying goodbye to Arlington. Not that it matters much in March, but the past year has led to a 2026 roster that doesn’t seem to have many experts terribly excited as the season begins on Thursday. But we’ve seen a recent Rangers team start with low expectations and end with a parade in the recent past, so there’s that.
Will the Rangers Be Any Good in 2026?
This is a tricky question when it comes to a Major League Baseball team. The fact of the matter is that the Rangers weren’t bad last year. As noted earlier, they were a .500 team, and over the course of 162 game regular season, that is far from terrible, relative to the MLB cellar dwellers. But a .500 record two seasons removed from a championship isn’t what anyone wants, and the expectations are different for a team with that recent history, even if the roster has seen a great deal of turnover.
As it stands now, the Rangers should indeed be OK. Few expect them to challenge defending American League Seattle Mariners for the division title, but few suspect they’ll finish below the Athletics or Los Angeles either. ESPN predicts the Rangers will finish third in the AL West and miss out on a wild card playoff spot, for example. Noted baseball writer Keith Law of The Athletic even has Texas repeating its 81-81 record of 2025 this season, which he writes, also puts them at third in the division in his estimation.
For what it’s worth – literally – Las Vegas oddsmakers aren’t much higher on the local team, but aren’t just completely soured either. FanDuel has the Rangers with the 13th best odds of winning the World Series at +2,500. Sure, the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers are the favorite at +210, but at least the Rangers are sitting prettier than the lowly Washington Nationals, who have the worst odds of taking the title at an eye-popping +50,000.
What Happened to the Rangers in the Offseason?
Make no mistake, the 2026 Rangers will look much different than the team of the past few years. A quartet of the club’s most recognizable faces are gone thanks to manager Bruce Bochy’s departure, Marcus Semien’s trade, post-season hero Adolis Garcia’s free agent signing with Philadelphia and former all-star catcher Jonah Heim signing with Atlanta. Those four pieces made up a massive chunk of the World Series puzzle in 2023 and now they’re gone.
Perhaps the best news of the 2025 season, the performance of the pitching staff, got even better over the winter when Texas traded for young starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore. The 27-year-old lefty was sought after by many teams for his velocity and effective mix of four pitches he can consistently throw for strikes. Adding such athletic youth to a staff with proven, but injury-prone stars such as Nathan Eovaldi and Jocob deGrom could mean the staff has a needed depth it has sometimes lacked when the older guys go down for a couple of weeks.
What’s New in the Major Leagues in 2026?
One thing that is new but not really new is that the Los Angeles Dodgers, winner of the last two World Series, only got better. Again. Adding slugger Kyle Tucker to an already historically stellar lineup is basically unfair.
Another new but not really new thing to look out for in 2026 is that we are now looking straight ahead at yet another MLB work stoppage thanks to the expiring collective bargaining agreement. The MLB seems to be unable to avoid labor drama every few years and with team owners putting their collective foot down for a salary cap, observers seem convinced a lockout will delay next season in some form or fashion.
But here’s something totally new to the MLB regular season: the automotive bill-strike challenge system (ABS). For the first time ever, the batter, pitcher or catcher can challenge an umpire’s ball or strike call and have it reviewed and possibly overturned. This innovation has been a long time coming, with tests done in the minor leagues and spring training over the past few years. Experts predict a smaller strike zone could develop with the use ABS, which could benefit the batter, but there’s no dispute that in-game strategy and decision-making will look different from now on with ABS involved.
How Can I Watch the Rangers on TV
In this cord-cutting age, you could have a super easy and inexpensive time finding Rangers games on TV, or it could mean you have to add yet another streaming subscription to your ever-growing list of services.
For those with subscriptions to multi-channel streamers such as DirecTV Stream and FuboTV, you’re in luck. The Rangers Sports Network (RSN) will broadcast more than 140 regular-season games and will not cost you extra. But for those of you who live inside the Rangers’ regional broadcast area without a service carrying RSN, you will need to pay $100 for a Victory+ subscription to watch locally televised games. If you live outside of the local broadcast region, a $149.99 MLB.TV subscription will be your TV ticket.
Inevitably, there will be also a small amount of Rangers games available on national networks and other streamers, including Apple TV, Peacock and Fox Sports.
The Texas Rangers’ home opener against the Cincinnati Reds is on April 3 at Globe Life Field in Arlington. Tickets at mlb.com/rangers.
