Texas homestand thoughts: Rangers drop five of nine vs. Pirates, A's, and Yankees

This very easily could have been a winning homestand for Texas. Sunday's loss to the A's stung at the time and still does. Kumar Rocker walked two with two out in the first inning, and both of them came in. Flashforward nine innings and the A's won 2-0.

Instead, the Rangers drop two of the three series. The Pirates are the only ones who left Arlington without a series victory. A lot went wrong during this nine-game stretch, mainly on the offensive end.

Let's get into it. At the very least, we can start with a positive talking point.

Thought 1 - Josh Jung wraps up the month of his life

While one can hope he continues his form, April 2026 is going to be a month Jung chases for the rest of his life. The third baseman turned into one of the best players in baseball. Jung's numbers are eye-popping and something every Rangers fan has been waiting on for a long, long time.

Since this is just about the homestand, let's look at what Jung produced while the rest of the bats stayed quiet. Four doubles, two home runs, and nine RBIs. For reference, the Rangers produced 28 runs during the nine-game stretch. He's responsible for about a third of the scoring.

Now, Sports Reference combines March with April for overall stats. So, these next numbers include him going 0-17 in four games during March.

A .317 batting average, 11 doubles, four homers, 17 RBIs. Jung's OPS is .925, and his OPS+ sits at 172. Just incredible.

Really, there is only one other month-long stretch you can compare this to for Jung. Go all the way back to May 2023, when Jung hit six home runs and five doubles while knocking in 21 runs. The OPS finished at .917. At the time, this was considered Jung's breakout.

Hopefully, April can turn into a second breakout of sorts. Keeping up the pace Jung is currently on is incredibly tough and likely unsustainable. But finding month-over-month consistency for the first time since 2023 might revitalize his career. Maybe an All-Star appearance comes out of it.

Thought 2 - Almost everyone else...

I got nothing for you.

To an extent, I am a believer in Globe Life Field playing a role. Looking at the splits between home and away clearly suggests as such. People saying it's not the park certainly make a great case, though. Most of the longest home runs of the season were hit on this homestand........ by the opponents.

Plenty of runners are getting on base. Outside of Jung coming through on Wednesday, timely hits are not falling. Home runs in the home park for the home team are tough to come by these days. To say it's frustrating would be an understatement.

Three guys really stand out when it comes to the struggle bus.

Danny Jansen being the first of them. Coming into the year, I said Jansen just needs to be a league-average hitter. He started six of these games at home and only produced two hits. Six strikeouts came, three of which were on Sunday vs. the A's. And he came up in multiple big spots.

In fairness to Josh Smith, he walked five times during the homestand. His second double of the year came in the opener against Pittsburgh. Still, he is just not producing enough. I believe Skip Schumaker pretty much benched him for a few days after striking out on a pitch clock violation too. As we said coming home from Seattle, more Ezequiel Duran, please.

Evan Carter sits below the Mendoza Line. Started all nine games and only produced two hits. Carter has yet to get a multi-hit game this season.

This could go on for a while, looking up and down the lineup. Guys are just in bad form right now. Maybe this is what they are, as many on social media believe.

Defending the long-term plan is becoming quite difficult.

Thought 3 - Corey Seager has gone chasing

Seeing Seager get aggressive is nothing new. Ever since he joined the Rangers, his strategy has remained the same. Seager is going to usually swing early and often, at least when the ball is in the zone. This season, there has been a lot of chase.

Watching the homestand, in particular, made me text somebody, "I've never seen this from Seager." Whether it's pitches in the dirt from lefties or right-handers going up and away. Seager is swinging at a crazy amount of pitches, at least it feels like it.

Baseball Savant's numbers back the theory up. Seager has a chase percentage of 30.4, which ranks in the 45th percentile across the league. Up 7% from 2025, when he was in the 83rd percentile. Whiffing is an issue too, no matter where the ball lands. Seager is in the 7th percentile across baseball at 35.7%. Alarming, to say the least.

Now, slow starts aren't exactly foreign for Seager. Here are his March/April OPS lines since joining the Rangers.

.710 (2022), 1.008 (2023), .631 (2024), .831 (2025).

Right now, Seager sits at .722. A nice stretch of hits did come during the homestand, including three consecutive two-knock games. But he struck out 11 times and walked just twice.

The RSN broadcast pointed out how Seager has once again opened up his batting stance. We have seen this from him before when looking to get going. It's been a weird and unusual month for this team's best hitter.

Singles

• The Oneil Cruz home run off the top of the right-field foul pole? Wowza. That might even be underselling it. Made it look effortless. A swing everyone should remember, even if an opponent produced it.
• The one player I'm not going to come after, offensively, is Joc Pederson. No, the slug is not there (despite Tuesday's HR). The dude is getting on base at a .341 clip, which includes his 0-16 start.
• Every time you think there is something to worry about with Nathan Eovaldi, he tells you to shut up. Good to see him get back on track Wednesday afternoon. Hopefully, we can see him do it in his next start, which should also come vs. the Yankees
• Jacob Latz 8th inning or later counter - 7.2 innings, four hits, two runs.
• I thought about having a full thought on MacKenzie Gore. Since the home opener, he has failed to record more than 15 outs in a game. Walks are becoming an issue. However, he only had one start during the homestand. Let's hope for better from him on Friday night.
• The Brandon Nimmo injury is of concern, even if he claims to be fine. Hamstrings are nothing to mess around with. Nimmo's role on this team and usual demeanour require hustle. Hoping for the best there.

Coming up

MLB really did no favors for the Rangers, scheduling-wise, to start the season.

First up are the Detroit Tigers, who are 0.5 games out of first place in the AL Central. A little misleading, since they are 15-16 at the time of posting. Thursday brings a series finale vs. the Atlanta Braves for them.

Thankfully, Tarik Skubal will not be on the mound. He pitched Wednesday night and the Rangers will miss him.

The team then hops on a flight to New York City for another showdown vs. the Yankees. Similar pitching matchups should take place. Different results are going to be needed.