Six Takeaways From the Texas Rangers’ 2025 Season

Texas has also been recognized as an organization that has had some trouble fully developing its pitching talent. With Jack Leiter’s solid rookie season, perhaps things are trending in the right direction.

Leiter was forced into the starting rotation out of spring training due to injuries to both Jon Gray and Cody Bradford. There were some rocky starts, but the full body of work was good, with stretches of greatness along the way.

For 2025, Leiter logged 151.2 innings pitched during 29 starts. He went 10-10, had a 3.86 ERA, 1.279 WHIP, struck out 148, and walked 67. At age 25, the future is bright for the talented right-hander.

Offensive Approach Matters

Two short seasons ago, the Texas Rangers’ offense was a machine. It didn’t matter what part of the lineup was due up, or how big the deficit was; it felt like the Rangers could, and would come back and outscore their opponent more times than not.

In 2023, the Rangers were being voted on to be named the best offense in the American League. This year, with many of the same players, the team ranked near the bottom in most offensive categories.

It was the second year in a row that the offense struggled. Because of that, the Rangers fired hitting coach Donnie Ecker on May 4 and replaced him a day later with Bret Boone.

Even with the quick action and a different voice calling the shots, the team’s offensive woes continued for much of the season. There were some bright spots along the way, but overall, it was another disappointing offensive year.

As a team, the 2025 Rangers slashed .234/.302/.381. Texas ranked 26th in baseball in all three categories.

Too often, the Rangers’ hitters were chasing pitching outside the strike zone. Those ill-advised swings usually resulted in either strikeouts or weak contact that turned into outs.

Moving forward, there will need to be better plate discipline in Texas. The Rangers’ hitters will also do better if they get back to what made them so dangerous in 2023. That year, the team was second only to the Red Sox with 326 doubles.

That 2023 Rangers team hit line drives from gap to gap, and that is what made them so dangerous. They didn’t chase, and when a pitcher would throw them a hittable pitch, they did damage with it.

Somehow, the 2024 Rangers were dead last in baseball in doubles with only 220. This past year was better (245, ranked 21st), but still nowhere close to where they needed to be.

Nathan Eovaldi Is Special

In true Eovaldi fashion, the menacing righty put to rest any doubts that he is a big league ace. When you share the starting rotation with Jacob deGrom, it can be easy to be overlooked.

Eovaldi made his presence known and was a couple of injuries away from having a Cy Young-winning type of year. After getting off to a great start, Eovaldi would miss a full month from the end of May to the end of June.

That time off put his innings total just under the qualifying number for most of the season. But as he kept logging innings, it appeared that he was going to be able to pitch enough innings to be able to take the ERA title.

Unfortunately, Eovaldi would make his last start of the season on August 22. A rotator cuff strain would sideline him for the remainder of the year.

But even with the time that was missed, Eovaldi had a spectacular 2025. In 130 innings pitched over 22 starts, he had a minuscule 1.73 ERA, 0.854 WHIP, struck out 129, and walked only 21.

Those are the types of numbers that top high schoolers put up against inferior competition. Eovaldi wasn’t pitching against bad hitters, but he sure made them look that way this year.

Eovaldi has quickly become an all-time favorite Rangers pitcher. Between his great 2025 season and his 2023 playoff run, there are many reasons for fans to love him.

Wyatt Langford Is Key to Winning

In his second season, Langford did extremely well. It wasn’t off the charts good, but it was solid.

He was easily the Rangers’ second-best hitter, behind only Seager. The youngster (he turns 24 in November) is still feeling his way through things, but is doing so at an impressive clip.

This year, Langford played in 134 games, slashed .241/.344/.431, hit 22 home runs, stole 22 bases, and had a 127 OPS+. The glaring strike – pun intended – on his game this year was a spike in strikeouts.

In his first year, when he played the same number of games, Langford had only 115 strikeouts, but in 2025, that number jumped to 151. That part of his game should improve, hopefully as soon as next year.

As Langford went, so went the Rangers in 2025. His splits in wins versus losses are remarkable.

The Rangers were 67-67 in games that Langford participated in. In the losses, he slashed .188/.270/.269, had eight doubles, no triples, four home runs, 28 walks, 89 strikeouts, scored 16 runs, and had only nine RBI. Pretty terrible.

But in the Rangers wins, Langford slashed .295/.411/.594, had 17 doubles, one triple, 18 home runs, 46 walks, 62 strikeouts, scored 52 runs, and had 53 RBI. Amazing!

Langford is a superstar in the making. He is only going to continue to improve. In just his second season in the major leagues, he was a Gold Glove finalist in left field.

His athleticism and baseball sense are at an elite level. It is only a matter of time before Langford puts a full year together and steps squarely into the AL MVP race conversation.

Closers Still Have Value

Coming into the 2025 season, the Rangers didn’t have a set closer. Instead, the team used multiple pitchers in that capacity.

In fact, the Rangers had nine guys record saves this year, for a total of 37 saves. Three bullpen arms tied at the top with nine saves apiece: Shawn Armstrong, Robert Garcia, and Luke Jackson.

There is something to be said about having a closer that your manager can toss the ball to and not have to worry about what is going to happen. Billy Wagner, who went into the Hall of Fame this past summer, was one of those guys.

It is clear in the video below what it meant to his teams to have a lockdown closer on the roster.

The Rangers didn’t have that. In fact, it was completely the opposite. Texas finished the 2025 season tied with Arizona with the second-most blown saves at 29. Only the Angels had more at 33.

Plenty of blame can be laid at the feet of the struggling offense when it comes to the blown saves and all of the close games lost. That is true, but it also makes sense that if the team did have a top-end closer, many of those games that slipped away late could have been won.

Some people believe that the closer role is no longer necessary. But the 2025 Texas Rangers are proof positive that a team is much better with a top closer than without one.

CY did try and trade for one at the trade deadline, but a deal simply couldn’t be made. Moving forward, it is likely that the team will either look to develop a closer type reliever or perhaps go out and add one via trade or free agency.

Changes Are Coming This Offseason

Little time was wasted in making the first changes in preparation for 2026. Bochy and CY reached an agreement to let his current contract expire and not extend it beyond this season.

Then, just a short few days later, the Rangers announced that Skip Schumaker would be the team’s new manager. Not only that, but they made a high commitment to him in the form of a four-year contract.

So, what other changes are going to take place in Arlington this offseason? For one, there will need to be another bullpen rebuild. The majority of the team’s relievers in 2025 were on one-year contracts and will either have to be re-signed or replaced.

Starting pitching-wise, there is a solid core of deGrom, Eovaldi, and Leiter who will be returning. There will need to be at least one or two quality starters added, along with some depth pieces.

The big questions this offseason revolve around the offense. Should the Rangers move on from Adolis García and Jonah Heim? Perhaps try to trade Marcus Semien (eating a portion of his salary, no doubt) or even Josh Jung?

When García is locked in, he is one of the best in baseball. Unfortunately, he has been lackluster far too often over the past two seasons.

As is always the case with baseball roster construction, one move here or there will have a direct implication for what the organization does somewhere else. There are several ways that they can go about things, but one thing is certain: The Rangers will not run out the same team next season and simply expect them to perform better.

In his season wrap-up presser, CY made it clear that the Rangers will be younger as a whole. Perhaps that means that some of the ‘Little Rascals’ will play a larger role. It could also mean trading some veterans for some younger talent that will be in the big leagues.

The biggest thing that needs to change for the Rangers in 2026 is on the “W” side of the win/loss columns. A better record, and a return to the postseason, is the goal.

CY and new manager Schumaker will both be doing what they can to make that goal a reality. And it all starts this offseason and rolls into the spring.

2025 was a rough year for the Rangers, but in true sports fan fashion, “there is always next year.”