Rangers odd team out in division race as rival pulls off surprise Christmas extension

The American League West Division is heating up and with the Texas Rangers missing the previous two postseasons, the worry might be a change of guard is happening in the wrong direction.

For nearly the past decade, the division has been dominated by the Houston Astros but with the signings of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien in 2022, mixed with a World Series title the following year, it seemed the Rangers were on trajectory to run the division for the immediate future.

What followed was two disappointing years with the Astros taking their fourth straight division title and the Seattle Mariners then winning their first in 20 years. Now, the Athletics are looking to join the mix and it's not looking favorable for Texas.

Rangers feel like the odd team out in AL West race that is heating up

If going 81-81 wasn't bad enough for the Rangers in 2025, it will only be magnified by the A's finished the year just five games back of Texas for third in the division. While that may not seem like much at all, they have the better personnel to compete with Houston and Seattle.

Not only did the A's have two of the three AL Rookie of the Year finalists in Jacob Wilson and Nick Kurtz, the latter actually won the award. The team also has several young stars in Shea Langeliers, Brent Rooker, Zack Gelof and Tyler Soderstrom.

And unlike previous history, the organization is looking to keep those guys around. The first act of business went down on Christmas Day when the A's locked up the 24-year-old Soderstrom to an extremely team-friendly seven year, $86 million deal.

They will also get much needed veteran presence after trading a 17-year-old rookie ball pitcher to the New York Mets in exchange for Jeff McNeil.

In a 75 win season, the A's offense finished among the best hitting teams in the American League. They were third in average (.253), fourth in home runs (219), sixth in RBIs (709), fifth in OBP (318), second in slugging (.431) and third in OPS (.749).

What didn't fair well was the pitching. While the offense was one of the AL's best, the pitching was among the bottom in the league. Not sure what their plan is regarding the rotation, maybe filling in via free agency or hoping their homegrown talents take them where they need to be.

Regardless, it doesn't look good for the Rangers. While the A's are now supposedly doing what they can to build a powerhouse for when they debut in Las Vegas in a few years, Texas is sitting on their hands and watching the rest of their divisional opponents get better.