Battle of Surprise 2026 Game Thread: Royals at Rangers

When last we saw the Texas Rangers they were failing to run it back for a second year in a row. Now, having shed a large percentage of the folks that won them a World Series — including the future Hall of Fame manager — new manager Skip Schumaker and the Rangers begin their quest to return to October with their annual first spring matchup against their Surprise roommates from KC.
RHP Nathan Eovaldi will take the bump first for Texas opposite RHP Stephen Kolek for the Kansas City Royals. This will mark the first time in four years that Daniel Lynch won’t be the first pitcher that the Rangers will see.
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Here are the first lineups of the year:
Today’s Lineups
ROYALS
RANGERS
Maikel Garcia – 3B
Evan Carter – CF
Bobby Witt – DH
Corey Seager – SS
Vinnie Pasquantino – 1B
Joc Pederson – DH
Salvador Perez – C
Jake Burger – 1B
Jac Caglianone – RF
Josh Jung – 3B
Lane Thomas – CF
Josh Smith – 2B
Michael Massey – 2B
Kyle Higashioka – C
Nick Loftin – LF
Alejandro Osuna – RF
Kevin Newman – SS
Michael Helman – LF
Stephen Kolek – RHP
Nathan Eovaldi – RHP
According to Jeff Wilson, Cole Winn, Gavin Collyer, Trey Supak and Peyton Gray are expected to follow Eovaldi for some action in the spring debut.
Maybe the Royals have a radio broadcast, otherwise you’ll have to follow along via Gameday. The first pitch of this 2026 adventure from Surprise, AZ is scheduled for 2:05 pm CDT
Go Rangers!




