Lefthanded pitcher MacKenzie Gore will start the series opener against the New York Mets on Tuesday, September 21, 2026, the team announced today.
I wrote at length earlier today about the Rangers’ final six regular season games this week, much of which was predicated on the assumption (or hope, perhaps would be the better word) that Nathan Eovaldi would start on Tuesday, as well as, potentially, in Game 162 in Minnesota on Sunday. This apparently will not be happening.
Gore will be making his American
League leading 33rd start of the season on Tuesday, the most of any Ranger pitcher since Lance Lynn made 33 starts in 2019. If Gore does in fact start Sunday’s season finale in Minnesota, that would give him 34 starts, the most for any Ranger since C.J. Wilson in 2011.
Gore last pitched on September 16 against the Boston Red Sox, so the Rangers are keeping the current rotation order for now, though a decision will have to be made in regards to who steps in for Cal Quantrill, whose spot in the rotation would have come due, if the current order continues, on Friday, when the Rangers begin their series in Minnesota. If Eovaldi is taking Quantrill’s rotation spot, and the rest of the rotation stays the same, he would pitch Friday in Minnesota, with Jacob deGrom going Saturday and, it would appear, Gore on Sunday. The current order would also have Cody Bradford pitching Wednesday and Kumar Rocker on Thursday in Arlington against the Mets, but no Rangers announcements for those games have been made.
Gore has a disappointing 4.67 ERA in 165.2 innings this year, though he has a 4.07 xERA and a 3.89 FIP. He departed his last start, last Wednesday against Boston, after four innings due to shoulder and back spasms, but reported after the game that he felt it was not something that would be an issue for him going forward.
