With a chance to take the Rangers to the playoffs, the stars take them in the offseason

MINNEAPOLIS – When the final week of the That Shouldn’t Die season began, the Rangers were in control of their fate in the AL West.

It was time for their stars to take them all the way.

Instead, they took them out of season. And if you think this season has been long and tumultuous, wait until you get a real feel for the offseason that began with the Rangers’ 6-4 loss to Minnesota on Sunday. Winter is coming. And change too.

To be honest, this loss ultimately didn’t matter much in determining the division race. Houston, on the West Coast, did what teams with a chance to win are supposed to do. The Astros took an early lead in Sacramento and continued to advance to an intimidating 9-0. Houston popped champagne in a minor league clubhouse for going 81-81 and surviving the West.

Instead, the Rangers shook hands, hugged each other in the clubhouse and tried to come up with explanations for how they couldn’t win the winningest division race ever. There are many. Most immediately, though, they went 2-4 against teams with losing records in the final week, continuing a season-long trend of being unable to beat either bad teams or any teams on the road. All of this, according to Skip Schumaker, falls at his feet. He’s the manager. And the responsibility, he said, would begin with him.

“We didn’t make it and it’s going to hurt a little bit,” he said. “That’s the feeling around the club. That’s the way the coaching staff feels. At the end of the day, we just weren’t good enough. We just weren’t good enough on the road and we weren’t good enough against teams we should have beaten and that reflects on me. “I have to look in the mirror and figure out how to make things happen, because there is too much talent in this room for us to fail and we have to find a way to come back.”

But it extends beyond Schumaker’s first year as manager. It was the third straight winless season for the Rangers. If we’re counting, this is actually the ninth of the last 10, but the recency here is significant. The current team is built around Corey Seager and Jacob deGrom. At least that’s what their two contracts, worth a combined $68 million for next year, suggest.

And these were the “guys” the Rangers expected to carry over the final week. DeGrom failed Friday at Minnesota, allowing eight runs in four innings, and had a 5.33 ERA in September.

“I take full responsibility for the fact that we didn’t get it done,” deGrom said after Sunday’s game. “I’ve had to talk too often (to the media) about too many bad starts.”

Seager hit a two-run homer Sunday. Details: It happened in the ninth inning after the Rangers were down by four. He was hitless in his first three at-bats, including a late-inning double play in the first. For the final week, he went 4 for 25 (.160) with no walks and nine strikeouts. This capped the second straight season in which he missed 60 games due to injury. He finished with a .736 OPS, 145 points lower than his career average entering the year.

“Obviously, it’s not where you want to be, but just proud of this team and how they fought until the end and all year,” Seager said of the season. “We went through a lot. We never gave up on each other. I was just proud of the fight.”

He echoed his pride in the fight when asked specifically about last week’s performance.

They weren’t the only ones who didn’t make it last week. Wyatt Langford continued to limp through the worst year of his young career. Evan Carter on Sunday tried to create a bunt when he was down four runs with one out and a runner on base. The bullpen, taxed like that of the Colonial Americans, collapsed under the weight.

But Seager and deGrom will be at the center of virtually every conversation as the Rangers try to move forward and break their middle cycle. If the Rangers want to improve, they’ll either have to convince owner Ray Davis to dig deep into his pockets, which seems unlikely given his hawkish approach to the job, or reallocate dollars to find more creative solutions. Especially if by chance the owners benefit from a salary cap. DeGrom, who is turning 39, and Seager, who is turning 33, have eaten up 30 percent of the team’s salaries this season. The team can’t continue to be this top-heavy.

However, the notion of exchanging them is complex. Both have the ability to block transactions. DeGrom turned down a trade to Atlanta at the deadline, saying he believed in the Rangers. Seager earned full trade protection thanks to five years with the Rangers and 10 years in the majors. And it’s just a matter of getting them to agree to a trade.

Find a partner? More complex. Seager’s value is currently at an all-time low and would still require the Rangers to eat his salary. DeGrom’s value only declined as the season ended.

When asked about the potential for roster changes, both players deferred to management.

“I enjoy it here,” deGrom said. “I want to be here. But it’s not in my control.”

Seager said: “It’s not my decision. I’m not the right person to ask this question.”

In reality, though, given their trade protection, they’re exactly the good guys. They control their destiny perhaps more than the Rangers.

All the Rangers can do is give them options. Now that The Season That Would Not Die is dead, it’s time to start thinking about the future.