How the Rangers Can Compete for Glory After a Four-Time World Series Champion Manager's Departure
The Texas Rangers finished the 2025 MLB regular season with a .500 record of 81-81, just three years after winning their first World Series Championship in team history in 2023 under Bruce Bochy. Now, the Rangers enter the 2026 season under former Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker. Expectations for fans have been so-so, with fan-favorite players like Marcus Semien and Jonah Heim departing the team. It seems like special assistant Michael Young and the Rangers front office wanted to bring in an array of players to try to get back to where they were just a few years ago.
The two biggest names added this offseason to the Rangers are starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore and left fielder Brandon Nimmo, both acquired via trade: Gore from the Washington Nationals and Nimmo from the New York Mets. Other acquisitions include catcher Danny Jansen, relief pitcher Jakob Junis, and re-signing closing ace Chris Martin. However, the players you’ve got on your squad only make up for some of the success you may or may not have throughout the season. For every one of the 162 games, and potentially more for Rangers fans in this case, Schumaker is tasked with making critical decisions. These decisions range from selecting the starting pitcher and determining the batting order to choosing the right relief pitcher to escape a difficult situation, or the closer to secure the win.
The Rangers had the best overall ERA in the MLB last year, with a 3.47 ERA, yet how did they only go .500 on the season? That answer would be the offense and closing out games. In games where they scored over four runs, they were 65-19. They were absolutely rolling when they’d put up runs, as every MLB team should. However, when scoring less than four runs, they were 16-62; almost mind-blowing to think about. The team has a lot of potential this year, and it starts with aces Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob DeGrom, Jack Leiter, and the aforementioned Gore. In the dugout, there's the captain, Corey Seager, and young talent in Evan Carter, Wyatt Langford, Josh H. Smith, Josh Jung, and Ezequiel Duran. If the starting pitchers can have great days on the mound, the bats continue to score runs, and the bullpen arms can take care of business and learn from the shortcomings of the 2025 season, this year’s squad has the potential to do something great.
As stated earlier, the talent on the roster is just part of a team’s success, and it all starts with who you’ve got leading the team in the dugout. Schumaker played in the MLB for 10 years: seven of those years were with the St. Louis Cardinals, one with the LA Dodgers, and two with the Cincinnati Reds, where he retired from playing in 2015. I think bringing in a young coach with a bright mind can be just the thing that can push a team, which in this case, has a lot of youth, to the next level. Just look at Sean McVay, 40, of the Los Angeles Rams, or the most recent Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks head coach, Mike Macdonald, who is 38 years old. At 46, Schumaker has the chance to create a culture that’s different from the short-lived Bochy era and give these Rangers a different energy, a different spark to their game. Schumaker has a short stint of experience with coaching, but his most prominent was with the Miami Marlins in 2023, where he led the team to an 84-78 season and to their first full-season playoff appearance since 2003. Skip created and led a team with not a lot of big-time talent to the postseason. Rangers fans, imagine what he is capable of with the potent lineup and bullpen he’s got going into this season. He has the opportunity to show the world something special brewing down in Arlington, TX.
