​Sep 27, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Texas Rangers designated hitter Elias Diaz (35) sits in the dugout after losing to the Minnesota Twins and getting eliminated from the playoffs at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn ImagesThe Texas Rangers needed to win Sunday and needed the Astros to lose. Neither happened, and the Rangers missed the playoffs for a third straight season since winning the World Series.MINNEAPOLIS — The curious use of the Texas Rangers‘ pitching staff Sunday, the one ball that Corey Seager hit about six feet, the first-inning ball down the line that Ezequiel Duran played into a double … none of it mattered in the end.The Astros beat the A’s, who selected Larry, Moe and Curly as their first three pitchers, and won the American League West. Even if the Rangers had won their season finale, they wouldn’t have won the division title.They lost to the Twins, 6-4.The record shows that Houston won the West with 81 wins and 81 losses, becoming the first team in baseball history to win a division with a sub-.500 record, and it was still one game better than the Rangers. The early, heavy bullpen usage Sunday and the all-to-familiar lack of offense can be dissected in future stories and podcast episodes. Ultimately, what matters most after Game 162 is that the Rangers once again didn’t function properly.Among the contributing factors: Payroll was slashed; the wrong players were hurt too often and then weren’t good enough once they were right; the rotation regressed after a banner 2025; the bullpen was overworked; and players who needed to step forward instead stepped on a rake.As hard as the Astros tried to give the division away, the Rangers reciprocated even harder.“The goal was to make the postseason and make a run, and we didn’t do that,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “That’s the sentiment in the clubhouse. That’s how the coaches feel. The bottom line is we just weren’t good enough.”When the difference in playing on or going home is one game (two, really, factoring in the tiebreaker), there are plenty of losses among the Rangers’ 82 to dwell on. There were at least three this month.But the Rangers were also lousy on the road, especially in division games. And the division was bad. They weren’t good against teams with losing records, which led to their losing record.They know what their flaws were.“We’re disappointed, and it comes to a head today,” right fielder Brandon Nimmo said. “Right now, it is disappointing, and you think of all the times you maybe let one game slip away.”Yet, they entered the final week of the season with a one-game lead in the AL West. They wanted to win the division, which would have meant being the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and playing host to the White Sox in a best-of-3 wild-card series.The Rangers gave away two games on their final homestand, which made them reliant on the disinterested Mariners and lowly A’s to beat the Astros. They d