The curious case of Bruce Bochy has Rangers at a crossroads

This is a subject that must be handled very delicately. To be clear, we are not advocating any of several routes the Rangers could go with their beloved future Hall of Fame skipper, Bruce Bochy, this year, should the team continue to tread water and drift out of the playoff race.

Bruce Bochy is a first-ballot iconic figure who has won four World Series championships, only six other managers have won as many rings as Bochy. You may recognize the company he keeps - it's guys like Casey Sengel, Connie Mack, Joe Torre, Joe McCarthy and Walter Alston. That's the end of the list in the entire history of the Great American Pastime.

So Chris Young and the Rangers are going to handle Bochy with kid gloves as there are a few different routes they could take should the Rangers slip out of contention completely.

Could the Rangers fire Bruce Bochy mid-season?

This is the most nuclear of all the options, considering that Bochy has never been fired - much less mid-season.

He managed the San Diego Padres for a dozen seasons before moving up the West Coast, where he led the San Francisco Giants for 13 seasons, retiring from the Giants after the 2019 season. He then came out of retirement and signed a three-year deal with Texas.

If you want precedence for making a change and forcing Bochy out, there is none, and it is highly unlikely to happen this late in the season.

Could it provide a spark that could wake the club in time to make a run? Also, very unlikely as Bochy and his resume clearly have the respect of every player in that clubhouse as well as those above him, making the call.

The most likely scenario is that Bruce Bochy will retire at the end of this season

Bochy, 70, is in the final year of his deal and is most likely going to fulfill his contract and re-evaluate if he wants to continue with the full 162-game grind moving forward, regardless of how the Rangers perform in the second half.

With absolutely nothing left to prove in the game, it would make sense that he would hang it up at the conclusion of this season.

Still, it puts the organization in a difficult position should they continue to hover around the .500 mark and keep that final wild card spot within reach. The smart money is that Young and the Ranges ride out 2025 with Bochy at the helm unless he decides to call it a career. before then.

But who knows, Bruce may want to get his career record above .500 before he calls it a day. Right now, he is sitting at 2,212-2,229.