MIAMI -- I think I’ve seen this film before. And I didn’t like the ending.
In fact, you’ve probably seen it countless times over the last two and a half years. And never liked the ending once.
Rangers ace Jacob deGrom threw a quality start on Wednesday afternoon in Miami. They took a 1-0 lead early thanks to a Wyatt Langford solo shot. But after five innings, they were down, 2-1, after the Marlins knocked around deGrom in the middle innings and the Rangers’ taxed bullpen completely put the game out of reach when Cole Winn allowed a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth.
“The two walks are what got me, that's why they scored both runs,” deGrom said of his outing. “I walked a leadoff guy there in the fourth and he ends up scoring. I give up a leadoff hit, and then walk the next guy, and they were able to plate another run. I just have to do a better job. I felt like the stuff was good. The misses were small, but I was still missing. I gotta eliminate those and give us a chance.”
In all, the Rangers fell, 4-2, in yet another winnable game where their ace did put them in a position to win, but the offense couldn’t muster together much of anything outside of Langford's homer in the fourth and Joc Pederson's in the top of the ninth.
Since the start of the 2024 season, the Rangers have struggled to score runs, plain and simple. This season, here's where Texas ranked through the conclusion of Wednesday's game:
- 22th in MLB in OPS (.706)
- 12th in MLB in OPS with runners on base (.747)
- 18th in MLB in OPS with runners in scoring position (.725)
Not great numbers, but all in all, not terrible. But the Rangers are also 27th in baseball in runs scored with 319. Unlike 2025, when it seemed like the offense didn’t even have runners to strand, this season they’re leaving armies out on the bases more often than not.
“I think at the end of the day, runs scored matters, and we just haven't scored enough runs,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “We've had a lot of traffic, we have not scored enough runs. … The story of a lot of our games, is like the other night: bases loaded, nobody out, and you score one run. We have had traffic, we've had different guys up that we feel really good about. For whatever reason, we just haven't pulled through. The reality is we have had traffic. That OPS is real. We have not hit them in.”
It goes without saying that the Rangers have been without Corey Seager (who has missed 33 of Texas' 80 games) and Langford (who has missed 42 games) for most of the season, the latter of which has hit .306/.367/.611 since coming off the injured list on June 5 (18 games). It’s hard to score runs without what should be your two best hitters.
But whether or not Seager returns this weekend in Toronto, the Rangers need to figure out how to score more runs. It sounds simple. But it’s been the biggest road block of all in 2026.
“I think we're better than what we've shown,” Schumaker said. “I think we have at times found different ways to win games. My evaluation, I'd say we haven't hit our stride yet. I think there's just been some peaks and valleys so far. I think we're much better than what we've shown so far. I just think we're going to be more -- we should be more consistent as an offense.”