Texas Rangers Hope to Turn Around MLB's Second Worst Road Record

The Texas Rangers enter Saturday's game with the San Diego Padres in fourth place in the American League West with a 43-45 record.

But the Rangers have been a much different team at home than on the road. And, as they are staring at a nine-game road trip before the All-Star break, this would be a great time for them to turn that around.

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There is only one team in the AL that has a worse away record than the Rangers and that’s the Chicago White Cox, but they’re struggling to win at home too.  The Sox are 19-24 when they’re in Chicago but 10-35 anywhere else.

Texas has the second-best record in their division at home at 26-19, but the worst away record at 17-26 after a 3-2 loss to San Diego on Friday.

In both the American and National Leagues there are a total of four teams with worse away records: the Colorado Rockies, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Atlanta Braves, and the White Sox. 

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No team is expected to win more when they leave their home field, but to be a playoff contender a team must at least flirt with the .500 mark on the road. When Texas won the 2023 World Series, its road record was 40-41.

The best teams in the Majors are the Detroit Tigers or the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Tigers are 25-20 when they get outside of Detroit and LA is 23-18 on an opposing field.

The Rangers;' offensive numbers for players change dramatically away from home, too. Entering the road trip to San Diego, super-utility player Josh Smith was slashing .342/.409/.521 with an OPS of .930 at home. On the road he was slashing .236/.307/.331 with an OPS of .638. 

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Smith isn’t the only one. Shortstop Corey Seager goes from an on-base percentage of .315 and a slugging percentage of .394 in away games to an on-base of .374 and a slugging of .495 when he's at home.

Individual statistical changes from home to road are expected, but spreads like Smith's are difficult to overcome. Incredibly, the splits as a team are virtually unchanged. At home, as a team, the Rangers slash .229/.301/.351 and on the road they slash .229/.291/.385.

The starting rotation has been terrific, home or road. If the Rangers expect to close their road record, their bats have to start slugging with more regularity away from Globe Life Field.

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