This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The Rangers’ repeat bid is finally underway as pitchers and catchers report to the club’s Surprise Recreation Campus facility today.

Despite losing the division to the Astros via a tiebreaker on the final day of the regular season, the Rangers put together their best season since 2016, then dominated en route to the first World Series title in franchise history.

For once, after a fairly slow offseason, there aren’t too many question marks for Texas as camp opens in Surprise this week. Here are the biggest storylines for the World Series champs this year.

Does Wyatt Langford make the Opening Day roster?

For all intents and purposes, the Rangers’ outfield is set with Adolis García, Leody Taveras and Evan Carter. All three are above average on both sides of the field and have given no reason to be usurped just yet.

But Langford, the No. 4 overall pick out of the University of Florida in the 2023 MLB Draft, finds himself closer to the big leagues than he even thought possible so soon. General manager Chris Young has often said “it’s a performance based industry,” and if the 22-year-old No. 2 Rangers prospect per MLB proves himself in Spring Training, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be in Arlington come Opening Day.

Langford slashed .360/.480/.677 across four levels of the Minors in his debut professional season last year, firmly placing himself among the top 10 prospects in all of baseball.

“We are putting the best team on the field to go win Major League Baseball games, and if that's Wyatt Langford, then it’s our job to put the best team out on the field,” Young said at the Winter Meetings in December.

Rotation depth

In 2023, the Rangers entered camp with arguably one of the best and deepest rotations in the American League after signing a trio of veteran starters in Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney. This year, it's a little different.

deGrom, Max Scherzer -- who the Rangers acquired at the 2023 Trade Deadline -- and the newly signed Tyler Mahle are all sidelined until the summer with varying injuries. Eovaldi and Heaney return with Jon Gray, Dane Dunning and presumably Cody Bradford to start the season, with little Minor League depth behind them.

“I know there's been questions about how we need no starter, but we have five guys right now,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “And we have young kids too, so it’s our job to get them ready. … My job to make it work, whatever. We have the resources we have, and we have a lot of resources. So I'm very grateful for us. We have some injuries right now, but now those guys are on the way, so we'll get help as the season goes. But meanwhile, I've got to make it work until then.”

The lack of depth isn’t a make-or-break issue, but it will no doubt be a point of emphasis going into camp.

Can Texas swoop in at the last minute and re-sign Jordan Montgomery to give the rotation some stability? Are Minor Leaguers like Owen White (No. 8 prospect) and Zak Kent truly ready to give the club quality big league innings? Can a non-roster invitee find a way to break camp with the club?

Has the bullpen improved?

It’s no surprise that the bullpen is a point of emphasis after Texas relievers went 30-for-63 (47.6 percent) in save opportunities last year. Bullpens are volatile and you can never truly predict how they will play out from one season to another.

The Rangers replaced Aroldis Chapman and Will Smith with David Robertson and Kirby Yates. Josh Sborz and José Leclerc should both enter camp healthy, looking to ride their postseason success into 2024. Elsewhere in the bullpen, Brock Burke and Jonathan Hérnandez will both look to rebound from down years, and young arms like Grant Anderson and No. 26 prospect Antoine Kelly look to establish themselves as legitimate options.

There are still a lot of question marks, but there is no reason the bullpen shouldn't be at least slightly improved in 2024.

“It's always great to have guys that can pick each other up, keep everybody fresher and keep them involved,” Bochy said. “I think they all just want to help out and pitch innings. We’ll see where we're at when we break camp, and we’re just staying open minded with how we're going to work things out. Mike [Maddux] and I will talk about it. We'll communicate with the related group so they have a pretty good idea of what we're thinking and they'll have a decent idea of what the roles would be.”