Good news, Rangers fans. Rangers President of Baseball Operations Chris Young said that even though Rangers ownership is not going to increase its meager payroll, which is fifteenth out of thirty teams, the Texas Rangers will still be competitive in 2027.

Just like they were in 2024 with payroll constraints. And in 2025 with payroll constraints. And in 2026 with payroll constraints. If the past three seasons are any indication, Texas could wind up being .500 in 2027. That’s the definition of competitive around here.

In fact, the Rangers are so committed to being competitive, they recently traveled a team of eight representatives to Japan to talk to heralded high school pitching star Shoki Oda to try to sign him before he hits the market in Japan. But the Rangers weren’t the only team to try to sway Oda to skip Japanese baseball and come to America to play. So were the Dodgers, Yankees, and Phillies.

But the Dodgers, Yankees, and Phillies don’t have a President of Baseball Operations declaring they plan to be competitive next season in spite of their salary constraints. Mainly because the Dodgers, Yankees, and Phillies don’t have salary constraints.

Everything was going along fine until, as Evan Grant reported in The Dallas Morning News, Texas is unlikely to have enough money to sign him. Doing so would need to come out of their international bonus pool money, and the Rangers don’t have much there, and doubtful they’d had enough to compete with other teams looking to sign Oda.

The good news is, salary constraints won’t prevent the Rangers from being competitive in 2027. Money will, though.