MILWAUKEE -- Skip Schumaker knows what he wants the Rangers’ offense to look like. He just can’t quite say that it looks that way yet.
If he needed an example, the Brewers provided one Friday night.
That search for an identity has followed Texas throughout an uneven season, and it takes on even more significance now. The Rangers are 66-69, just two games behind the Astros in the American League West despite spending much of the year searching for offensive consistency.
Across the field this weekend is a team that, in Schumaker’s eyes, provides a pretty good blueprint.
The Brewers entered the series with baseball’s best record at 83-51, but what stood out to Schumaker wasn’t simply the wins. It was how they create them.
“They don’t chase, and they run the bases really well,” Schumaker said. “They’re young, they’re athletic, and so I think there’s a combination of things that are challenging to defend.”
Milwaukee entered Friday third in MLB with 133 stolen bases and third in baserunning value. The Brewers force opposing teams to deal with their speed, their bunting, their ability to put balls in play and, as Schumaker repeatedly noted, their willingness to control the strike zone.
In other words, they make an opponent uncomfortable.
And in a 6-1 Rangers loss Friday night at American Family Field, Milwaukee did just about everything Schumaker had warned about. The Brewers collected three bunt singles, stole a base, drew four walks and consistently pressured Texas on the bases while piling up 14 hits.
“We knew what they were going to do, and they did it,” Schumaker said afterward. “They executed exactly what their game plan is, and they’ve been doing it all year, and that’s why their record is what it is.”
That is the type of offense Schumaker wants Texas to become.
“We’re getting on, just not driving them in,” Schumaker said. “That’s been the thing that’s been the most frustrating.”
On Friday, there wasn’t even much traffic to work with. Logan Henderson held Texas to one hit across seven innings, with Danny Jansen’s solo homer in the third accounting for the Rangers’ only run. Texas finished with just two hits overall.
It’s a distinction that matters at this point of the season. Texas remains firmly in the postseason race despite entering Friday two games below .500, but its margin for inconsistency is shrinking. The Rangers dropped two of three to the White Sox earlier this week and have not won a road series since the end of June against the Guardians.
Now they get the Brewers, winners of eight straight home series.
And as Schumaker looks at Milwaukee from the opposing dugout, he sees many of the qualities he hopes his own club can develop.
The Brewers put the ball in play with two strikes. They run. They bunt. They recognize spin. They force pitchers into the strike zone and then capitalize when they get something to hit. Their offense doesn’t necessarily overwhelm teams in one particular way; it finds different ways to win.
Friday provided perhaps the clearest illustration. Milwaukee opened the game with Brice Turang reaching on a bunt single and eventually scoring without another hit.
“They identified certain ways to help win games, and they’re doing it at an elite level,” Schumaker said.
That last part might be the most important to Schumaker.
Asked Friday to identify exactly what defines his own offense, Schumaker acknowledged that he doesn’t have a satisfying answer yet.
“I haven’t found [it],” Schumaker said. “I understand that because I can’t give you one right now.”
It was a candid admission from a manager whose offense has seemed to change shape throughout the season, in part because of injuries and an ever-changing cast of available players.
Schumaker doesn’t use that as an excuse. Every team deals with injuries. And while having Seager healthy for a longer stretch would undoubtedly alter the Rangers’ offensive profile, Schumaker knows Texas has to establish something more sustainable regardless of who is available.
After the loss, Schumaker offered his clearest description yet of what Texas has been lately: an offense reliant on slug. Jansen’s homer was another example, but against pitchers such as Henderson, waiting around for one big swing can be a difficult formula.
“It’s tough to try to slug all the time against some good pitching,” Schumaker said. “You’ve got to manufacture runs, and at times we’ve done that in the season, and at times we haven’t.”
What Texas has to become remains less clear. What Schumaker wants is not.
Plate discipline. Productive at-bats in advantage counts. Athleticism. Pressure. An offense capable of beating an opponent in more than one way.
“Trying to find different ways to beat you has always been kind of what I wanted to be,” Schumaker said.
With a little more than four weeks left in the regular season and the Rangers still very much alive in the AL West race, the time to find that identity is running short.
On Friday night, they got an up-close look at what finding one can do.