Only two major league teams in 2025 failed to have a closer to record double-digit saves. One was the lowly White Sox. The other, as you may have guessed from the name of this blog, was your Texas Rangers.

Now, that doesn’t mean they were at the bottom two teams in total saves—they were in fact twenty-second. It means they never had anyone they could rely on. They tried Luke Jackson, Shawn Armstrong, Robert Garcia, Chris Martin, and Phil Maton.

Good news is, knowing a lack of a closer was as much to blame for their disappointing 2025 season as their lack of offense, the Rangers rushed out in the offseason and acquired one of the many primetime closers available.

Sorry, that was wishful thinking. They did just the opposite. They went to the dollar store and decided to play Russian roulette with their closer again in 2026. And yet, Chris Young said, with a straight face, this is a championship-calibre team. 

He didn’t have a closer in 2024, and truth be told, not much of one in 2023 until somehow, miraculously, Jose Leclerc rose from the ashes during the playoffs.

Of their five closer choices in 2025, three are no longer with the team. Only Garcia and Martin remain. (Maton is a Cub, Armstrong is a Guardian, and Jackson is exactly where he should be: unsigned.)

So, who are the candidates for Rangers closer this year? Robert Garia, of course. But he lost the job last year and there’s no reason to think he will figure it out this year.

Then there’s Chris Martin. He’s forty. Forty also seems like the number of times he was placed on the Injured List last season. He’s as reliable as Texas’s electrical grid in summer.

There’s also Alexis Diaz, who the Rangers signed as a free agent this offseason. He used to be an All-Star closer with the Reds, saving thirty-seven games in ’23 and twenty-eight in ’24. He fell apart in ’25, putting up an 8.15 ERA with three different teams: the Reds, the Dodgers, the Braves. Because his fastball lost velocity, he lost his hold on closer roles, and he became the ideal candidate for the Rangers. Affordable. They were able to get him on a one-year deal for just one million dollars

Cole Winn is another candidate to close. The former first-round pick in 2018 fizzled as a starter but was very effective as a reliever in 2025. His ERA was 1.15. That’s remarkable for a reliever. 

A dark horse candidate for the closer role is Rule-5 pickup Carter Baumler. He’s never pitched above Double-A. And, after four seasons in Baltimore’s farm system, he wasn’t valued enough by the Orioles to protect him from being snagged in the Rule-5 draft. Maybe the Rangers caught lightning in a bottle.

The Rangers had five failed attempt to find a closer in 2025. They have five viable candidates for a closer in 2026. 

Don’t clip your fingernails. You’re going to need something to chew as the Rangers try to figure out their closer once again. You might want to place a call to the cardiologists as well, just for good measure.

*****

Texas versus Seattle, 2:10