3 takeaways from Rangers Opening Day loss to Phillies

Well Opening Day arrived and despite the extreme lack of offense in the first eight innings for the Texas Rangers, they were able to salvage some dignity and fight to the final out, despite a 5-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Here are three takeaways as Rangers kicked of 2026 in Philadelphia

Spring training offense doesn't translate

A lot about the Rangers' offensive approach was talked about this winter and during spring training. Having been the area that has failed the team the most over the last two seasons, new manager Skip Schumaker was determined to right the ship.

In spring, they managed to showcase some glimpse of that hitting .269 with 178 runs, 171 RBIs and 139 HRs. However, when they got to Philly and had to a face tough left-hander in Cristopher Sanchez, that offense faltered, striking out 10 times against the Phillies' ace.

They did show some late signs of life, entering the ninth inning down 5-0, they strung together four hits and three runs, including a Jake Burger two-run homer for Texas's first long ball of the season.

One day doesn't meak or break a long season

We tell this non-stop that it's only the first of a 162-game season and a lot is yet to be determined and an 0-1 record is not the end of the world. Every team wins and losses a minimum of 50 games and it's what a team does with the other one-third of the season.

The Rangers are going to find offensive success. Their personnel has changed in the positive direction from 2024 and 2025 and now it's all about how much they've changed.

What will keep Texas in the fight this year is the build of their starting rotation. It wasn't the strongest outing from Nathan Eovaldi on Thursday but he still managed to get seven strikeouts and I venture to say he will bounce back. Backing him up is Jacob deGrom, MacKenzie Gore, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. They should be just fine.

Jung, Pederson might be in trouble

The irony is understood that we can't say to not overreact in one take and be super critical of two players on the next but this one is true.

Despite an 8-for-35 (.227) showing from the Rangers' offense, Pederson and Jung went a combined 0-for-5 with a strikeout. They weren't the only hitters to go 0-fer on Thursday but they are the two that came into the regular season already on thin ice and who's lack of offensive production will be magnified.

Since you have Andrew McCutchen, who doubled today, to take over for Pederson and after the Rangers' 13th overall prospect Cam Cauley tore it up in spring training, he'd be itching to get a chance to showcase his skills on the big league level.