Skip Schumaker's group of 'veterans, super veterans and younger fellas' has come together faster than expected.
Texas Rangers third baseman Ezequiel Duran and first baseman Jake Burger celebrate their team's victory over the Baltimore Orioles in a baseball game, Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Baltimore. It’s a relatively new concept around these parts Why not? The Rangers, at 4-1, are off to their best five-game start since 2012, which started great, but we won’t mention the ending.
They have won all these games on a season-opening road trip, only the second time they will complete a season-opening road trip of at least two series with a winning record — and the first since 1992. They are scoring runs, if not by the bush, then at least by the pecks. They have run hard,Roping Rangers? Andrew McCutchen's 'lasso' celebration is catching on “It’s been fun to see them all come together so quickly,” the manager said to begin his post-game briefing. Then he set a 1-to-1 fun-per-minute rate, uttering it six times in six minutes.Danny Jansen, who had three hits, including a game-breaking, three-run homer with two outs in the seventh, appeared at his locker wearing a spring training giveaway T-shirt that sported “I just hope Brandon Nimmo is having fun,” across the front. Didn’t even know what the impetus was for the saying. Only knows Nimmo,, definitely seems to be having fun. So is Jansen. He used the word-of-the-day, unprompted, three times in three minutes to keep pace with his manager. “This is a great mix of veterans, super veterans, and younger fellas,” said Jansen, and, yeah, he said “fellas.” “It's just a nice combination of all of it. I felt the atmosphere of this clubhouse since Day 1. That's been awesome. And I've been fortunate. I've been in some pretty good clubhouses throughout my career, but this one has been a blast so far. It's really fun. Coming to the ballpark is fun.”with his disciplined approach at the place and his energetic approach in the field: He singled to start one rally after the Rangers lost a one-run lead. Then after Jacob deGrom couldn’t hold the two-run lead generated by the rally, Nimmo singled with two outs in the sixth to give the Rangers a third lead. Everything about this offense starts with him.Things have gone so well for the Rangers in this first week that even the one time they might have made a baserunning blunder, they still ended up with a game-breaking inning. Corey Seager had walked to start the seventh and moved to second on a single by Jake Burger. When Joc Pederson flied out to left, Seager had a chance to tag to go to third, but didn’t. He did on the next fly ball, but stood to be stranded on third with two outs before Jansen caught a 1-1 fastball in the heart of the plate and drove it into the left field seats.If you are counting at home, all three of the Rangers new position players — Nimmo, Andrew McCutchen and, now, Jansen — have homered in the first five games. It’s fun when the newcomers can get in on the act.Yeah, yeah, it’s all fun and games in the first week of the season. The first week is nice, but that big 1992 season-opening road trip? Didn’t amount to anything. Bobby Valentine was fired before the All-Star break. The 2012 start? Ended with Josh Hamilton’s dropped fly in Oakland. Heck, the decidedly un-fun Rangers were 8-2 to start last year, despite scoring just 33 runs in those first 10 games, which was definitely an omen of things to come. This team has scored 29 in five games, if you are counting. They’ve scored eight twice already. Didn’t do that until Game 30 last year. Enough about 2025. The point: The first week isn’t a reliable indicator of what’s to come. If there is something, however, to take from this fun first week, it’s that the Rangers have played well on the road. And that is something they have most definitely not done at any real stretch in this decade. They began the season with a .396 road winning percentage since COVID shut down spring training in 2020. They were uninspiring on the road last year. This first trip has offered a reconstituted lineup a chance to bond. The road is really where you find out about team chemistry or culture. Teams that win on the road end up in the postseason. And with the Rangers, there’s going to be lots of time to bond and be tested. Building early confidence in their ability to win on the road is important. “Everybody's finally in a smaller group setting; you sit in hotels together and talk baseball together and learn about each other,” Schumaker said. “It’s just a different feel than spring training is. And I've always enjoyed the first road trip of the season as a player because of that. There is something to it. And when you win, those bonding experiences last longer.”Oh, goodness, here we are so far down the road on fun patrol and we haven’t even mentioned Jacob deGrom’s first start of the year. Amazing. Especially after it was delayed two days by a stiff neck. Well, deGrom seemed to cruise into the fifth, despite giving up a homer to former Mets teammate Pete Alonso, but he couldn’t put Gunnar Henderson away to end the inning. And that ended deGrom’s night. He felt mostly fine about the outing, wasn’t even overly critical. And the extra time on the bench just gave him more time to soak in the Happy Fun Time Rangers. “We’re having a lot of fun, and that's the goal,” deGrom said “Spring training, we had a lot of fun. And Skip has done a great job of managing this thing so far. Guys are having a good time. You play 162 games. You show up every day and you get ready to play. But you also have to fun playing it. “My first pitching coach used to always come in and say a few things to us, but the last thing was always: ‘Most importantly, have fun’.”
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