Corey Seager's resurgence is being overshadowed by Rangers' biggest problem

The Texas Rangers are finally getting the best version of Corey Seager in 2026. The shortstop began the year by hitting just .182/.292/.374 through his first 219 plate appearances. He missed a couple of weeks in late May/early June with lower back inflammation, had a 10-day IL stint with a concussion later in June, then landed back on the IL on July 1 after reaggravating his back issue.

For a Rangers offense that has struggled mightily this year, Seager appeared to be a major part of the problem. The shortstop is the Rangers' highest-paid player, and many expect him to be the offense's main contributor. Finally, the Rangers are getting the best version of Seager. Since returning from a month-long IL stint on July 31, Seager has slashed a remarkable .316/.381/.474 with two home runs, three doubles and five RBI over 63 plate appearances.

Unfortunately, Seager's strong stretch hasn't been enough to erase the Rangers' biggest problem. Even though the star shortstop has an .855 OPS dating back to July 31, the rest of the offense has struggled significantly.

Rangers' offense struggling mightily despite Corey Seager's hot stretch

From July 31 through Aug. 19, the Rangers' offense ranks 27th in wRC+ (76), 27th in runs (56), and 25th in strikeout rate (25.0%). Seager, Brandon Nimmo, and Jake Burger have been solid hitters during that span, but the rest of the Rangers' hitters have been below average at the plate. Joc Pederson, Wyatt Langford, Elias Díaz, Evan Carter and Nicky Lopez each hit below .200 during that span.

And while Nimmo has overall been an above-average hitter since July 31, he has a rough 68 wRC+ over the past two weeks. Langford has stepped up his game a bit over the past week, with a 113 wRC+, and Cody Freeman and Justin Foscue have been spectacular over their last handful of games. Still, the offense has overall been awful during that time.

Despite their offensive struggles, the Rangers are still very much alive in the postseason race due to the weak American League. With a 62-65 record, Texas is just two games back of the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West and half a game back of the Minnesota Twins for the third American League Wild Card spot. Still, if the Rangers want to sneak into the postseason, they likely need the offense to improve massively. As we learned in 2023, the team just needs to get hot at the right time to make a deep postseason run.

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