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Texas Rangers' Evan Carter celebrates hitting a double during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis) (Sara Nevis/AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson understands belief. If you don't buy that, he'll remind any and all who ask that four months ago, after a dormant start to the regular season which followed the worst season of his career, he reiterated multiple times that corners can be turned.
Pederson turned his.
He believes his team can do the same.
"If you don't believe in yourself, well, it's an uphill battle," Pederson said. "This group has believed this whole year."
The Rangers believe they are a playoff-caliber team, and after a 5-3 win against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park Saturday night, they technically are once again. The win snapped a gruesome four-game losing streak against the worst and second-worst teams in baseball by record this season, and paired with a Detroit Tigers loss, it lifted the Rangers into the third American League Wild Card position.
They'll now need to hold onto it for six more weeks.
Saturday's win provided a road map toward that.
They need to execute on the margins:There were glimpses of better offensive decisions and better offensive processes in Saturday's win. The Rangers have gone first-to-third on singles fewer times than any team league-wide this season, but after left fielder Wyatt Langford hit one in the first inning, shortstop Corey Seager took an extra base for the first time this year.
In the fifth inning, after first baseman Jake Burger hit a leadoff double, catcher Austin Wynns advanced him to third base with a sacrifice bunt before second baseman Nicky Lopez drove him in with a single. Schumaker acknowledged that the decision to have Wynns bunt while down three runs was "unconventional," but because they "needed to get momentum back on our side," the call was made.
The two instances of smart baseball provided the Rangers all of one run — because infielder Ezequiel Duran flew out after Langford's single in the first and Pederson grounded into a double play after Lopez's single in the fifth — but both served as a reminder of what an offense must do if it can't consistently slug its way out of holes.
"[It takes] other things that are needed to help manufacture runs," Schumaker said. "Whether it's the bunt today, the first-to-thirds, the ball in the dirt reads ... it's the little things like that that you have to be aware of to win baseball games at this level. I don't care who the opponent is, that has to be a part of our identity, and it's been lost a little bit in the last week."
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Wyatt Langford, de los Rangers de Texas, recibe la felicitación de Corey Seager luego de batear un jonrón de dos carreras ante los Atléticos, el sábado 15 de agosto de 2026 (AP Foto/Sara Nevis) (Sara Nevis/AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
They need to play loose: Langford started the day in a 7-for-63 slump. He ended it with three hits that carried exit velocities of 106.9 mph, 106.2 mph and 105.1 mph.
The softest of the three carried the greatest impact. The Rangers strung together three consecutive hits from the heart of their lineup to start the sixth inning against Athletics starter J.T. Ginn when right fielder Brandon Nimmo hit a double, Seager hit a single and Langford hit a two-run home run to give his team its first lead in 29 innings.
Langford, who acknowledged that his swing did not feel good amid his skid, said that he "tried to play a little more loose" in Saturday's game.
"When you're too worried about your swing and stuff, or when you're too worried about struggling, then you start thinking about 'I've got to do this, I've got to make the perfect swing, I've got to make the perfect pitch,'" Langford, who recorded his first multiple hit game since July 25, said. "I'm just thinking a little less. You still have a game plan and know what you want to do, but maybe you think less about mechanics, think less about 'What happens if I swing at a bad pitch?' Just go up there and try to impat the ball."
Schumaker said that he hit Langford in the cleanup spot as an attempt to "mix things up" in the midst of the losing streak, but also, to give the 24-year-old some "breathing room" from the top of the order.
It in turn allowed everyone to take a breath.
"The only way to play this game is to play free, to play stress-free, not anxious," Schumaker said. "You have to have swag and you have to have delusion. There's no way I can be in the batter's box, or on the mound or playing second base and have anxiety or fear of failure and be tight and be successful."
Pederson, the loosest Rangers player on a daily basis and the one who led a card game that included teammates of different ages and positions before Saturday's game, has a different way to describe it.
"I think arrogant might be a trigger word for people," Pederson said, "but, no, arrogance is one of the strongest beliefs in yourself, because I know I'm prepared and I've done everything I can to dominate this moment. When you're in that position, you have mental freedom, and you're in a spot where you're able to let your athleticism and your skill and your hard work take over."
They need to finish strong:The Rangers turned a one-run lead over to their bullpen with two outs in the sixth inning. Chase Silseth, acquired at the deadline to shore up the right-handed relief staff, recorded one out on one pitch. Jakob Junis, who was activated from the injured list mere hours before the game, threw a perfect seventh inning on eight pitches. Jacob Latz, their All-Star closer who's only pitched four times this month, shook some mechanical rust and recorded another multiple-inning save.
It's as well-drawn-up as the Rangers could imagine their late-game bullpen blueprint, and while that won't always be available to them, the support that the team gave its relievers can be. The Rangers protected their one-run lead when, after Latz walked the leadoff batters in the bottom of the eighth inning, Wynns threw out pinch runner Donovan Walton at second base.
"That was all on Wynns there," Latz, whose 12 multi-inning saves lead the league, said. "That kept us really in the momentum of the game."
They tacked on an insurance run one frame later when outfielder Jarred Kelenic carded a pinch-hit single (his second of the road trip) with two runners on base against Scott Blewett.
"With one run, you're playing with fire here, a solo home run changes everything," Schumaker said. "It's hard to pinch hit, I've always said it's the hardest thing to do in the major leagues, because you're usually facing a high-leverage guy in the back end, and he's done a really good job of putting it in play and making it happen."
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Sign up for the Morning Roundup, a free newsletter delivering the latest North Texas news each morning.This article originally published at How Saturday's bounce-back win could provide Rangers with road map toward a playoff spot.
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