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Inside The Rangers

Reading Between the Lines of Rangers Massive Series Victory Over Cubs

There was a lot more to the story than the box score told from the Rangers and Cubs matchup.
Maddy Dickens|
May 5, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) pitches against the New York Yankees during the first inning at Yankee Stadiu
May 5, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) pitches against the New York Yankees during the first inning at Yankee Stadiu | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

In this story:

Texas Rangers

It might be easy to assume that the Texas Rangers' pair of wins over the Chicago Cubs isn’t as impressive as it was, but those assumptions are entirely false for a few reasons.

  1. The Cubs have the most wins in baseball
  2. The Rangers ended the Cubs SECOND 10-game win streak of the season
  3. They didn’t just win the series; they did it in shutout fashion twice.
  4. The Rangers' offense took advantage of some of the best relievers in the game.

The Rangers haven't quite crossed the .500 threshold just yet, but this team was just looking for a reason to explode, and here it is.

It isn’t often that someone wants to read flattery of the other team, but give credit where credit is due. It is due here, and that complements the Rangers even more. Chicago is 20-5 in the last 25 games, and now two of those have come at the hands of the Rangers.

Pitching Staff Excelled

Jacob deGrom throws a basebal
May 10, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) throws to the plate during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Globe Life Field. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

It was hard to miss anything that Jacob deGrom did against a slew of Silver Sluggers as he threw for seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in the series finale. This is an incredibly difficult group of players to retire this season, especially with all of the momentum that offense has right now. But deGrom got it done.

Jacob Latz followed suit to close out the 3-0 victory for the Rangers as he threw two perfect innings securing the win over the Cubs.

Chicago had been held scoreless on three occasions prior to taking on the Rangers pitching staff, and not once had it been in back-to-back games. This high powered offense still has the third-most runs in baseball scored, even after being held scoreless in two games of the series.

Rangers Offense Took Care of Top Relief Staff

It was a pitching showcase throughout deGrom’s start, and the manager for the Cubs wanted to bring out his best option to keep Chicago in this game, which was Daniel Palencia. Instead, the Rganers' Evan Carter worked a six-pitch at-bat into a two-run, two-out homer.

Now, Texas has momentum swinging in its favor going into Monday's series opener with the Arizona Diamondbacks, before a road trip against three teams with records under .500.

The AL West is wide open, and if the Rangers want to make a nice little run to the top, now is the time, especially after beating the top team in the National League twice in three days.

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Maddy Dickens
MADDY DICKENS

Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.

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