Rangers shouldn't force return of their injured superstars with postseason hopes slim

As the Texas Rangers lose an important inner division series, dropping all three games to the Houston Astros this week, the team's playoff hopes are slowly dwindling with nine games left in the regular season.

A miraculous late season run, powered by the Rangers' youngsters, has come to a standstill. They've had to do most of their comeback without the likes of their $500 million middle infielders Corey Seager and Marcus Semien.

There have been rumblings about both infielders returning to play sometime in the final two weeks of the year but with a recent slide in the American League Wild Card standings, is it even worth it forcing them back not 100% healthy?

Rangers have little reason to force Seager and Semien back this season

As the Rangers are taking advantage of an off day on Thursday before kicking off their final regular season home series against the Miami Marlins this weekend, their playoff hopes have dipped to 10%, according to FanGraphs.

On Wednesday, Corey Seager spoke to media and updated them off his recovery, 20 days removed from surgery to remove his appendix that has sidelined him since August 28. The two-time World Series MVP has begun rotating exercised, light jogging and the next step is to take swings. Seager said he remains hopeful that he will return at some point this year.

As for the 35-year-old Semien, he went down during the finale of the Kansas City series on August 21 and was later ruled to be out for the rest of the regular season with a left foot fracture. However, last week Semien started walking without a boot and has since been doing some light infield drills.

While the idea of that is all well and good, there can't be a bit of uneasiness that the Rangers might be leading them down a negative path when the season is near a lost cause.

Veteran sluggers would boost lineup while postseason is still reachable

Even though the chances are small, having to go nearly perfect in their final nine games and have a few teams play along, it's not impossible.

Seager is one of the best players in baseball when healthy and despite a down season this year, he's still launched 21 home runs and drove in 50 runs in only 102 games this year. As for Semien, his biggest value has been without a doubt his defense this year, with a tough year offensively.

There's no doubt their presence would be welcomed to the lineup but there's zero shot either one of them will be healthy. Would the Rangers use the two for a handful of games at a slim chance of the postseason or maximize the team's misfortunes and give them an extended offseason to get ready for 2026?