Beating A Dead Horse? Texas Rangers Drop To ESPN's Bottom 10 Power Rankings

The Texas Rangers' unstable offense has them ranked among ESPN's worst teams of 2024.

Sep 13, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Texas Rangers left fielder Ezequiel Duran (20) slides safely into third base during the second inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images / Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

For some teams, 2024 will be a year to remember. For the Texas Rangers, most of it they'll be happy to forget.

With two weeks remaining and 9.5 games out of the AL West division race, the Rangers postseason chances are nearly 0%. They will not repeat as World Series champions. Texas won't be playing October baseball.

Texas' issues this season are mostly related to a staggering drop off in offense from 2023, which wasn't helped by major injuries leaving core players sidelined for long stretches such as Josh Jung, Corey Seager, and Evan Carter.

ESPN recently listed its updated power rankings heading into the home stretch. Texas checked in at No. 22 between the San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays, both of whom also severely underachieved this season.

Texas' title defense never really got out of the starting blocks. As we all mused about what a healthy Rangers rotation might look like at playoff time, the team dropped below .500 on May 21 and never got back to breakeven. The rotation never did get healthy, even as the roster of available arms iterated repeatedly, eventually resulting in a playing-out-the-string group that included the Jacob DeGrom-Max Scherzer pairing we dreamed about. There were just too many injuries and underperformances to overcome. The Rangers have manager Bruce Bochy under contract through next season and recently extended and promoted lead exec Chris Young. With that pair intact, an improving health outlook and a growing core of in-house talent, expectations for the 2025 Rangers might be high.

- ESPN's Bradford Doolittle

The Rangers (73-80) have lost six of their past 10 games and are nearly 10 games below .500. with nine to play. Texas has turned to see what the future could look like, calling up Kumar Rocker, using a lot of bullpen arms, and platooning fielders in and out of the lineup.

The 2022 No. 3 overall pick was pinned with his first loss on Thursday against the Blue Jays while struggling with his command and velocity. He struck out five while also giving up a sacrifice fly in the second inning. Rocker currently boasts a 2.67 ERA with a 1.57 WHIP and 12 strikeouts.

The Rangers close out the season against three AL West opponents. They finish the homestand with a three-game series against Seattle starting Friday night before traveling west next week for a three-game set against the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels.