ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Rangers are locked in a tight playoff race with an intra-division rival heading into the final stretch of the season. Given traditional scheduling conventions, it should give them plenty of opportunity to win head-to-head matchups to make up ground.
Now, here’s where it gets weird. By the end of the weekend, the Rangers’ entire season series with Seattle will be done. Worse: Regardless of the outcome of the four-game series at T-Mobile Park this weekend the Mariners already have clinched the season series and, with it, any head-to-head tiebreaker.
Of course, there is a way out of this big pickle.
Win this weekend’s four-game series, pass Seattle in the wild card standings and never look back. With no more head-to-head games, it’s a lot easier to control your destiny from in front than behind. The Rangers began Wednesday a game behind Seattle in the wild card race, but down in the season series 7-2 with four games remaining. Seattle would earn the benefits of a tiebreaker at season’s end, which could ultimately deny the Rangers a playoff berth.
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Oh, one more tiny detail we forgot to mention. T-Mobile Park has been an absolute hellscape for Rangers of recent vintage. Seattle swept the Rangers there in April. The Mariners have won six straight against the Rangers at home, 13 of 17 since Bruce Bochy rode into town and 25 of 33 since the 2020 season opener set for Seattle was rescheduled to due COVID.
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It is all part of a larger problem – the Rangers poor road play ever since they set an MLB record with their 11-game road winning streak in the 2023 playoffs. The Rangers began Wednesday 22-32 on the road this season and with the 7th worst road record in baseball over the last two years.
“There is no secret to playing well on the road,” Bochy said. “I know the start of this trip has not gone so well, but the last road trip was a better trip. I don’t know why. All I can tell you is you’ve got to playt good baseball on the road to win. And we haven’t played our best baseball.”
There is, however, a secret to the Rangers’ most recent issues in Seattle.
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Lean in a little closer.
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Pssst: It’s Corey Seager.
The Rangers go as Seager goes. His presence in the lineup alone makes them a playoff caliber team. They entered Wednesday 43-32 in games he started this year, which would be a 93-win pace over 162 games. Which is enough to make you wonder why the Rangers would ever give a healthy Seager a day off in the middle of a playoff race as they did Tuesday. When he gets a hit, they are even better. They are 33-17.
With us? OK, good. Here’s the rub: He just doesn’t hit in Seattle. No matter how hard he preps. Seager has a .133/.214/.173/.388 slash rate for his career in the park where his older brother Kyle spent his entire career. As a Ranger, he’s 8 for 62 (.129) there without a homer and a single, solitary RBI.
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Who knows why? Maybe it’s because he made his Seattle debut in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic and he’s been forever scarred. Seems as good a theory as any. Because Seager didn’t give up any the last time we checked.
“I’ve never thought about anything here,” Seager said of the ballpark last year. “Nothing here makes me feel uncomfortable.”
Said Bochy: “You can’t explain some things in this game – certain batter-pitcher matchups, how guys perform in certain ballparks. He may not see the ball as well there. It may be their pitching, which is really good. There could be a lot of variables.”
He’s not alone in his struggle. Since the start of 2024, the Rangers are hitting .188 as a team in Seattle and have struck out 85 times while walking just 15 times. In three games in April, the Rangers managed just six total runs.
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“Hopefully, we’re talking about more positive things after this trip,” Bochy said when reminded of past Seattle performances.
If Seager gets going there, anything is possible.
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