ARLINGTON -- Corey is indeed back in the house.
Rangers shortstop Corey Seager announced his return to the Rangers’ lineup Friday night, launching a go-ahead, two-run homer in the sixth inning, helping the club to a series-opening 3-2 win over the Guardians at Globe Life Field.
Seager, who had been on the injured list since May 18 with lower back inflammation, was set up perfectly in the sixth inning with a leadoff homer from a streaking Kyle Higashioka and a one-out double from Wyatt Langford ahead of him. Langford is also coming off the injured list, having missed the last six weeks with a forearm strain.
"It's definitely good to have them back,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “We were talking on the bench, Rod [Barajas] and I, that their timing looked right in their first at-bat, both of them. Even though neither one of them got hits or anything, they just looked right. I didn't know they were going to hit a home run and a double, obviously, but it was a really good sign.”
Entering Friday, the Rangers were 201-185 (.521) since 2023 when Seager plays and just 78-84 (.481) when he does not. He has hit .327/.406/.617 with 57 home runs and 168 RBIs in Rangers wins over that time period.
Since the start of 2025, the Rangers were 52-48 (.520) when both Seager and Langford appear and 59-65 (.476) when one or both do not.
All that to say that the Rangers got an offensive boost on Friday, when both Seager and Langford were activated from the 10-day injured list. Texas’ lineup has now featured both players for just 20 of the club’s 63 total games this season (30.6%).
To make room on the roster for their return, the club optioned utilityman Cody Freeman and outfielder Alejandro Osuna to Triple-A Round Rock and designated utilityman Sam Haggerty for assignment after he was activated from the bereavement/family medical emergency list.
“I think it’s great stuff getting Corey and Wyatt back tonight. They are huge for our team,” Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young said before the game. “I'm excited to see really for the first time in some time our group together, though we’re still missing Josh Smith [due to meningitis].
“We have not had our group together in a long time. If you look at the past week to 10 days, there have been a lot of positives with the way we've played. Now getting Corey and Wyatt back in this lineup, I think will be very big for us, and I'm excited to see what that does for everybody.”
The Rangers have treaded water without them, though, mostly hovering around .500 but failing to get to the break-even point since May 1. They’ve now won six of their last seven and seven of their last 10 games to move back to within one game of .500 (31-32).
The offense has found an identity in a bit of small ball. Adding Langford and Seager just lengthens the lineup and allows the club to win in a number of different ways.
“Honestly, in a weird way, it's easier for me and Wyatt to come back when the team's going good,” Seager said postgame. “You don't feel like you have to do anything. You can just kind of hop on the train and keep it going. It's definitely nice to be playing [well] and just to be able to be back out there and have the whole team back out there.
“It was just nice to get out there with the guys again. You never want to be on the [IL], you always want to be out there competing.”
Before landing on the IL, Seager was hitless in seven straight games and 27 straight at-bats with 11 strikeouts, the longest hitless span by both games and at-bats in his career. He was also just 6-for-61 (.098) with 23 strikeouts in his last 16 games to drop his season average from .232 to .179.
Langford also wasn’t hitting quite to his standards when he landed on the injured list, as he was hitting .238 with a .637 OPS at the time of the injury. But he seemed to be hitting his stride with a .417/.462/.458 slash line over his previous six games.
It was only right that the two combined to give the Rangers a lead in the biggest moment of the night.
“It's great,” Schumaker said pregame. “I am excited to write down Wyatt Langford and Corey Seager's names in the lineup. You envisioned that all offseason, and that got taken away for however many weeks. It was a better day today, as far as writing those guys down.”