Texas Rangers Will Benefit From American League Rivals' Injury Ravaged Spring

The Texas Rangers are among the primary contenders to represent the American League in the 2025 World Series.

Injuries derailed the Rangers' 2024 campaign, but they'll enter 2025 with one of the league's best lineups.

If Jacob deGrom can return to his Cy Young-caliber form, Texas has the talent to beat anyone in a short series.

The Rangers are a factor on their own, but it doesn't hurt that their biggest obstacle to the AL pennant is going through a nightmare spring training.

The New York Yankees are losing difference makers to injury on a regular basis this spring.

Powerhouse Giancarlo Stanton has injuries in both elbows that are considered severe. He still has no timetable to return to action, but if he requires surgery to fix the issues, he would miss the entire season.

Reigning American League Rookie of the Year winner Luis Gil has been shut down with a high-grade lat strain. The Yankees hope their difference-making pitcher can return some time this summer.

New York's third baseman, DJ LeMahieu, is sidelined with a calf injury. The veteran hitter missed significant time last year, so availability was already a question for him.

Then there is Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the entire 2025 campaign.

New York has enough depth to survive players like Stanton and Gil missing significant time, but Cole's injury changes the landscape of the American League.

Few teams in the AL could match Cole and Max Fried at the top of their rotation.

Texas already had enough talent to potentially dethrone the loaded Yankees, but New York's rash of injuries have closed the already narrow talent gap between these two teams.

Suddenly, with Cole out for the year, the Rangers pitching staff could easily go toe-to-toe with the Yankees' reduced rotation come playoff time.

Right now, with Gil also sidelined for the foreseeable future, Texas has the pitching advantage over New York.

It would have been very reasonable to claim that the Rangers lineup was greater than or equal to the Yankees' bats. No one would have argued that Texas has better pitching than New York until Cole went down for the year.

A month ago, many pundits viewed a New York World Series rematch with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a foregone conclusion. The Yankees brutal run on injuries has swung the door wide open for the Rangers to come out of the American League in 2025.

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