Rangers loss to Phillies carries more weight than fans might realize early in 2024.
The overriding reason why the Texas Rangers hired Bruce Bochy out of retirement was because the guy flat out knows how to win baseball games. He is a four-time World Series champion manager with over 2,100 wins at the helm over a long and illustrious career. Bochy was coveted by basically every team when he decided to call it quits with the Giants after the 2019 season, but only Texas was able to convince him to come back.
The results spoke for themselves last year as the Rangers went on to win the World Series. However, Texas now finds itself (along with Bochy) in a place that few expected them to be following up a championship as their loss to the Phillies pushed them below .500 for the first time under their veteran manager.
Rangers being under .500 may be unexpected, but they have the right manager to get them on track
No one with functioning brain cells actually thinks that Bochy is to blame for the Rangers’ struggles in 2024. Few teams in Major League Baseball have had worse luck with injuries than the Rangers and when any team, no matter how loaded, loses most of their rotation and multiple key bats from their lineup, the results probably aren’t going to be great.
Moreover, while this is the first time the Rangers have been below .500 under Bochy, he has certainly been in this position before in his career. Go look at some of the dreadful Padres teams that he had to manage from 1999-2003 or some of the Giants teams he had to deal with very early and very late in his time with San Fran. Those rosters are not for the faint of heart.
Still, it is unsettling to see Texas struggle this much given their expectations coming into the season. The rookie duo of Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford haven’t lived up to expectations yet and the team’s best hitter, Corey Seager, is only just now starting to get going. Between on-field struggles and all of the injuries, being below .500 is a bit of a shock to fans hoping that 2023 was the beginning of a long run of success.
Luckily for them, they have a manager who has been through it all and knows how to navigate rough waters as good or better than anyone.
