2024 Texas Rangers Odds: Betting Futures and Win Totals Lines

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The Texas Rangers haven’t made the playoffs since 2016 but spent a lot of money this winter to change that as they gave former New York Mets right-hander and two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom to a five-year, $185 deal. He will make his Rangers and American League debut on Thursday as Texas hosts defending NL champion Philadelphia. The Rangers are -135 on the MLB odds.

Jacob deGrom Makes Rangers Debut Thursday vs. Phillies as AL Cy Young Favorite

When: March 30, at 4:05 pm ET
Where: Globe Life Field, Arlington, TX
TV / Streaming: MLB Network (JIP at 5 PM), ESPN+, MLB.tv

From 2018-21, deGrom posted a 1.94 ERA with an average of 12 strikeouts per nine innings, in what was perhaps the most dominant multi-year performance by any pitcher of this generation. He routinely hit triple digits on the radar gun over that stretch, topping out at 102 mph. However, deGrom has battled injuries the past two seasons and entering his age-35 season, he has not pitched a full MLB season since 2019 (2020 was COVID shortened).

It was a no-brainer for new Manager Bruce Bochy to name deGrom his Opening Day starter even though deGrom had a minor injury early in camp and might be limited to around 80 pitches Thursday. DeGrom delivered another outstanding performance in Cactus League action last Saturday in his finale, racking up six strikeouts over 3 2/3 scoreless innings against the Padres. He had 6 2/3 scoreless innings with a 0.90 ERA and a 10/2 K/BB ratio this spring.

“You’re talking about one of the elite pitchers in the game,” Bochy said. “It’s an honor to announce this. I know it’s an honor for him. You know, early we had to hold him back a little bit, but we think he’s good to go. We have the day off after Opening Day, so we know we can cover him. We’re not looking for him to take us real deep in the game or anything. This just makes all the sense in the world to us.”

DeGrom, making his fourth Opening Day start overall, will be the club’s 14th different Opening Day starter since 2010. The last Texas pitcher to start consecutive season openers was Kevin Millwood from 2006-09. DeGrom will be the first Opening Day starter in Rangers history to take the mound after having won multiple Cy Young Awards, and just the third Texas pitcher to start on Opening Day after having won one at all, joining Fergie Jenkins (National League Cy Young in 1971) and Gaylord Perry (American League Cy Young in ‘72).

Bochy is in his first year with Texas after being hired as the 20th full-time manager in Rangers history on October 21, 2022. He is the first to take the club’s managerial post after having previously won a World Series title as manager and will be managing for the 1st time since 2019, which was his final year at the helm with the San Francisco Giants. He owns a career managerial record of 2003-2029 (.497) over 25 seasons with San Diego (1995-2006) and San Francisco (2007-19). He will be the first manager in MLB history to manage at least 4,000 games in one league before managing a single game in the other.

The Phillies open the season without two injured starters in two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper, who may not return from Tommy John Surgery before July, and first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who tore his ACL in a spring game last week.

Philadelphia starts right-hander Aaron Nola on the bump. Nola’s sixth consecutive Opening Day start further entrenches him as one of the greatest starting pitchers in franchise history. Only Robin Roberts and Steve Carlton have started more consecutive season openers than Nola. Roberts started 12 straight from 1950-61. Carlton started 10 straight from 1977-86.

Nola concluded the spring by giving up five runs in 1 2/3 innings against the Yankees on Saturday. Nola, whose contract extension talks with the Phillies came to an unfruitful conclusion at the beginning of the day, gave up two homers and four more hits before being pulled. Nola is coming off his second-best season — a 3.25 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 32 starts. He and Corbin Burnes were the only pitchers in the majors with so low an ERA and WHIP in at least 200 innings. Nola struck out 235 batters and walked 29. The only pitcher in MLB history with that many strikeouts and so few walks in a season was Jim Whitney for the 1884 Boston Beaneaters.

“We are not going to get that done at this point,” GM Dave Dombrowski said of contract extension talks with Nola. “We are going to, at this point, break those off. We think the world of Aaron. We’ve talked long and hard with Aaron and his representative about the situation. We think the world of him, quality pitcher, quality human being, but sometimes you just get to this point where you’re just not able to consummate a deal where both sides feel comfortable.”

Nola is +1200 to win the NL Cy Young Award this season.

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It has been a wild week of big-time Major League Baseball free-agent signings, including Max Scherzer to the New York Mets, Corey Seager and Marcus Semien to the Texas Rangers, Robbie Ray to the Seattle Mariners, and Javier Baez to the Detroit Tigers. However, all the fun is expected to stop on Thursday – probably for a few months.

At 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, baseball’s Collective Bargaining Agreement will expire, at which point the owners are expected to lock out the players. It will be baseball’s first work stoppage since the 1994-95 players’ strike. The two sides are nowhere close to a new agreement. While most around the sport believe no regular-season games will be missed, the free-agent and trade market will shut down until there’s a new CBA. Teams are allowed to talk to each other about possible trades, etc., but that’s it.

A number of players have recently said that Dec. 1 isn’t a deadline of any kind, yet the flurry of signings suggests that a number of free agents and their representatives believe otherwise. Last November saw only five free agents sign deals worth at least $1 million — all for one year and none for more than $15 million.

Among the many items being discussed during collective bargaining talks is an expanded postseason format, something MLB has sought for years to increase revenue. The players want the luxury tax abolished and teams to have a salary floor. Both sides seem to agree on having a universal DH going forward.

MLB has made several offers to address some of the MLBPA’s concerns, among them were an increase in the competitive balance tax threshold, the elimination of free-agent draft-pick compensation, a draft lottery similar to the one the NBA employs, the universal designated hitter and an increase of the minimum salary.

Rangers Big Winners So Far

No question the Texas Rangers are the big winners of free agency in spending a combined $500 million on the All-Stars Seager and Semien as well as $56 million on pitcher Jon Gray.

Semien got a seven-year, $175 million contract. Last offseason, the former A’s shortstop opted to sign a one-year deal with the Blue Jays in order to re-establish his market, and the result was a third-place finish in AL MVP voting.  Semien hit .265/.334/.538 with 45 homers, a record for a second baseman, appearing in all 162 games. In addition to Silver Slugger honors, Semien also won a Gold Glove in his first year as a second baseman since 2014.

Semien told the Rangers he was fine staying at second base if they were to add a big-ticket shortstop and they gave Seager, the former NL Rookie of the Year and the 2020 World Series MVP, a 10-year, $325 million contract. That deal is the largest in Rangers history, significantly topping the market-shattering 10-year, $252 million contract the team gave Alex Rodriguez in 2001.

No question that Seager is a great player as the 27-year-old.295/.364/.501 with 100 home runs in 609 games from 2016 to 2021 and established himself as one of the sport’s premier offensive shortstops while with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he also missed extended time on multiple occasions. Suddenly, Texas has the best middle infield in baseball.

If Seager got $325 million, former Astros shortstop Carlos Correa might get $350, although his market is shrinking with Seager, Baez and Semien off the board.

As for Gray, the Rangers gave him a four-year deal worth $56 million. Since 2016, his first full big-league season, Gray has been among the National League leaders in innings pitched (788 2/3), strikeouts (809) and wins (53). During that time, he’s also posted a 4.54 ERA (108 ERA+). Gray is also a significant upgrade for the Rangers’ rotation, which had the third-worst ERA (5.33) in MLB in 2021.

Outfielder Kole Calhoun also signed with Texas, which has spent more this offseason than any other team in MLB history. Arizona declined their $9 million team option on Calhoun after he slashed .235/.297/.373 in 51 games in 2021. The 34-year-old is considered a qualify defensive right fielder, and slashed .272/.338/.440 against right-handed pitchers, making him a potentially viable platoon option.

Texas won just 60 games in 2021 and is scheduled to open the 2022 season March 31 vs. the Yankees.

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We are in a time of total uncertainty with a lot of things in our everyday life, with sports very much included in that mix. A good number of us watch sports as an escape from the daily grind, but with all the major leagues suspended, there is very little out there to help us get that sports fix. That said, we can still take some time to talk about what might happen once the closures end and we get back to the business of watching and wagering on sports. The start of the MLB season is coming, even if we don’t quite know when, so now is the time to start looking at each team across the league. For the purposes of this piece, we will turn our focus to the Texas Rangers. Let’s check the MLB Odds and World Series Odds for the Texas Rangers 2020 Season.

Texas Rangers Analysis Before 2020 Season Start

Texas Rangers 2019 Season Performance

 This is going to be a big year for the Rangers, as they will be starting the new season in a brand-new ballpark. They want to be able to give the fans more than just a pleasant place to watch baseball, though, which is why they went into free agency and took a nice little dip into the market. After a disappointing season last year, where they picked up 78 wins. While not a great win total, it was 11 wins better than they delivered in 2018.

The Rangers were on a run that saw them make the postseason in 6 out of 8 years, but last seasons failure means that they are now on a run of 3 straight seasons missing the playoffs. From an offensive standpoint, Texas was not all bad, scoring 810 runs over the course of the season, but they had some issues in pitching and on defense, giving up 878 runs on the regular season.

Winning the West is probably going to be a big ask, especially with both the Astros and A’s looking strong, but the Rangers could take a run at the Wild Card if all goes well.

Texas Rangers Offseason Moves

Most of the moves made by the Rangers in the offseason were dome to bolster their pitching staff. A number of new players were added, but it was the free agent signing of Corey Kluber that made it clear that this team was serious about getting a whole lot better this year. The Rangers will have Joey Gallo back from injury this season, which should help them on the offensive side of things. Another spot where Texas really needed help was at third base, but it looks as though they might just have shored things up there with the signing of Todd Frazier to a one-year contract. The Rangers figure to be better this season, but will it be enough to push them closer to the top of the division?

How the Bookies See the Texas Rangers

 There is no doubt that Globe Life Park and its retractable roof, which cost over $1 billion, is going to be the star of the show in Texas this coming season. The hope is that the players the Rangers lured in will make the place look even better. The bookies have the Rangers at +1200 to win the division and +7000 to win the World Series.

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Not only did they Texas Rangers win the AL West Division in rather comfortable fashion last season, they did so by winning the most games (95) in the American League. While that may make you believe that they were a dominant team, the fact of the matter is that they ended the season with a run differential of just +8. That’s not exactly dominant and it was something that quickly caught up to them in the postseason. They figure to be a good team again this season, but can they match that win total and can they go deeper in the postseason? Get the latest MLB betting run lines here.

Analyzing The 2017 Texas Rangers MLB Betting Season Prediction

Odds to Win the AL West Division

Despite being comfortable winners last season, the bookies have the Texas Rangers in as the second favorite to win it again this year with odds of +180. The Houston Astros have been installed as the favorite to win the West, but you can bet that the Rangers will have something to say about that. The Rangers made several additions to their roster for the upcoming season, now of which could really be considered to be of the splashy variety. The most notable of these additions came with the signing of pitchers Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross. They will join Hamels and Darvish to give the Rangers what could be a very nice pitching rotation. If the new guys deliver, Texas could win the West.

Odds to Win the AL Pennant

It is the Cleveland Indians who will be coming into the new season as the betting odds favorite to win the AL pennant, and they certainly look like the team to beat. The Rangers are in a little cluster of teams below the top 3 favorites and if you like those to represent the AL in the World Series you can currently get them at odds of +800. That is a nice enough price but I think you will get more value as the season progresses, as I am not convinced that the Rangers will be as good as they were least year. They have lost a few key pieces, and the additions that they have made are not what anyone would describe as game changers.

Texas Rangers Regular Season Wins

As I mentioned at the start of this piece, the Rangers led the AL with 95 wins last season, but a lot of those games were of the very tight variety. That type of luck eventually runs out, and I don’t see any way that they get close to the mark that they set last season. The bookies seem to agree with that assessment, as they have the OVER/UNDER for season wins for the Rangers set at 85. That seems like a very fair mark to me as it’s close to what I have as my prediction for the season. I have the Texas Rangers falling a little short of the mark, and I believe that they will end the year with 83 wins, which will mean that they will relinquish their AL West crown.

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If you’re a Texas Rangers online sportsbook fan, you might still be thinking that your team choked away the American League Division Series. After all, the Rangers were up 2-0 – after winning two games in Toronto – only to fall 3-2. However, the Rangers got lucky down the stretch, winning a lot of one-run games. However, what we and MLB odds fans learned is that the Rangers showed a ton of moxie down the stretch, and that should translate into better results next season.

MLB Odds Report on The Texas Rangers’ Season Next Year

Consider Adrian Beltre. He didn’t really start hitting until August, but this is a player who has consistently provided Gold Glove defense at the hot corner, and his offensive production has been terrific. That six-year, $96 million deal that the Rangers inked to bring Beltre to town is some of the best free agency money that the Rangers have ever plunked down on the table. Even so, 2016 is his contract year, and he will turn 37 in April. This could be the last season when he has a terrific shot at a World Series ring.

Sam Dyson was probably the best pickup that the Rangers had late in the season, with the possible exception of Cole Hamels. As the team steamed toward an AL West title, he was the best relief option the team had. He also was terrific in the playoffs until he permitted that big blast to Jose Bautista in Game 5. His sinker shatters bats and keeps hitters from making solid contact. He could become a dominant closer in Texas with that pitch, much like Mariano Rivera did in New York witht hat cutter. Even though Shawn Tolleson was a good closer in 2015, look at him to enter 2016 as the eighth inning set up man.

Shin-Soo Choo missed a lot of 2014 with injuries and hit below .200 through the All-Star break this season. That $130 million deal looked ridiculous. Then, he apparently sat down and had a deep conversation with his wife, who reminded him to go back to his foundations. After that conversation, his on base percentage was over .400, and even his defense picked up. He hit a home run in that tumultuous Game 5 against Toronto, several innings before Bautista’s blast brought in all of those unearned runs.

The Rangers had been targeting Cole Hamels for years, and the deal they have him on is friendly to the team. Rougned Odor provided the energy for the team, becoming the most enjoyable position player to watch in several years. As Jon Daniels told 105.3 The Fan, Odor is 5’7” but thinks he’s 6’7”. Odor should be around for a long, long time.

So what about Yu Darvish? Look at a rotation that includes a healthy Darvish, a fully recovered Derek Holland and Martin Perez, Cole Hamels and Chi Chi Gonzalez (or Colby Lewis, or Nick Martinez, or Yovani Gallardo). That would be the deepest rotation in team history if it all holds. So even though the Rangers fell in the first round of the playoffs, they are set up to go even further in 2016.