Rangers Fire Manager Chris Woodward Ahead of 500th Game

The Rangers have fired manager Chris Woodward amid a fourth consecutive losing season, the team announced Monday.

Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News first reported the news of Woodward’s dismissal from the team Monday just two games shy of his 500th game at the helm for Texas. The 46-year-old finishes his tenure with the AL West club with a 211–287 record.

Woodward replaced Jeff Banister as the Rangers manager in 2019 and posted 78 wins in his first season. That performance would ultimately turn out to be his best year with the team as Texas finished last in the division in each of the ’20 and ’21 seasons. 

The underwhelming finishes prompted the Rangers to become one of the biggest spenders in baseball last offseason, handing out more than half a billion dollars to revamp the roster. Corey Seager and Marcus Siemian headlined Texas’s spree and were meant to put the club in the mix in a crowded AL West as soon as this year. 

Despite a strong showing from Seager—Semien has played well recently but had to overcome a dreadfully slow start—the Rangers remain in third place in the division with a 51–63 record. As of Monday, Texas is 9.5 games out of the final wild-card spot and is 6–24 in one-run games.

Woodward, who previously had coaching stints with the Mariners and the Dodgers, had signed a contract extension last November with the Rangers through the 2023 season that included a 2024 option. Texas announced that third base coach Tony Beasley has been named interim manager effective immediately.