Abysmal Rangers offense could see a big boost just as it suffers another loss

Turns out, the offensive explosion for the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night was not a sign that they were turning things around. At least not yet. One night after scoring 15 runs, the club was back to its old tricks of stranding runners and striking out at the worst possible time on Wednesday night and panic is starting to set back in.

Luckily, some huge help might be on the way. And it might be arriving sooner than fans could have expected. Slugging shortstop Corey Seager could be back in the lineup by the end of the weekend as long as his last few steps on the road back go as planned.

Corey Seager trending toward weekend return for Rangers

While Wednesday night’s game was mostly a disaster for the Texas Rangers, Emily Jones did offer a hopeful update in the middle of all the nonsense. Seager is due to come off the IL on Saturday, and at the moment, the club believes he’ll indeed be ready to do so.

Jones reported that Seager did some running before the game on Wednesday and that so far, everything felt good afterward. The next step will be to have him take a live batting practice session in the next couple of days and should things continue to go well, he could be back on the active roster by the end of the weekend.

Should he not suffer any setback, the Rangers don’t believe he’ll need to start a rehab assignment in Round Rock since he’s serving the minimum on the IL.

That would be welcome news, assuming Seager can return and look sharp for one of Major League Baseball’s worst offenses. Not only is it adding an accomplished hitter to the lineup but it could be shot in the arm and a restart for a group that has to be feeling a bit snake-bitten with all its squandered scoring chances.

Seager was placed on the IL on April 24 with a Grade 1 right hamstring strain. There were obviously concerns that he would be out much longer than 10 day, considering that Seager himself has been snake-bitten with that very injury.

However, because the this club can't have nice things in 2025, just a day after getting good news on Seager, they got bad news on catcher Kyle Higashioka. They had recently promoted veteran backup Tucker Barnhart in order to start a few games (including Thursday's) but were hoping that Higashioka wouldn't have to go on the IL.

Unfortunately, the Texas Rangers announced he was indeed going to need to be placed on the 10-day Injured List with an intercostal strain, so Barnhart is the starting backstop for the foreseeable future. The team recalled reliever Caleb Boushley, who was optioned to the minors earlier this week to take Higashioka's place on the active roster.