What would make '26 a success for Rangers? Fans share their thoughts

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ARLINGTON -- Welcome back to the Rangers Trade Deadline Anonymous Fan Survey.

As a refresher, I received more than 230 responses and this has to be split into multiple parts in order to keep the newsletter tight. As I’m writing this, the Rangers remain in first place in a close AL West race before heading to Houston for a pivotal three-game set against the Astros.

Please enjoy.

(Part 1 of the Fan Survey can be found here.)

Who would you most like the club to be built around in the immediate future?

Overwhelmingly Wyatt Langford. Enough said there. Here are some other explanations:

• The team has grown too old, and the young core is too injury-prone. Jung and Langford fall into this category. I don’t see a reason to build around the young pitchers until they’ve spent time in the Majors without flirting with the worst ERAs in baseball. I have faith in Walcott, Moore, and our ability to develop some surprises
• As long as Seager is on this squad, this team should be trying to win. I’ve seen a ton of disrespect to him as of late which is crazy because he played the central role to leading this team to their only World Series. I don’t think the guy forgot how to hit. Age and lingering injuries may have caught up to him to a certain extent but I think he will be back and perform well. If he doesn’t by the end of the year, then you should re-evaluate. But past these next couple years, I want to see Wyatt become the leader of the squad.
• I just don't know (This one was my favorite)

What would make this season a success to you?

Many of the answers to this question centered on the relative weakness of the American League as a whole, as well as the AL West. Getting in seems to be the expectation at this point. Everything after that is playing with house money -- y’all’s words, not mine.

• Considering how weak the division and [league] is this year, I think making the playoffs shouldn’t be the main goal. If they get a good matchup in the first round and are playing well, I think they have what it takes to win at least one series. Even if they get eliminated in the next round, I would still call it a successful season.
• I honestly don’t know what to pick here, our team is so split on where we are. We have very important win-now pieces such as Evo and deGrom, but we are also in an OK spot for the future with Wyatt, Jack, Kumar, so I can’t confidently say we need to win the WS this year, but it’s also a waste of those older guys if we don’t do anything.
• This would be a successful season if they can win a Wild Card matchup and make it to the ALDS. If they are able to get past the Wild Card round with the struggles they have had this season I would be satisfied. If they go farther than that it would be beyond expectations and whatever happens beyond that is icing on the cake.

On a scale of 1 to 5, how confident are you that the Rangers can win the World Series in the next two seasons (through the end of Jacob deGrom's contract)? Most of you said you’re not confident, but that had more to do with external factors -- mostly the Dodgers -- than anything the Rangers are doing specifically.

Other thoughts:

• As much as I want to believe, I think it’s gonna be quite a while before they can win another World Series. I can see them winning playoff rounds with this roster, but not if it’s against the Yankees, Dodgers or other powerhouses in the league.
• Just gotta get to the playoffs and anything can happen as we saw in 2023 … I don’t think they are a top-10 team, but it doesn’t matter if you’re in the tourney.
• I know everyone has the Dodgers winning, but we as Rangers fans should know anything can happen in the postseason; you just have to get in. Most of this core already has the experience of winning a WS or making runs with other teams. It would be cool to see another run, and I do think the Rangers have the talent to do it.