After the 7-2 loss Sunday to Boston, the Rangers are down to their final 50 games of 2024. Currently, Texas sits 5.5 games back of the Mariners and 9.5 games back of the Royals to sneak into the final Wild Card spot. It’s been a season filled with adversity, from a boatload of injuries to offense inefficiencies. Monday begins the season’s final series against the Astros, along with seven remaining games against Seattle in September. With the club in a tough spot for the Wild Card, is the postseason possible for the 2024 Texas Rangers?

"It's always an honor to start for a hometown team and so I'll gladly take the ball, give everything I got every single time and hopefully next start is a little bit better than this one."

Cody Bradford after his start tonight!
@Rangers | #StraightUpTX | @BallySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/IaixF7YyBU

— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) August 4, 2024

Starting in St. Louis last week, the Rangers began a span of 25 straight games against teams over .500 (assuming the Pirates remain over .500 when they come to Arlington August 19-21). Since the All-Star break, Texas dropped the first three series against teams with a winning record and are 1-5 on the road since the break. Overall, the Rangers sit 7-9 since the All-Star break, with four of the seven wins contributing to the White Sox’s current 20-game losing streak.  Once the Rangers get out of the 25-game gauntlet, things somewhat ease up with the series against the White Sox, Athletics, and Angels. However, there’s a four-game Yankees series during Labor Day week to complicate matters. Overall, it remains a demanding schedule for the Rangers to make up ground.

On the field performance side, some positives came over the weekend despite the series loss to the Boston Red Sox. The Rangers slugged eight home runs and totaled 15 runs, the most in a three-game series since July 8-10 in Anaheim. The shift at the top of the lineup, putting Josh Smith at the top and Marcus Semien 3rd, has seen its benefits over the weekend. “Smithy is one of those guys that you can put anywhere,” Bruce Bochy said. “I bat him cleanup, so he’s been everywhere. I’m just trying to mix it up and trying to do anything to get the offense going [and] get a spark. Marcus does a good job exploiting the pitcher. Going the next few days, I can’t tell you what we talked about today.” Josh Jung’s return created a tiny spark in the lineup, and Ezequiel Duran’s success in Round Rock has carried over to the Major Leagues in his recall this past week.

Josh Jung hits the 8th @Rangers HR of the series against the Red Sox 💪 pic.twitter.com/RLkNSy2NSk

— MLB (@MLB) August 4, 2024

Saturday’s start for Cody Bradford provided a positive window, but the Rangers’ pitching is beginning to deplete. Reinforcements are coming with Tyler Mahle on the horizon (possibly for the Astros series), and Jacob deGrom is reaching the point of facing hitters. It’s been a tough week for the pitching staff, allowing 40 runs between the Cardinals and Red Sox in the last five games in which no starter has gone more than five innings in those five games.

This recent history points to a scenario where the defending World Champions miss the playoffs in 2024, which would be the fourth time a Bruce Bochy World Series-led ball club misses the playoffs entirely the following season. However, with a few more high-class players returning and what appeared to be an offense that gained momentum, a good week for the Rangers against a divisional opponent (and if the Mariners falter against the Tigers) equates to Texas right back in the mix.

Postseason play is certainly possible for the Rangers, but with the tough road ahead and the injury-plagued pitching staff, it may be too much to overcome this late in the season. The Rangers might make one more push, but mid to late September will be the final straw, ending that chance to repeat. 2024 will be the year of too many forces to overcome, but man, if they pull it off, it would be one of the most impressive trips to the postseason for any team in a long time.