4 biggest Rangers villains who deserve the most blame if Texas misses the playoffs

The Texas Rangers' season is on the brink, and because of their failure to take advantage at various points in their 2026 campaign, they no longer control their own destiny. In order for the Rangers to make the playoffs, they need to not only win their final two contests, but also have the Houston Astros suffer at least one more loss, thanks to Texas losing the tiebreaker.

The most frustrating part of it all is the extreme mediocrity present in the AL West. Both the Rangers and Astros have 81 losses, meaning the division winner will not finish the year with a winning record. In fact, the Astros have a path to the division crown while finishing below .500.

One would have hoped that with two cellar dwellers in the form of the Angels and Athletics, the Mariners taking a step back, and the Astros dealing with a litany of issues, Texas would've been able to capitalize better on the situation, but here we are.

The Rangers are still alive, for now, and with Nathan Eovaldi set to take the ball for his first time in seven weeks as a starter, and hoping return to his "Big Game Nate" form, it's time to take a look at who the biggest culprits are if the Rangers miss the playoffs.

These four Rangers figures will be most responsible if the team misses the playoffs

Chris Young

Simply put, Chris Young is the architect of the team, and therefore the buck stops with him if the roster falls short. Injuries have played a role, but by this time of year, it's hard to find a team that isn't banged up.

Young has single-handedly done the most to bring us to this point. His refusal to bring in any top-end relievers to fortify the bullpen has left a unit that has posted a 22nd-ranked 4.45 ERA and cost the team many wins this year. His decision to push all of his chips to the center of the table to trade for MacKenzie Gore, a guy who had only once posted an ERA below 4.00 (3.90 in 2024) and has posted the fourth-worst ERA (4.59) among qualified starters, left the club without the capital necessary to get an actual impact player.

Young made a few good pickups, like plucking Elias Diaz and Nicky Lopez from the scrapheap, but those guys have all been role players. The Brandon Nimmo-Marcus Semien trade was a win, but it still wasn't the needle-mover that Texas needed. But overall, the moves he made have been unwise, and his getting caught betwixt and between at the trade deadline has contributed greatly to the predicament the Rangers now find themselves in.

Skip Schumaker

Another obvious choice. While it's Young's job to collect the talent, it's Skip Schumaker's job to maximize it. It's hard to say that he's done that this season.

Schumaker hasn't been awful, but he's also been very rigid in his decision-making process. A case in point was the September 24 matchup against the New York Mets, when he decided to pull a surprisingly good Kumar Rocker after just 74 pitches, exposing his weak bullpen. It worked, but it also put a strain on the bullpen, which now has Texas in a dicey position.

Pulling starters early has been a season-long issue, and his lineup and pinch-hitting decisions are all very formulaic. Basically, Schumaker hasn't shown much feel for the game, rarely riding hot streaks or looking beyond the numbers to give his team an advantage. Of course, analytics are important and are something you want to see the skipper value, but by the same token, they can miss the nuance of what's happening on the field.

Corey Seager

Injuries have been a problem for Corey Seager, not just this season, but for the entirety of his career. For some fans, that's been a source of frustration, but in reality, no player wants to get hurt and miss time.

That hasn't been the biggest problem he's presented the Rangers with this year, though. Instead, it's been his performance that's the issue. From Opening Day through July 30, Seager played 51 games and hit .182/.292/.374. While he has overall been good since coming off the IL for the final time on July 31, he has once again disappeared at key moments recently.

Seager is supposed to be the centerpiece. He's the guy who is supposed to lift up the team. Those games he struggled through early in the season mattered and could have had the division title clinched for Texas by now if they had gone a different way. Disappearing when the lights are the brightest during this final week is pretty damning.

Wyatt Langford

There are two versions of Wyatt Langford. There's the No. 4 overall pick from the University of Florida who received an $8 million signing bonus and was supposed to be a future superstar. Then, there's the real version of Langford. The one who is closing in on his third full season in the majors and has just a decent .759 OPS.

It's been more of the same for the 24-year-old, who was incredibly hot for a few weeks in June, but has been ice cold down the stretch. On the year, he's hitting .239/.335/.425, good for a .761 OPS. There are some real flaws that he needs to rectify, and it's questionable if he ever will. If we had gotten the Langford of our ideals, we'd find the Rangers in a better position today.

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