Rangers' failure spells end of not only 2026, but of this era of baseball in Arlington

ARLINGTON — The story of the Texas Rangers ' season: In the season's biggest moment, when the Rangers really needed a World Series hero to come through, one did. It just wasn't any of the ones they kept.

Marcus Semien trotted around the bases on Wednesday. Hit a go-ahead homer.

The guys from the 2023 World Series team that still wear the Rangers' colors? Oh, they were a combined 1 for 15 in a 7-2 loss to the Mets that just about snuffs the last flicker of hope from the Rangers season .

"We haven't produced enough to win," manager Skip Schumaker said after a third consecutive loss in which the Rangers have scored a total of seven runs. "We had to win games. These are must-win games. That's just the reality of it.

"There is definitely frustration. You can sense it in the dugout. You can feel it. They know they are better than they've shown the last couple of nights."

About that, let us offer an alternative: Maybe they are not.

Also, if you think the Rangers are frustrated, just consider how Chris Young feels.

Which brings us to a point. Not only are the lights on the season about to go out, but also up in smoke is this era of Rangers baseball, whatever this era was or is. Should've been the Golden Era. It does, after all, include a World Series trophy. Then again, with another loss, the Rangers will have nine non-winning seasons in the last 10. Only thing Golden these days at the ballpark is the occasional rendition of the Huntrix single, blared at levels that can break the average noise dosimeter.

The offense hasn't gotten significantly better. We're talking about three straight years, multiple hitting coaches and managers. The Rangers tried patience in 2024. Didn't work. Made a bunch of changes the next winter. Nope. This year, the OPS has shown improvement, mostly due to higher walk rates. But the runs per game is actually down from last year.

At the center of any conversation over next year's offense will be how the Rangers proceed with Corey Seager , who struggled, was hurt, came back strong and has disappeared at the most critical moment of the season. His OPS (.732) is 2% higher than league average. In the Rangers' three-game losing streak, he's 0 for 15 with five strikeouts and has gone hitless in his last six at-bats with runners in scoring position.

"Obviously not as productive as you'd like to be right now, yeah," Seager said when asked about the frustration of the current slump. "You'd like to be better down the stretch in these important games, but you just have to come back tomorrow and keep plugging."

Seager's going to be 33 next year. He's missed almost 200 games over the last four seasons. He's got five years left on his contract. The Rangers are going to have to have a long talk about his future.

But he's not the only one. Where does Evan Carter , once the "Little Savior," fit in? He's unplayable against lefties and has a .600 OPS for the season. On Wednesday, with the bases loaded against Nolan McLean , with a walk to be offered, he swung at two pitches out of the zone and grounded into a fielder's choice. Two innings later, he deadened a ball nicely for what would have been a solid sac bunt, but was instead his attempt at bunting for a hit.

And it doesn't stop there. Wyatt Langford is 1 for 10 in the losing streak with six strikeouts. He's hitting .237 now in his third full season in the majors. His OPS is down 15 points from last year. It's a Nomar Mazara-esque fade. By that we mean, getting worse at a point where he should be hitting his prime.

This was supposed to be a huge part of the Rangers' core. They have come up short at the most important moment of the season and, quite frankly, for much of the earlier part, too.

So c'mon out for the regular season home finale and take a look at the guys. A lot is likely to change the next time you see the Rangers.