Five Reasons Texas Rangers Won't Repeat As World Champions

The last franchise to win back-to-back World Series was the New York Yankees in 2000, which wrapped up a three-year streak of titles. In 2001, the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Yankees in seven games to end their streak.

Since then, no team has repeated. In fact, starting with Arizona’s 2001 title, the Rangers became the 16th different team to win a World Series. That’s more than half of the league.

Several teams have won multiple titles in that span, including the San Francisco Giants under current Rangers manager Bruce Bochy. The Giants won three titles in five seasons from 2010-14, but never repeated in that span.

It’s hard to win. It’s even harder to win again the next year. History is working against the Rangers.  

The 2023 Rangers managed to avoid serious, season-ending injuries, except for pitcher Jacob deGrom’s torn UCL. Shortstop Corey Seager and pitcher Nathan Eovaldi missed about a month due to injuries. The Rangers dodged a major loss when catcher Jonah Heim didn’t need surgery for a wrist injury suffered in July.

For the most part, the Rangers were healthy. Entering 2024, the Rangers know they will be without three starting pitchers — deGrom, Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle, who just signed in December. All should be back at some point in 2024, but the Rangers will already be operating at a deficit when it comes to starting pitching to start the campaign.

Texas is unlikely to get that lucky two years in a row.

The Rangers won the first team Silver Slugger award. Part of the reason was the production from the bottom of its batting order.

Generally, Leody Taveras, Ezequiel Duran and Mitch Garver would hit in those positions when the team was fully healthy. Evan Carter moved into the bottom third when he was called up in September.

All four were productive. Taveras batted .266 with 14 home runs, 67 RBI and 67 runs. Duran batted .276 with 14 home runs, 46 RBI and 55 runs. Garver batted .270 with 19 home runs, 50 RBI and 45 runs. Carter batted .306 in just 23 games, with five home runs, 12 RBI and 15 runs.

That’s incredible production from players that normally hit in the seventh, eighth and ninth positions in the order. Can the Rangers strike gold there two years in a row? 

As of now, the Rangers’ closer for 2024 is José Leclerc. He had four saves in the 2023 regular season. Now, he was terrific in the postseason and one of the relievers that Bochy leaned on. But Leclerc has never been a consistent closer in his career, with a high of 14 saves in 2019.

The Rangers, to this point, haven’t made a move to bolster their ninth-inning situation. There are options on the market, but not many. If the Rangers move ahead with what’s on their roster, they’re crossing their fingers that Leclerc has finally grown into the closer they’ve always wanted him to be — or have someone waiting in the wings that can take over if he can’t.

By the way, he’s the only returning reliever with a save from last season. 

The Rangers are competing in a dangerous American League. It starts with their rival down south, the Houston Astros. A world title tends to cloud the memory that the Rangers tied the Astros for the AL West and lost the No. 2 seed because the Astros won the season series. Also, while the Rangers beat the Astros in seven games in the ALCS, the Astros also had a 3-2 lead after five games.

The Baltimore Orioles won 101 games last season and, like the Rangers, just about every important piece of that batting order returns. Plus, its young rotation is healthy. The New York Yankees traded for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo to lessen their reliance on Aaron Judge. Despite trading Tyler Glasnow, the Tampa Bay Rays should be tough. The Toronto Blue Jays have more than enough under contract to compete and are in the running for Cody Bellinger.

The AL Central will be wide open, with the Cleveland Guardians, the Minnesota Twins and possibly the Detroit Tigers fighting for the title.

In other words, there are plenty of teams in chase mode with the talent to overtake the Rangers in the postseason.