ARLINGTON, TEXAS – JULY 26: Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers takes batting practice before the game against the Seattle Mariners at Globe Life Field on July 26, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
John E. Moore III/Getty Images
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It comes down to this. For more than a decade, it always comes to this: If the Rangers want to assert control of the AL West, they are going to have to beat Houston. In Houston.
Battle of the Silver Boot, y’all.
The Rangers’ two-hit 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay Thursday shrank their lead in the AL West to a half game over the idle Astros, lying in wait at Daikin Park for three games this weekend. If the Rangers win the series, they’ll reach Monday’s trade deadline with the division lead; if they don’t, they won’t. The Astros have won three straight and are 28-20 since June 1. They have slowly climbed through the sargassum of the division to surface within striking distance.
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The Rangers will arrive, however, with one key reinforcement. Corey Seager is expected to make his return to the lineup after missing the last month and all but eight of the last 67 games with a back injury (and, in between, a concussion). Could a team make a bigger acquisition around the deadline than a two-time World Series MVP?
“He can put a team on his back and carry you,” said designated hitter Joc Pederson, who’s done a bunch of lifting himself in Seager’s absence. “I’ve seen it, been a part of it and it’s special. To get him back is always a boost. I think we’re in a great spot; you add a bat like that and it’s even better.”
There is a message behind Pederson’s words. Yes, Seager can carry a team. But also, this plucky little group has acquitted itself without Seager. It’s learned to rely on one another for offense and will hopefully not rely on Seager to do it all. It’s one thing to know he can carry the offense; it’s something also to ask him to do it.
Seager completed a two-game rehab assignment with Double-A Frisco on Wednesday. He hit an opposite-field homer in two games there and made a highlight-reel-caliber play at short by going into the hole, twisting and making a jump throw to first from the outfield grass. He checked all the boxes the Rangers want to see.
The only thing he can’t do: Turn around and hit right-handed. Seager’s return won’t fix the Rangers’ most conspicuous problem from Tampa Bay —he’s another left-handed hitter — but Houston’s rotation may provide more manageable matchups.
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The Rays used lefties for the bulk of the final two games of the series and held the Rangers to two runs and six hits.
The Rangers had been one of the league’s most successful teams against lefties for much of the season, but the recent cold streak of Justin Foscue and the absence of Josh Jung has made them look quite vulnerable. Foscue, who led all AL hitters in OPS against left-handed pitching in the first half, has gone just 2 for 19 against lefties with two singles since July 12. Jung, out since he left midgame on July 21 with a calf strain, has “not trended in the right direction,” according to manager Skip Schumaker and isn’t expected to be activated in Houston.
Tampa Bay Rays catcher Hunter Feduccia pumps his fist as Texas Rangers’ Ezequiel Duran strikes out to end a baseball game Thursday, July 30, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Jason Behnken/AP Photo/Jason Behnken
It left the Rangers with few advantageous matchups against the Rays’ litany of lefties over the final two games. And it may have led some of the right-handed hitters to an old habit of trying to be the hero.
Jake Burger, for example, struck out three times, including once against ancient reliever Craig Kimbrel, one of the few right-handers to face the Rangers over the final two games. Burger struck out with two men on in the fifth. Kimbrel threw four pitches in the at-bat, none of them remotely close to the strike zone. He also struck out against lefty Garrett Cleavinger for the second out of the seventh in what was then a 2-2 tie. He struck out against lefty Shane McClanahan on three straight pitches, all in the zone, to end the first inning. It would become a theme for the day. The Rangers struck out 13 times.
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“I think I probably tried to do too much, especially on the 0-2 pitch,” Burger said. “I probably swung too hard.”
The good news for the Rangers is the lefty thing shouldn’t be as much of an issue this weekend. The Astros are expected to start righties Hunter Brown and Ronel Blanco in the first two games. The Rangers will counter with their best 1-2 punch: Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom.
Back in May in Houston, the Rangers won once with Eovaldi on the mound. But they didn’t have Seager then and haven’t had him for any of the first 10 meetings between the teams, in which the Astros have won six times. If Houston wins once over the weekend, it will clinch the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Rangers, should that come into play at season’s end.
One way to avoid it: Win the series. Hold the lead.
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At least reinforcements are on the way.
“Getting Corey back will help anybody’s lineup,” Schumaker said. “We’re looking forward to that.”