Texas got help without even playing a game.

Cleveland lost, the Wild Card door cracked open once

again, and now the Rangers head out for

6 straight on the road.

The problem is, this team is 31-41

away from Globe Life.

The next 6 games ask Texas to become

something it hasn't been all year.

A good road team when it absolutely has

to be.

Hi and welcome to another edition of Right

on Rangers where we cover everything Texas sports

but we put a big emphasis on the

Texas Rangers during the MLB season and we

thank you for choosing Right on Rangers for

all of your Texas Rangers content.

Let's go ahead and get into it.

So, we know Texas got the help yesterday,

but now it actually has to take advantage

of it.

You gotta do something with it.

And if you were watching over the weekend,

you heard me say multiple times, meet the

moment.

You have been given fortuitous results.

Can we actually meet the moment, take advantage,

grab the bull by the horns, insert whatever

idiom you need to here.

The Rangers, when the door has been cracked

open, have not always decided to step through.

There's no better time, like the present though

as they say, and presently the Rangers are

in Seattle getting ready to play a 3

game set.

Texas is 71-73, they're a game and

a half out of the final wild card

and two back in the West with 18

games left.

Cleveland fortuitously loses on the off day and

the standings have moved toward Texas without Texas

doing anything.

Always love it when that happens, no doubt.

Wish it wasn't the only way Texas was

gaining ground, at least what it feels like

of late.

3-3 on this road trip, let's talk

about what the Rangers can be okay with

and what they can't be okay with.

3-3 to me is survival.

That leaves you at 74-76 once again

needing a lot of help from other teams

around you.

What about 4-2?

You win 4, you drop a couple, essentially

you win both series with Seattle and Arizona.

That actually helps, that would get you back

to 500 and you would be in a

much better position regardless of what Houston, regardless

of what Cleveland and other teams, Toronto included

in that as well, above Texas in the

wild card are doing.

5-1, I don't even know if we

should go there.

The chances of the Rangers going 5-1

on this road trip do not feel likely.

You guys know I've never shied away from

shooting straight with you.

5-1 does not feel very probable in

this trip up to the Pacific Northwest and

to Arizona, although we know Arizona has been

a good place to Texas in the past.

That changes the shape of the race though.

If you can manage a way to go

5-1 considering what's in front of you,

that is the kind of feel of a

season turnaround that I think a lot of

us have been hoping that this team could

figure out a month or two ago.

How many times do we say after a

big win?

I would consider Sunday's game a pretty big

win.

You're down big, you have a huge comeback,

you figure out a way to get it

done late, and that to me would be

something you would think momentum is built off

of.

It really hasn't been the case in this

Rangers season.

They've won a big emotional game and they

have promptly fallen flat on their face in

the very next game or series.

It has been what it has been, but

5-1 would 1000% have you sitting

possibly in the driver's seat, maybe a game

or two up in the playoff race in

either the wild card, maybe the division depending

on the week that Houston has ahead of

them.

I mean, look, 3-3, Abby, wouldn't that

be on par though?

I mean, if we're just being real, 3

-3 probably is going to keep giving us

meaningful baseball and high blood pressure at exactly

the same time.

It's kind of been the story of the

Rangers year in 2026.

I think 3-3 to me is probably

the most likely outcome.

I am hoping for 4-2, I would

be elated over the moon with 5-1.

4-2 though, even as I think about

it right now, it really guarantees nothing.

You're still going to need help from the

teams around you, but eventually the Rangers have

to make everybody else answer them.

And that's not something that they have really

been able to do consistently, really put pressure

on other teams and make other teams feel

it.

I think the Rangers feel pressure from all

these different teams around them.

I don't know if anyone is feeling heat

from Texas at this point in the year.

You guys have heard me say, I'm done

at this point giving credit for staying close,

for being in the race, for keeping the

standings interesting.

I'm not dishing out credit at this point

for that.

You got to go take some ground, have

to.

Texas knows what this road trip needs to

look like.

The harder question is whether this team has

shown any reason to believe that it can

actually do that away from the friendly confines

of Globe Life Field.

Asking Texas to go 4-2 means asking

it to look like a totally different road

team for one very important week.

And let's just look at the receipts here.

Texas is 40-32 at home.

They are 31-41 on the road.

That split has really been the team's identity

all year long.

You've always looked forward to the homestands because

Texas has generally played really, really well in

Arlington.

You always start clenching up and getting a

little bit anxious on these roadies because Texas

has typically not played well on the road.

I think that a couple of weeks ago,

the whole series with the White Sox and

moving on from there, it was not a

great week of baseball.

And that happens all too frequently for Texas

when they leave the state of Texas and

when they leave Arlington specifically.

Let's talk about Seattle.

Seattle is struggling.

They are 10 games below 500, 67-77,

and they are 3-7 over their last

10.

But they do have a winning home record.

They do play very well at T-Mobile

Park, which, by the way, is the worst

hitter's park in the sport.

Globe Life, just slightly in front of T

-Mobile in that department.

Worst hitter's park in the sport, though, belongs

to Seattle.

But Seattle has figured out a way to

win there, and they are a winning team

at T-Mobile.

Let's talk about Arizona.

Arizona, who the Rangers play later on over

the weekend, they are 77-68 currently, and

they are 41-31 at home, 10 games

above 500.

I think as you're looking at the week

as a whole, kind of the wide-frame

view, it gets considerably tougher, this road trip

does, at the very end of the week,

this weekend.

I feel like going into this series, you're

really trying to bank some wins against Seattle,

which is going to be way easier said

than done.

The Arizona series feels like the tougher series.

I feel like Texas has an opportunity to

go into Seattle and win a couple of

games.

That Arizona series feels like the one that

you're going to really be challenged in.

Arizona has a team that is trying to

compete for a playoff spot.

They've always kind of been a scrappy team

that is well coached.

They figured out a way to consistently win

in this current setup.

Look, you turn the mirror back to Texas

here.

They still are carrying a very negative run

differential, minus 44.

They are 67-77 for the expected record.

I know not everyone buys into the expected

record and these run differential stats.

I understand.

I do think that it is valuable.

I do think that it can give you

some patterns and it can show you some

things about this team.

They've stayed alive through a lot of thin

margins.

You've had the Rangers win in some very,

very tight ball games.

You have had Texas really struggling to be

consistent.

I've talked about many different times on the

show.

You'll see Texas win big.

You'll see them win close.

They've probably done that more than win big.

That was another thing I know that came

up.

I think it was in one of the

games last week where the Rangers were up

huge.

You're just like, man, how many no sweats

have there been this season for Texas?

You're never trailing.

You get out to that early lead.

You never look back.

It hasn't felt like a lot.

Texas, though, even in a win, even in

a close win, it's been hard to duplicate

and it's been hard to stay consistent with.

Then you also have Texas coming out and

getting blown out and getting outscored by hefty

margins at times, which has allowed their minus

44 run differential to exist in the first

place.

None of that means the season is predetermined.

Texas can't go back in time and fix

five months of road baseball, man.

You're not going to do it.

You don't have to go back and fix

this road record.

You just have to really outrun it for

just this one week.

Find a way for this one week.

I know they've got some more road games

coming up too.

You've got to find a way and hopefully

it can start tonight.

I know most of you will be listening

to this Monday morning or Monday, or excuse

me, Tuesday morning or sometime during the day.

There's no time, like I said, like the

president, to begin.

That is the beautiful thing about this sport.

You have all these games.

The Rangers have played 144 baseball games and

the season comes down to these 18.

You're a game and a half out of

a playoff spot.

Is it the most ideal situation to be

in?

Probably not.

But is everything right there for the taking?

Yes, it is.

Road records are history, you know, not destiny.

And Seattle is beatable, man.

I really do feel like having watched all

of the games, the Rangers and Mariners have

played against each other this season.

Do the Mariners have some good offensive players?

Do they have some good pitching?

Yes and yes.

But Texas has figured out a way to

stay competitive against these guys and to beat

them.

These six games though, they are a small

enough window for Texas to play much better

than its season-long road performance.

Six games, you've got Tuesday through Sunday, you

go back home and you play the Red

Sox on Monday.

This road trip does feel huge in the

course of the last 18 games of the

season.

You can get these last 18 games off

to a really good start.

You really open up a lot of opportunities

for yourself.

And look, if they are going to suddenly

look better on the road, the question I

think becomes really pretty simple.

What on this roster is actually going to

give them their best shot at success this

week?

Present production at some point has to matter

more than what the depth chart was supposed

to look like months ago.

And I think what you've seen the Rangers

do over really the last two or three

weeks is begin to play more of the

hot hand.

You've seen little things happen, right?

You've seen Elias Diaz a lot more.

And Elias Diaz hitting a grand slam, driving

and runs the other day in a win.

You have him getting a lot more playing

time than Danny Jansen right now.

Those are the things that you want to

see.

I don't think Zeke Duran really has ever

been in danger of playing time, but you

are seeing a number of guys that maybe

saw themselves playing here, playing there, suddenly getting

a little bit more consistency down the stretch

here.

You know, look, Jake Berger, he's been an

everyday fixture.

He homered twice.

I would anticipate the Rangers continue to play

him every day.

Justin Foscue, I think, is the more interesting

one.

You know, he delivers the tying double.

Seager, we know, gave them some insurance the

other night.

Duran, we've already talked about him.

He keeps finding different ways to help this

team win.

Let's focus and let's lock in on Foscue

here.

I don't think the Rangers are going to

suddenly start playing Foscue every day, but I

do think they're going to feel a lot

more confident leaving him in a ball game.

If a righty does come in, I think

you may still see Skip, depending on who

the arm is, go to the bench, try

and get a lefty in there instead.

He doesn't need two good weeks to rewrite

his entire evaluation here.

He does need these two good weeks to

help earn him more opportunities moving forward, and

I think that he's going to continue to

do that.

I think Justin Foscue has come through for

the team in ways that you didn't expect.

You didn't expect Justin to be leading the

team in batting average over a 10-game

stretch at one of the most important times

in the season, but that is what he

has done.

I came out and dropped the video, I

think it was a couple of days ago,

on Foscue.

Might be time to re-evaluate your position

on him if you've been a doubter like

I have.

I think Justin still has a ways to

go.

You would still like to see him as

a former first-round pick develop into an

everyday player and not just be a platoon

guy against lefties.

Don't know if that's going to happen or

not, but I think what you have to

do is be thankful for what you are

getting from Justin, which is some big hits,

good hitting against lefties, but then some big

hits late.

Some hits that have really influenced the outcome

of ballgames and maybe even saved your season.

Now, moving into a much more questionable piece,

let's talk a little bit about MacKenzie Gore.

I think that Sunday start really hurt the

October trust level.

My trust level for MacKenzie Gore in October

has been hurting, not even going to lie

to you guys.

It doesn't make him a bad pitcher.

I know that there are some people that

are really willing to just jump through all

sorts of hoops to reason out that the

MacKenzie Gore acquisition really hasn't been that bad.

I've seen people argue, man, at least he's

been healthy.

At least MacKenzie Gore's been giving some innings

this year.

I mean, Pat Corbin could give us innings.

Pat Corbin could stay healthy.

Come on now, let's not lower the bar.

We do that a little too much sometimes

in ranger land, I feel like.

Let's not lower that bar.

Corby could have done this for us.

He could have eaten up innings and given

you a 450 ERA.

Again, doesn't make Gore a bad pitcher, what's

transpired.

I would not call him bad.

I would not call him good though.

I think he has been very mediocre.

One good start, one bad start.

Texas at this point just can't pretend that

every rotation spot carries the same confidence.

deGrom and Quantrill feel like you're two steadiest

pieces right now.

I have been on record multiple times saying,

if they gave Cal Q the ball in

game one of a playoff series, I'm surely

not going to be mad at it.

I think they'll give it to Jacob deGrom

without a doubt, but I'm surely not going

to be mad if they decide to go

ahead and let Cal Q be game one

starter.

Cal Q's been better than deGrom this year.

I don't know how you can argue that.

Objectively, the numbers, the performances, the consistency, Cal

Q has been better, but I see them

giving the nod to Jacob deGrom, the ace,

the pedigree, the history.

That makes the most sense to me.

Nathan Eovaldi, it looks like sadly is going

to be lost as a starter.

Now, does that mean that maybe if the

Rangers do go on a deeper run, you

couldn't get him back and maybe build him

back up more to that level?

It's possible, but Evo believes right now his

quickest and best way to help is probably

going to be out of the bullpen.

If Evo is basically saying, let me come

out of the bullpen and throw baseballs really

hard, I'm going to go ahead and listen

to Nathan Eovaldi.

If that is where he feels most confident,

that I think is where you want a

player like him to be.

The last thing you want is for him

to be uncomfortable, and then you're forcing him

into a role that he really doesn't have

his mental, his heart totally into.

It sounds like there's some ownership in this

role, and although it's disappointing because you'd love

to have Evo as a starter, I think

you have to be encouraged that A, you're

going to have him back in some type

of capacity, but B, you might be able

to see Eovaldi shore up some of the

bullpen issues if this is truly how the

Rangers are going to be using him.

I think you could easily see Eovaldi in

a seventh inning role and maybe a sixth

or seventh inning role combined, maybe even an

eighth inning role bridging it to Jacob Latz,

who knows?

I do think Eovaldi, while you're disappointed that

he's not going to be a starter this

year, most likely, you've got to be happy

and you've got to feel positive that he's

going to help fix a bullpen issue, man.

You would think, I mean, I don't expect

Evo to go out into the pen and

soil the bed suddenly.

He hasn't been the most consistent of pitchers,

but I do feel like if you allow

Eovaldi to really go a hundred percent and

just let it rip out there on the

mound without the worry of giving your team

length, I feel like he is going to

be successful.

It's just my gut feeling.

Clearly, he's been in bullpen roles before here

and there, especially in the playoffs when you've

got to be flexible quite a bit, but

I like the idea of him really shoring

up that bridge role in the Rangers bullpen,

which has been a little bit lacking.

You've got Tyler Alexander.

You've clearly got Jacob Junis.

You've got Jacob Latz.

You feel pretty good about those three.

Robert Garcia is coming back.

Is that better news than the Evo news?

I don't know.

You tell me.

Robert Garcia activated.

So there's that.

I mean, those four Latz, Alexander, then you

have Junis, Eovaldi, and then maybe throw in

Robert Garcia for a five.

I think if you employ Robert Garcia correctly,

lefty heavy innings, that to me would maybe

play well.

I'm not sure.

It really is going to depend on the

rust level and where Robert Garcia is at,

but I can't imagine the Rangers use Robert

Garcia strictly in mop-up duty.

I think you are going to be seeing

him come into games and pitch.

And just so we're clear, I know a

lot of you guys have heard Jack Leiter

skip saying it's almost going to be impossible

to get Leiter built back up as a

starter if he returns.

Relief is the realistic question.

I don't really feel great about Jack Leiter

in a relief role for the same reasons.

I don't feel great about Kumar Rocker in

a relief role.

I just feel like there's not enough control.

There's not enough experience.

There's not enough really having performed.

There's not enough history of having performed with

the game on the line in really thin

margin for error type situations.

I feel like the best thing is for

Leiter to just get 100% healthy and

continue his development as a starter.

I get it.

You're at a place where you really didn't

do enough to add, and it is a

roster construction issue, so it goes back on

CY.

You didn't really add enough in the off

-season.

You didn't add anything at the deadline, and

now you're having to throw your number two

overall pick in 2021 out into the bullpen

rather than focus on just getting him healthy

and continuing his development as a starter.

I don't know how a relief role might

affect Jack Leiter or not.

I think every pitcher is different.

It's maybe unfair to say that he's going

to somehow, someway get messed up in terms

of the development, but it's just a bad

feeling that I have, and I feel like

it's only on the table.

Leiter coming back as a bullpen piece because

the Rangers really don't have good options, and

they really have no choice.

They're desperate.

Otherwise, I kind of think in a perfect

world, you just let Leiter do his thing,

and you work him back slowly as a

starter, and I know that there's maybe rules

that you have to go off of with

certain players being added by certain times to

play in October, but if it's me, if

you have the depth, I don't think you're

forcing Leiter into this role.

I think if you are in a place

where you don't really have a lot of

better options, this is what you're doing, and

I think the Rangers are kind of showing

their cards a little bit in that regard.

I know the positive spin is like, you

know, it's just like a trade acquisition.

It's upgrading the bullpen.

I don't really see it that way.

I see it as you didn't really take

care of depth at the deadline or in

the offseason, so this is kind of what

you're left to do instead of just keeping

Jack Leiter on a nice track with the

starting rotation role.

We'll see.

I hope they know what they're doing.

That's why they get paid the big bucks,

right?

I mean, look, you're not going to reorganize

this team after every hot weekend.

I think the Rangers at this point definitely

need to try and balance stability with the

hot hand, but man, you have to go

with the players that are producing at the

end of the day.

I don't think that guys not knowing if

they're going to be playing or not from

day to day, I don't know if that's

the healthiest thing, but I think you can

be up front with the whole concept of

if you're going well, you're going to play,

and if you're not, it might be a

little bit more volatile one way or the

other.

Flexibility, though, I think is a little bit

different from chaos.

Current evidence, I think, has to carry weight

in September and into October, and so I

do think there's some guys in the lineup

right now.

You're seeing Wyatt Langford get shifted down to

the five hole.

Evan Carter, I'm a little bit curious what

they're going to continue to do with him.

I feel like the club will continue to

play him, but with Josh Jung out, I

don't know if the team really has a

great option.

If Josh Jung comes back and is healthy,

I do think you could consider Zeke Duran

playing centerfield every day for Evan Carter.

Evan Carter has been near lifeless up at

the plate.

I know he's giving you pretty good defense

out in centerfield, although there have been some

mishaps here and there.

That being said, I think if Josh Jung

came back this year with what you've got

going on in your current setup, it wouldn't

be out of the question to make Zeke

Duran your everyday centerfielder just so you can

take away the dead spot that has been

Evan Carter's place in the lineup over the

last month, month and a half, two months.

Some people would say the entire season.

All that theory is going to get tested

immediately here.

What they're going to decide to do, what

they are going to roll with philosophically.

There's 18 games left.

My thing, keep it simple, play the guys

that are helping you win ballgames.

The first three games are really the part

of this series, this road trip that the

Rangers need to find a way to cash

in on.

I say you do everything that you can

to win these three games.

I know that there have been criticisms thrown

out there on Skip, the coaching staff, and

naturally the front office since they do collaborate

on lineups and pitching matchups.

You can't be playing for tomorrow.

At this point, you have 18 games left

to go.

You've got to win the game that's in

front of you.

You've got to let the next game be

what it is and make adjustments accordingly, but

you can't do a lot of coaching and

decision-making for tomorrow.

You have to win baseball games.

Lastly, I really do not want to see,

and I've already alluded to this, I really

do not want to see Texas need an

Arizona sweep or an Arizona series win to

salvage the road trip.

You dropped two out of three in Seattle.

Now you have to win a series or

sweep in order for the road trip to

be something.

The Seattle Mariners are definitely the more bankable

part of the six-game road trip, but

it doesn't mean automatic.

Bankable does not mean automatic.

Seattle is four games above 500 at home.

They're not a juggernaut at T-Mobile Park,

but they're also not slouches.

They win more games than they lose when

they play there.

Texas, by the way, has already clinched the

season series against Seattle.

There's not a mystery about whether or not

they can beat this club despite the good

pitching that they have and good offensive talent.

I think two out of three in Seattle

is going to keep the four and two

trip completely realistic.

You win two out of three.

It feels like you could go to Arizona

and get two.

You'd love to sweep in Seattle.

It would take a lot of pressure off

the Arizona series, but I just don't see

the Rangers doing that.

I think they are going to be very

fortunate to get two out of three, and

I feel the same way about them going

to Arizona.

Losing that two of three would just be,

I don't want to say a death sentence.

I really don't want to work in extremes,

but that would put you in a really

bad place.

Dropping two out of three or three out

of three right out the gate in Seattle.

It would almost make a sweep in Arizona

a necessity, and I don't think that's really

a place you want to be against the

Diamondbacks.

Taking two out of three, I do think

would be a successful series.

Texas is going to really have to fight

a little bit against treating every game like

mathematical elimination, but also, as we were just

saying earlier, playing with urgency, trying to win

the game that's in front of you.

Of course, you have to be reasonable.

This is not a game five, game seven

elimination game in October.

These games coming up in front of them,

but you have to try and win as

many games as you can, and if you

have an opportunity to do that, the Rangers

may need to forego a plan that they

had for the next day or two days

from now and try and secure that victory,

especially depending on what's happening in the standings

around them.

That is going to be a little bit

of an interesting thing here.

You've got Texas playing on the West Coast

this whole week, and that is kind of

nice.

I'm going to look and see real quick

who is playing who when it comes to

the teams that are ahead of the Rangers.

Tomorrow, the Guardians and Orioles are going to

beat up on each other.

That's good.

They play at 335.

Let me go ahead and I'll translate to

Texas time.

They play at 535.

You have the Astros playing the Phillies at

540, and then you continue on for the

other teams that are ahead.

You've got, let's see, the Blue Jays playing

a late game as well.

They are 72 and 73.

The Blue Jays are in Sacramento this week.

At least for a couple of the games,

you have the opportunity to kind of see

what's already transpired.

You're going to know Houston won.

You're going to know Houston lost.

Guardians won.

Guardians lost before your game even starts.

The Rangers tomorrow night game time is at

840 Texas time.

All those games are going to be pretty

much over or very close to over by

the time at first pitch against the Mariners.

I do kind of like that.

The Blue Jays game starts at the same

time.

You'll do a little bit of scoreboard watching

here and there with that one.

That is going to be interesting.

I do think that's going to influence some

of the decision making.

You see Houston got a win.

Now you're probably managing things a little bit

differently because you don't want to drop another

game.

You see Houston takes an L.

You may take your chances not throwing the

best of the best.

Doesn't mean you're not trying to win a

ball game, but I do think there are

going to be some little nuances in some

of the decision making that Skip and the

coaching staff have to make throughout the course

of a game when you're playing a late

game like this.

Now on Wednesday, Thursday, they do actually play

some day games.

So on Wednesday, you've got the game starting

at 310 and you've got the opposite.

You've got the Guardians playing after that.

You've got the Astros playing after that.

So that's a little bit more of an

even playing field if you will with all

the teams knowing the results at once.

Look, regardless, you have to figure out a

way to get two out of three.

That to me is absolutely what the goal

should be here.

You lose a series, you get swept.

It's not necessarily over, but you put yourself

in a terrible position going into the weekend.

Winning the Seattle series, I will say, is

required.

Sweeping it makes things interesting.

Losing it is complete failure.

Look, just to bring it full circle here,

the standings gave Texas another opening on Monday.

You have the Guardians losing, the door cracks

open just a little bit more.

So Tuesday night is where we find out

whether they are finally ready, whether the Rangers

are finally ready to do something with it.

We will be live during the eighth and

ninth inning of nearly every game this week,

post-game as well.

Would love if you would come and hang

out with us.

We'll take comments, questions.

I will give you all of my takes

and breakdowns and analysis of the game.

And we'll see if the Rangers can go

on a little run here.

18 games left, running out of time, but

everything still in front of you.

Hope you have a great Tuesday ahead.

And as I always say to end every

show, God bless and go Rangers.