Already banged up Rangers take Cy Young sized hit to playoff hopes

At some point, we have to wonder precisely what the Texas Rangers did to win the World Series in 2023. Was Black Magic involved in some way? Is that why the 2025 season hasn't just been bad? Is that why the team keeps getting hit with one piece of bad news after another? Whatever dark deities they awoke are taking their price for the championship? Is that why Nathan Eovaldi's career-best season (by a wide margin) just came to an abrupt and early end?

On Tuesday afternoon, just hours before the Rangers start game two of a critical series against the Los Angeles Angels, the club announced that Evo is out for the rest of the season. In the process, he becomes just the latest key cog to go down with an injury that will either end a season or last late into September.

Nathan Eovaldi shut down for the season by the Texas Rangers

Nathan Eovaldi has been shut down for the rest of the season by the Texas Rangers due to a rotator cuff strain. That's the bad news. The worst is that this kind of thing could turn into something worse once MRIs and whatnot come back later. It's not hard to imagine that Evo's 2026 (or at least a good part of it) might be lost as well.

Eovaldi joins Marcus Semien, Jon Gray, and Evan Carter as most likely missing the season. Semien has a bum foot, Evan Carter has a wrist fracture, and Jon Gray has Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which he's made clear could be the end of his career.

The news is obviously bad for the players themselves; no one wants these kinds of injuries or to miss this much time. However, it's also awful news for the Texas Rangers, who are still trying to get back into a playoff position. It's tough to imagine that the team can win enough to make up 5.5 games in the Wild Card standings without Semien and Nathan Eovaldi, especially.