3,2,1… no it is not a countdown but instead, the Texas Rangers' run totals for their first divisional series over the weekend against the Mariners.
With the ugly showing in Seattle, the Rangers are now 26th in batting average (.208) and dead last in OBP (.267) in all of baseball while averaging just 3.1 runs a game. Throughout the weekend, Texas went a combined 5-26 with RISP and simply never got a single rally going putting up a crooked number in just one inning all weekend.
Texas DH woes from last season are continuing as Joc Pederson brought his season total to an eye-popping 3 for 50 and is currently 0 for his last 26. Both Marcus Semien and Jake Burger also remain on the struggle bus although show slight flashes of hopping off.
On the positive side of things, certain individuals have had a nice start to their seasons. Corey Seager had a nice series with Adolis Garcia collecting a few knocks. Josh Jung continues to swing it well, coming off the IL, and Jonah Heim is looking like himself from 2023. Texas has just been unable to put it together as a team in the early going.
Startling Metrics
The counting stats are ugly enough, but as you get into the weeds, the advanced metrics make the first 16 games seem even worse for this offense.
Statcast has the Rangers in the bottom five of hard in percentage while being ranked first in fly ball percentage and dead last in line drive percentage. That means a ton of soft contact in the air, leading to very easy outs. Not to mention also cracking the top 5 in pop-ups.
In other words, the Rangers hit the most balls in the air out of any team in baseball, and very rarely are those well-hit baseballs.
Texas has not gotten off to the greatest start hitting the fastball either, which was a storyline last season.
Six out of their 10 qualified hitters have a negative run value against the 4-seam fastballs, and four of them are slugging south of .300 against fastballs alone (Heim, Higashioka, Garcia, and Pederson). For what it's worth, on the flip side of things, their typical top 3 in the lineup (Semien, Seager, and Langford), all are hitting the fastball well to begin the season.
Additionally, Rangers are currently swinging at the most pitches in the big leagues, swinging at 52% of pitches, and are dead last in Chase% %, 23rd in zone contact% %. In English, they swing a ton and don’t make contact very often.
Oh, and just for fun, the Rangers were third in all of baseball in hard-hit% in 2023. They dropped to 16th last season, and currently sit 26th in 2025
Panic Meter
The good news for Rangers fans is that it is still very early, just now about 10% through the 162-game marathon. The equivalent of the first 6 quarters of an NFL season.
I believe certain guys will get it going, Semien in particular, Corey Seager continues to show that he's back on track swinging the bat well and Adolis Garcia, Josh Jung, and Jonah Heim all look pretty good to start the year. They just need to click it all together, but certain guys have got to step up and start producing. Joc Pederson just simply can't be this bad, and this team needs a run with a healthy Langford, Seager, and Jung like it needs oxygen.
I'll put the panic meter, for now, at a 4. They have been weathering the storm nicely, sitting at 9-7 despite losing 5 of their last 6 and having a -19 run differential. Wyatt Langford should be back in the lineup this Saturday as Texas returns home for 6 games against the Angels and Dodgers, looking to find their groove.