Franchise Timeline
2020
The Rangers had a disappointing season, finishing at 22-38 for the worst record in the American League. Lance Lynn led the American League in innings pitched and was sixth in the Cy Young voting, but was their only consistently reliable starting pitcher. Early injuries to right-handers Corey Kluber and Jose Leclerc set back their pitching staff and the same happened to their offense with outfielders Danny Santana and Willie Calhoun being limited by physical issues. Third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa and right fielder Joey Gallo both won Gold Gloves as their positions. The Rangers used 18 different rookies with catcher Jose Trevino, center fielder Leody Taveras and utility player Nick Solak making the biggest impressions on the offensive side. The top rookie pitchers were right-handers Jonathan Hernandez and Kyle Cody, and left-hander Wes Benjamin.
2021
The Rangers farm system got a huge boost this summer with a solid Draft class led by Jack Leiter at No. 2 overall and Trade Deadline hauls, but the product at the big league level left a lot to be desired. Texas finished with 100-plus losses for the first time since 1973 amid what the front office hoped to be one of the final seasons of the rebuild.
After getting to a .500 record at 18-18 on May 9, the Rangers never got close to it again. They lost nine of their next 10 and went on a 16-game losing streak that lasted into the first week of June. Texas produced three All-Star selections -- Joey Gallo, Adolis Garcia and Kyle Gibson -- but Gallo and Gibson were both dealt at the Trade Deadline. The emergence of Garcia, who finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting, was one of very few silver linings as Texas completed yet another last-place finish in the AL West.
The Rangers were almost a completely new team after the Deadline, with prospects and other inexperienced players littered across the field. The second half of the year focused on finding out who could be part of the 2022 team as young players like DJ Peters, Andy Ibanez and Leody Taveras got the chance to play every day. The club made multiple coaching staff and front office changes at the conclusion of the season, hoping for a chance of pace going into '22.
2022
After a big-spending offseason that included the additions of Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Jon Gray, 2022 was expected to be a step forward for the Rangers. Instead, it resulted in the sixth consecutive losing season and yet another missed playoff berth.
There were very few silver linings throughout the 94-loss season, but the re-emergence of Martín Pérez, the breakout of Silver Slugger Award winning Nathaniel Lowe and MLB debut of top prospect Josh Jung following injury stood out above the rest.
Pérez — who accepted $19.65 million qualifying offer ahead of the 2023 season — posted a career-best 2.89 ERA over 196 1/3 innings. He was one win shy of matching his career high of 13 in 2017.
Lowe became the first qualified .300 hitter for the Rangers since Elvis Andrus (.302) and Adrián Beltré (.300) in 2016, and concluded the season with a slash line of .302/.358/.492 with 27 homers. He ranked among the AL leaders in multiple offensive categories, including hits (fourth, 179), total bases (sixth, 292), batting average (seventh), slugging (eighth) and OPS (eighth), all of which were also team highs.
Despite the few high points, it all culminated in mid-August, when the club fired fourth-year manager Chris Woodward and longtime president of baseball operations Jon Daniels.
General manager Chris Young replaced Woodward with two-time World Series-winning manager Bruce Bochy and added pitching coach Mike Maddux as Texas had another big-spending winter by signing Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney in free agency.
2023
When Rangers manager Bruce Bochy addressed the media when he was hired in October 2022, he was adamant that he wasn’t coming out of retirement for a rebuild. He wasn't joining the organization with the expectation that losing 90-plus games again was OK. He got even better, leading the club to its first ever World Series championship in his first year as manager.
The Rangers got out to a hot start out of the gate, and by mid-June, they had a six-game lead atop the AL West, even after enduring the loss of deGrom, who had UCL surgery in May. Texas had four starters in the AL All-Star game -- Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Josh Jung and Jonah Heim -- and an additional two participants in Adolis García and Nathan Eovaldi.
But struggles in the second half, including every All-Star except Semien landing on the injured list, led to the AL West coming down to the wire. The Rangers entered the final series of the season in Seattle, needing to win two of the three games to secure the first division title since 2016. They fell just short, losing 1-0 to the Mariners in Game 162. Both Texas and Houston finished with a 90-78 record, but the Astros took the division via a tiebreaker, despite the Rangers spending 159 days in first place.
The Rangers were rewarded with a cross country flight to Tampa to kick off their postseason journey. Texas proceeded to sweep both the Rays and the Orioles in the Wild Card Series and the ALDS, before winning a thrilling seven-game ALCS against the Astros to advance to the World Series, where they defeated the D-backs in five games. Getting back surely won’t be easy, and there are holes to fill going into 2024, but the Rangers’ window of contention is wide open at the moment.