Will Struggling Lineup Be Downfall for Rangers Playoff Hopes This Season?

It has been a frustrating start to the season for the Texas Rangers, who aren’t playing much complimentary baseball so far.

With the calendar flipping to June, the Rangers are going to need to start getting it together soon if they are going to make a run and become a contender in the American League.

The 2024 campaign was a massive letdown for the franchise after winning the World Series the year prior. Coming into this season, hope was high that a healthy team could get back to being one of the best teams in the MLB.

Despite what appeared to be a couple of nice offseason moves, the team has struggled quite a bit with injuries once again being an issue.

However, one area in particular is holding Texas back.

Will Lineup Struggles Cost the Rangers?

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the talented rotation for the Rangers being let down by a lineup that just can’t get it going.

“Despite maybe the best rotation in baseball at the moment, they're sub-.500 because of a lineup that is woefully underperforming.”

Coming into the year, the starting rotation had the potential to be excellent with a lot of talent. However, due to the injury history of Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle, there was understandably some concern about how they would hold up.

So far, the results have been amazing.

Both deGrom and Mahle look like All-Star-caliber pitchers, and Nathan Eovaldi has rounded out a fantastic trio.

Despite having one of the best starting rotations in the league, wins have been hard to come by.

The lineup is the major reason for that, with the unit underperforming expectations by a wide margin.

This is certainly frustrating based on the amount of talent they have in the batting order, but the unit has dealt with some injuries and just seemingly can’t get going.

Fortunately, All-Star shortstop Corey Seager has returned from the IL recently. He appears to be the most important player for the unit, but he needs help.

New additions over the winter Joc Pederson and Jake Burger have been busts so far with neither doing well.

Now, with one of the best rotations in the league but a lineup that can’t generate runs consistently, the franchise is going to have to decide in regards to what their plan is going forward.

There is some potential on this team, but they might need multiple bats to get the offense to where it needs to be if they are going to truly be a contender.

That might end up being too steep, but perhaps some players will break out of slumps to help out.

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