'Fun, fun game': Rangers walk off to cap largest comeback of the season

ARLINGTON -- The Rangers opened the 2024 season with a walk-off, extra-inning victory over the Cubs at Globe Life Field. On Sunday afternoon, they closed the 2024 home slate with a walk-off win over the Mariners.

A whole lot happened in between, but that piece of symmetry epitomized the 2024 Rangers. Manager Bruce Bochy admitted that it’s tough to see other teams clinch their postseason berths this week, as the reigning World Series champions fell out of contention.

The Rangers were already officially eliminated from both AL West contention and the AL Wild Card races after the first two losses to Seattle this weekend. But Texas came back from a five-run deficit in Sunday’s series finale, charging back to defeat the Mariners, 6-5, capped off with a walk-off single from Marcus Semien that scored Leody Taveras from second base.

It was the first walk-off as a Ranger for Semien and the largest come-from-behind victory for the club this year.

“Look at the fight they had in them,” Bochy said. “When you're getting shut down the way we did, and come back like that, it does say a lot about the character of the club.”

While September has been about learning things for 2025, starter Andrew Heaney -- who is set to become a free agent at the end of the year -- has been a stabilizing force for the pitching staff. Making his 30th start on Sunday, the southpaw allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings. After run support struggles all year long for Texas, the club has won three of Heaney’s four starts in September.

“It was a fun, fun game,” Heaney said. “It wasn't fun early, and then it got more fun as a game went on. It’s the last home game of the year, so in a season where I don't think a lot of people are happy with how it went, at least we can send some people home happy and have a good game.”

It’s hard to win a championship in this game. It’s even harder to win two back to back, something Bochy knows first-hand, having now failed to make the playoffs the following year after all four of his World Series. But that just makes the club hungrier to get back at it in 2025.

“[Competing] is why I got back in the game,” Bochy said pregame on Sunday. “This has been a tough year, not just for us, but for me personally, because we're not headed for the postseason. That's why you play the game. It’s disappointing. We’re hungrier. We've already started working on things that we need to get better at. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get back to where we want to go.”

Bochy has said all season long that any team needs three things to be a true contender: the core guys to have their normal years, a few surprises along the way and health throughout the lineup.

The Rangers went 0-for-3 on those things in their title defense. But that also means there’s reason to be confident going into 2025. But Sunday’s win is proof that the pieces are there.

“We're not that far away,” Bochy said. “No, I don't think it's an overhaul. We’ve got a great core here. We just had to deal with some things this year that we couldn't quite overcome. Every season takes life up its own, and this one did. Not just the injuries we had and all that, but just our play too.

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“It wasn't quite as good. We have to be honest about that. The offense, these guys will bounce back. Hopefully this is going to make them all hungrier and realize as we're watching postseason games that it was us last year. That's where we want to be next year again.”

Speaking of the offense, it was relatively quiet once again for most of Sunday’s matchup, with only two hits -- both singles -- through the first five innings. Texas then put up a four-spot in the sixth, thanks to a homer from Wyatt Langford. Taveras tied it with a solo homer in the seventh inning before scoring the winning run in the ninth.

That’s the kind of offensive production the Rangers have needed throughout the lineup all season long.

“We just didn't offensively show up like we did last year,” Semien said. “That made it hard on ourselves. In this league, you have to hit for power and play good defense. I’ll always say that until I'm done playing. We didn't always do that this year. Next year, I think that'll be a focus for us.”