Rangers Drop Series to Subpar A’s in 2026 AL West Series
They never said the road was going to be easy, Rangers fans. On the road for a three-game series against the A’s, the Rangers drop two of three and fall to 61-64, still hanging on by a thread for the American League West crown, and in the middle for a spot in the Wild Card playoffs. Yet, it doesn’t help that a roster as talented and full of potential as Texas’ loses two of three to a very subpar Athletics team, who improve to 49-75 in the season. Cody Bradford started for Skip Schumaker and his team, but had a performance he’d rather forget, pitching four innings but giving up eight runs, two earned runs, and a walk. For the A’s, Jacob Lopez started on the mound and had himself a decent game. Pitching six innings, he only gave up five hits, two earned runs, and struck out six batters in a 5-2 winning effort.
Rangers Pitching Won’t Be Enough to Get Them to the Playoffs
If there was a game that summed up how mediocre Texas’ pitching has been, it was Game Three of this series. With the aforementioned poor performance of Bradford on full display, five other pitchers took the mound to try to simmer down the A’s offense, but they just couldn’t. Jakob Junis took the loss today, as he surrendered two earned runs on two hits in just one inning. This year, Junis has been great on the mound, with an ERA of 3.00 and a record of 1-2, but he just seemed to have a bad day today. The other pitchers that took the mound for Skip were the newly acquired Chase Silseth, Tyler Alexander, Cole Winn, and Peyton Gray. Gray has been on the short end of the stick lately and today showed he may need some time to gather himself, even if it means a trip down to the Minors for a bit. In the third of an inning, he gave up three hits and one home run, resulting in an earned run. I don’t know if there needs to be a new pitching coach, but it seems like pitching has become an everyday issue. With no light at the end of the tunnel, the offense will have to score at least five runs to give themselves the best chance to win.
Can Skip Bring the Team Together?
Yet again, Texas has a chance to make things right in the AL West with an upcoming six-game homestand against the Washington Nationals and a rematch against the Angels. With both opponents under .500 on the season, and the Rangers being over .500 when playing at home, the odds are automatically in their favor. Pitching must come back and be better than ever, and the offense needs to be at its best, scoring enough to relieve the pressure of keeping the lead off the pitchers. As of right now, the Rangers are 2.5 games behind the Astros and can soon be over three games behind if Houston wins. The Astros themselves have a homestand of their own, facing the Angels and A’s after their series against the Mariners, so they have an even better opportunity to widen the gap between them and the rest of the division. The Rangers will have to take advantage of pitching mismatches and runners in scoring position and try to take the lead early and sustain it if they want any chance to stay in contention for the division crown.
