Rangers can make big statement in upcoming series against AL West rivals

The Texas Rangers continue their road trip this weekend for their first series against a fellow AL West opponent in the Seattle Mariners.

Not only will it be their first series of 2025 against a divisional opponent, the Rangers will then return home next week to face off against the Angels. The next six games present a great opportunity against back-to-back divisional rivals to seperate themselves from the pack a tiny bit here in the first full month of the regular season.

It won't be easy though. Texas's offense is really struggling and Seattle has one of the best pitching rotations in baseball. The Rangers are set to face a gauntlet this weekend at T-Mobile Park with Bryce Miller, Bryan Woo and Logan Gilbert set to take the mound for the Mariners.

Back home against the Angels is proving to be another good one. The Angels have come out of the gates hot this season and are 8-4, one game back from Texas in the division.

It's still only April so there's a lot of baseball left to be played but anytime you can match up against a fellow division rival, it presents an opportunity to seperate yourself. Especially early in the season, a good performance allows you to make a statement that the division runs through you.

Texas will hope to capitalize on back-to-back six run games against the Cubs, as well as the return of Josh Jung and the offensive arrival of Corey Seager. Still their offense ranks dead last in most offensive categories, including an average below .200 in its first 13 games.

This could still benefit Texas as Seattle's offensive is struggling as well, averaging 3.38 runs per game, ranked 25th in Major League Baseball. Texas is currently 22nd in runs per game (3.46).

Angels on the other hand have scored the ninth-most runs per game in the entire league in their first 13 games. They are fresh off taking 2 of 3 from Tampa Bay this week and outscoring the Rays 19-9, thanks to a dominate 11-1 win on Wednesday where they homered six times.

Texas's pitching has been tremendous this season and while the probables are yet to be known for the three-game set we can guess it would feature Tyler Mahle and maybe even Jack Leiter if he was healed in time.

The pitching for Los Angeles is where Texas will need to capitalize. As a staff, the team is 19th in ERA (4.21), 13th in earned runs allowed (50), 29th in home runs allowed (19) and 18th in batting average against (.237).

The Houston Astros are another team in the mix expected to be competing for the AL West title this year. Texas will not face Houston for the first time until May 15-18 in Arlington. Regardless, taking care of business and winning both the series in Seattle and Anaheim could make a giant "we are here and we mean business" statement for Bruce Bochy and the rest of the Texas Rangers.