Corey Seager's homer emblematic of Rangers' too-little-too-late season as Texas's playoff hopes are dashed

The Texas Rangers needed this game. They also needed help. They put themselves in a position that required everything to break right in Game 162 in order to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2023. And they came out flat.

It was clear that the Rangers were going to need the bats to step up today. The team was turning to MacKenzie Gore on short rest. The 27-year-old left-hander has been banged up dealing with shoulder/back muscle spasms. He wasn't going to be able to go deep into the game, and Texas's bullpen has been spotty at best for the majority of the season.

That didn't happen. Facing Minnesota Twins starter Dean Kremer, who entered the game with a 4.97 ERA, the Rangers' bats went silent. Kremer needed just 74 pitches to navigate seven innings, allowing just three hits and no walks while allowing just one run to a listless Rangers lineup.

The final score was 6-4, but that doesn't tell the story. This was a game that the Twins dominated from start to finish. Gore went just 2 1/3 innings. Chris Young's big trade deadline acquisition, Chase Silseth, imploded once called upon to relieve Gore, hitting Luke Keaschall with a pitch and giving up a two-run homer to Josh Bell before a Ryan Jeffers ground-rule double chased him from the game.

The Rangers emptied the bullpen. It didn't matter.

Corey Seager's home run wasn't a rallying cry; it was a last gasp from a dying Rangers team

Texas entered the top of the eighth down 5-1. Elias Diaz stepped up to the plate to pinch-hit for Alejandro Osuna and blasted a lead-off homer. Was there hope? No, the next three Rangers batters would go down in order.

The bottom of the eighth saw the Twins answer with a lead-off homer of their own, a big fly to deep center off the bat of Royce Lewis. With that, the four-run lead was brought back as Minnesota led 6-2.

Down to their final three outs, the Rangers sent the top of the order to the plate. Brandon Nimmo singled to start the frame, but ice-cold Wyatt Langford popped out to second because, of course, he did.

Corey Seager came up next and hit a two-run homer, but it would prove to be empty calories. Jake Burger struckout and then Ezequiel Duran flied out to left. Ball game, over. Season, over. The Rangers lose.

It might seem that Seager's homer was a heroic last-ditch effort. It wasn't. He was 0-for-3 prior to the dinger. He had gone 3-for-24 with no walks and nine strikeouts over the season's final week. That's not what superstars do with the season on the line.

Of course, the Rangers could have taken care of business at countless moments earlier in the year and avoided this scenario entirely. They didn't. They always needed more time to nail down the league's most mediocre divison. Now the clock has expired and they didn't get the job done. Just like Seager's homer, the collective effort this year was just too little, too late.

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