How do the 2025 Texas Rangers stack up against their AL West counterparts?

It's hard to remain unbiased as a fan while evaluating your team, espeically when faced with the tough question of comparing them to division rivals you actively root hard against every day of the year.

The 2025 Texas Rangers have some massive expectations from not only their point of view but also the fan base's and the outside sources. While they want to get the bad taste of 2024 out of their mouth, the fan base expects a lot and the national media continue to underrate them.

With all that said, they should be among a favorite to win their division and make a deep run in the postseason. It's easier said than done because the makeup of the American League West, which has three potential contenders, including Texas. So trying to remain netural, here's an fair comparison of the Rangers and their divisional counterparts.

What are the expectations surrounding the 2025 Texas Rangers?

To give a fair comparison we first have to discuss what the fair expecations are for the Rangers this season. Now, if you ask the players, coaching staff and front office in Arlington they will say it's World Series or bust. It's not too far off from what experts around the league think as well.

Depending on which website you visit, the Rangers' season fluctuates in between a third place finish in the AL West with 83 wins to a first place finish and 90 wins. It makes sense to see a big difference between sites as these are updated daily and I am sure these models react to the Cody Bradford and Jon Gray injury news this week.

The truth of the matter is, anywhere between 84 and 90 is a realistic expectation for Texas as anything can happen. This is essentially the same lineup that only recorded 78 wins in 2024 but the biggest difference is as of now, they are all expected to be healthy which wasn't the case last season.

We'd very much love to see Texas have an explosive season and break the franchise record for wins in a season, which is 96 set by the 2011 AL Champion team. Regardless, the consensus expecation is Texas will be better this year and it will all come down to if they can stay healthy.

Who are the Rangers biggest competition for an AL West title?

Entering the season Texas's biggest competition are the two similar opponents, the in-state division rival Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners.

Houston, Seattle and Texas are locked in tight battles when you look at projected standings, with FanGraphs projecting a three-way tie at 84-78. With that, it would come down to the three team's performances against each other.

Both the Astros and Mariners have respective advantages and disadvantages compared to Texas. The Mariners have one of the most talented rotations in Major League Baseball, even with the absence of Logan Gilbert but Seattle's offense was one of the worst in the league last year and they failed to make any positive movement on that front this offseason. For Houston, while they did lose Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker they replaced them with Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker but the pitching staff is injured and not necessarily the strongest.

Since the Astros joined the AL West in 2013, the Rangers have won two division titles compared to Houston's seven. Texas will have to do something to separate themselves from the two teams if they want to get a good standing for the postseason and grad their second World Series in three years.

If you want to look a little further into it, ESPN has Texas with the second-best odds to win the division and 11th best odds to win the World Series at +2500, tied with Arizona, Seattle and Cleveland.

Here's a brief position-by-position breakdown of the Rangers, Astros and Mariners

To add context, these are based off MLB's projected rosters and lineups entering the 2025 season.

Catchers

• Texas: Jonah Heim

• Houston: Yainer Diaz

• Seattle: Cal Raleigh

First Base

• Texas: Jake Burger

• Houston: Christian Walker

• Seattle: Luke Raley

Second Base

• Texas: Marcus Semien

• Houston: Mauricio Dubon

• Seattle: Ryan Bliss

Shortstop

• Texas: Corey Seager

• Houston: Jeremy Pena

• Seattle: J.P. Crawford

Third Base

• Texas: Josh Jung

• Houston: Isaac Paredes

• Seattle: Jorge Polanco

Left Field

• Texas: Wyatt Langford

• Houston: Jose Altuve

• Seattle: Randy Arozarena

Center Field

• Texas: Evan Carter

• Houston: Chas McCormick

• Seattle: Julio Rodriguez

Right Field

• Texas: Adolis Garcia

• Houston: Jake Meyers

• Seattle: Victor Robles

Designated Hitter

• Texas: Joc Pederson

• Houston: Yordan Alvarez

• Seattle: Mitch Haniger

Bench

• Texas: Kyle Higashioka, Leody Taveras, Josh Smith, Kevin Pillar

• Houston: Ben Gamel, Victor Carartini, Jon Singleton, Luis Guillorme

• Seattle: Mitch Garver, Donovan Solano, Dylan Moore, Miles Mastrobuoni

Starting Rotation

• Texas: Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle, Jack Leiter, Dane Dunning

• Houston: Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco, Spencer Arrighetti, Hayden Wesneski

• Seattle: Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, Bryce Miller, Bryan Woo, Emerson Hancock

Bullpen

• Texas: Jacob Webb, Chris Martin, Luke Jackson, Shawn Armstrong, Hoby Milner, Robert Garcia, Marc Church, Adrian Houser

• Houston: Josh Hader, Bryan Abreu, Tayler Scott, Bryan King, Forrest Whitley, Luis Contreras, Jalen Beeks, Rafael Montero

• Seattle: Andres Munoz, Gregory Santos, Colin Snider, Trent Thorton, Eduard Buzardo, Tayler Saucedo, Gabe Speier, Seth Martinez