The Texas Rangers dropped Victory+ as their direct-to-consumer distributor, an unpopular decision that left viewers wondering why it happened in-season and what the heck BZZR is.

The Texas Rangers knew the howls were coming Wednesday. They did all they could to mitigate the blowback they would receive from a decision they knew would be unpopular, especially during the course of their season.

Victory+ is no longer the team’s direct-to-consumer/streaming distributor. Something called BZZR is. Not every TV will have BZZR immediately. A seamless transfer of existing accounts didn’t go all that seamlessly for some.

After being forced two years ago to make a decision on how to watch Rangers games, those who picked what was behind Door No. 2 are now pounding at Door No. 3. It swings open Friday when the Rangers resume the 2026 following the All-Star break.

Good luck, everyone.

That’s a sincere sentiment from the Rangers, who made the announcement Wednesday morning without warning. They didn’t want to make the change midflight. While there were no signs externally of the Victory+ agreement dissolving, the possibility internally became a reality as Victory+ could not fulfill its end of the bargain.

What end? The financial end, of course. The Sports Business Journal reported on some of the money woes Victory+ is having, with the Canandian company seeking more investors to stay afloat and even expand.

As bad as viewers think it is for the Rangers to make this change, it’s not nearly as bad as what would happen if Victory+ went out of business. Having been down that road previously, the Rangers’ decision was a proactive one to avoid a calamity of the Rangers having no streaming partner at all.

It’s worth noting that Rangers minority owner Neil Leibman is a partner at BZZR, but the Rangers did reach out to other potential distributors. They were interested but needed more lead time to execute the switch than BZZR.

The Rangers felt that making the change was urgent.

It wasn’t long ago that the Rangers’ TV partners, Diamond Sports Group, failed them. Diamond was unwilling to agree to distribution agreements with YouTubeTV and Hulu, leaving many Rangers fans in DFW unable to watch games for multiple seasons.

Diamond filed for bankruptcy after customers dried up as they switched from cable to streaming. Diamond, which aired Rangers games on Bally Sports Southwest, had to renogiate its deal with the Rangers and ultimately reduced 2024 payout by at least $20 million.

Rather than stay with a reorganized Diamond, under the Main Street Sports Group name and on FanDuel Sports Network, or allow Major League Baseball to produce and distribute their games, the Rangers created Rangers Sports Network.

RSN produces the vast majority of Rangers games, with the exceptions being games televised by MLB’s national partners. Victory+ simply distributed the game streams. BZZR will do the same for the rest of the season.

There are no changes to Rangers Sports Network or where it is distributed.

The Rangers understood that there would problems with the switch. BZZR does not have an app available for all TV streaming vendors, the biggest omission being Roku. The technology is there, but the agreement to carry BZZR is pending.

Fans who don’t have BZZR on their TVs will have to either watch games on their mobile devices or cast the games from their mobile devices to their TVs. For some, it’s an easy task. For others, it’s like splitting the atom.

But, yes, there is a way to watch the Rangers on BZZR on a television. It’s a pain in the butt, but, no, the Rangers did not leave Victory+ subscribers with no way to put the games on their TVs. The casting thing is expected to be temporary.

The Rangers sent emails to existing Victory+ plan holders, and their accounts will transfer to BZZR free of charge. The Rangers and BZZR lined up ample customer support and multiple ways to reach out: on the web at bzzr.com/texasrangers and texasrangers.com/tunein, by calling BZZR at (401) 903-2997, or by email at txrangers@bzzr.com.

BZZR was also responsive on its Twitter account, @BZZRofficial.

They knew blowback was coming. The Rangers didn’t make the decision easily. In a perfect world, Victory+ would have been the club’s streaming partner for the rest of this season and beyond.

But the TV/streaming climate in baseball is far from perfect. The Rangers learned that lesson with Diamond Sports Group and didn’t want to deal with another potential disaster with Victory+.

_{Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com}

In a move rarely seen in the middle of a season, the Texas Rangers are changing streaming partners effective immediately.

According to a report by Dallas Morning News reporter Evan Grant, the Rangers will be dropping their streaming partnership with Victory+, which has offered a full-season streaming subscription for in-market Rangers fans since last season for a price of $100, and will switch to a startup platform called BZZR beginning with this Friday’s game against the Atlanta Braves. The move was reportedly made out of concern for Victory+’s ability to fulfill its financial obligations to the team.

The Rangers confirmed the decision on Wednesday morning.

Per Grant, all subscribers that had bought packages on Victory+ will have their accounts transferred over to BZZR. The move will not impact the linear distribution of Rangers Sports Network on cable and satellite services like DirecTV.

“It is unfortunate that this switch in direct-to-consumer distributors was necessary, but the decision was made in the best interest of both the Rangers and our fans,” Rangers Sports Media and Entertainment Company chairman Neil Leibman said in a statement.

The Rangers’ decision paints a grim picture for Victory+, a nascent streaming service that has staked its claim in an all-out effort to court MLB, NBA, and NHL teams to place local broadcasts on the platform. In most markets, Victory+ has introduced a free streaming model in which games are broadcast in front of a paywall and revenue is generated through advertising. The Rangers, with their $100 per season subscription, were an exception. The Dallas Stars, however, chose the free model. Per Grant, no changes have been made regarding the Stars’ local broadcast plans for next season.

Other teams on active deals with Victory+ include the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream and Minnesota Lynx, the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, and a league-wide deal with the NWSL.

Victory+ has reportedly been in the mix to secure local broadcast rights to some of the 13 NBA teams that were previously under contract with Main Street Sports Group, owner of the now-defunct FanDuel Sports Networks. So far, the streamer has not struck deals with any of those teams. Per Sports Business Journal, potential deals with the Orlando Magic, Charlotte Hornets, and Minnesota Timberwolves all fell through after Victory+ failed to secure new financing. The three former Main Street clubs that have already announced local broadcast arrangements for next season have all chosen to partner with over-the-air broadcast networks.

If Victory+’s finances are as dire as the Rangers seem to believe, it’s difficult to envision any of the 10 remaining NBA teams looking for local broadcast solutions to choose to partner with the platform.

The post Texas Rangers change streaming partner mid-season, drop Victory+ appeared first on Awful Announcing.

ARLINGTON — Who among us hasn't splurged one day and needed to operate on a budget the next?

The Rangers were "creative" on the second day of the MLB Draft, as assistant general manager Josh Boyd said when it concluded Sunday evening, after the club took a couple of big swings with its Day 1 picks and will need to use a large portion of its bonus pool to secure them.

They selected left-handed pitcher Gio Rojas (Stoneman Douglas, Fla.), shortstop Connor Comeau (Anderson, Texas) and left-handed pitcher Brody Bumila (Bishop Feehan, Mass.) with their first three picks Saturday, and because at least the first and third of those three will likely require first-round money to sign, it limited how much the Rangers could spend elsewhere. 

READ MORE: Rangers' draft plan neatly falls into place as Texas finds big-time value on Day 1

The 16th overall selection, where Rojas was picked, carries a designated slot value of $5,051,900. The 54th overall selection, where Comeau was picked, has a designated slot value of $1,805,300. Bumila, who was selected 89th overall because of injury concerns, was offered "first-round money" to forgo his commitment to Texas, per The Boston Globe. The lowest designated slot value within the first round is $3,696,000, and when combined with the designated bonuses assigned to the club's first two picks, the three could potentially total north of $10.5 million. 

The Rangers have a total pool of $10.2 million to spend, and while teams can exceed that limit for a penalty and are not beholden to slot values, even keen negotiations leave them with little wiggle room. 

So Sunday, of the players the Rangers picked with selections No. 5-10, the range in which designated bonus values still apply, only one was listed on Baseball America's top 500 big board. Boyd said that the club's draft team huddled after Saturday's picks to reconfigured their draft board but still targeted what they believe are "Rangers players."

"I think that really stands out so much to be able to execute the way we did is the relationships that the scouts have with the players," Boyd said. "To be able to pivot as quickly as they did, to make the numbers work, and to still give us quality. To me, that's what stands out, that we were able to do that pretty quickly."

They selected Penn State first baseman Michael Anderson with the No. 149 overall pick in the fifth round to start day two of the draft. He was listed as Baseball America's No. 263 prospect, and though he's only pitched in two games since his freshman year, the Rangers will develop him as a two-way player. The 22-year-old slashed .358/.470/.742 with 20 home runs at Penn State this year, and because he underwent an internal brace procedure after his season, the Rangers will be able to begin his development at the plate before he pitches again. 

See Texas' full 2026 draft class below.

Texas Rangers 2026 draft picks

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The American League West leaders at the All-Star break? It’s the Texas Rangers, who stunned the Astros on Sunday with a walk-off win to cap a winning homestand.

No, the Texas Rangers aren’t perfect. Far from it.

Their latest issue is a bullpen that has only one pitcher who is trusted at all times, Jacob Latz. He hopped on a plane Sunday evening for the All-Star Game in Philadelphia.

Injuries continue to hound the team, with Corey Seager still dealing with back woes and with near constant worry about outfielder Wyatt Langford and now right-hander Jacob deGrom.

Despite their flaws at the All-Star break — there isn’t a facet that can’t improve — the Rangers are in first place in the American League West. It’s not much of a lead, 1 1/2 games over the Mariners, and the Rangers are the only team in the division above .500.

But they are atop the AL West, and they are 49-47. That’s not insignificant. They have survived and continue to buy themselves time to improve over the final 66 games.

“We’re in a decent spot heading into heading into the break,” right fielder Brandon Nimmo said. “We’re in first place. I think we can still play better baseball, but I think that we’re moving in the right direction.”

Nimmo delivered the winning hit Sunday, the third of three singles to open the ninth inning against Astros closer Josh Hader. Wyatt Langford opened with a sharp grounder to left field and moved to second on an error, and he went to third as Josh Jung followed with a liner to left.

Nimmo’s bouncer up the middle hit off Hader’s glove and past a drawn-in infield for a 6-5 walk-off win.

The Rangers led 4-1 in the seventh before the Astros tied things against a beleaguered bullpen that needs reinforcements. Houston pulled ahead in the eighth on a Cam Smith homer, but Kyle Higashioka matched it in the bottom half for a 5-5 tie.

Latz (2-1) posted a scoreless ninth.

It wasn’t easy, which is par for the course with a team that has fluttered much of the season. They have endured injuries, primarily to Seager, Langford, Jack Leiter and Jakob Junis. and are playing things save with deGrom after his left glute flared up in his start Tuesday.

He won’t throw off a mound until after the season resumes Friday at Atlanta. He felt he could have made his scheduled Sunday, isn’t on the injured list and could pitch within the next five games.

MacKenzie Gore allowed one run in four innings while pitching on three days’ rest, perhaps the grittiest effort in the gritty win. It was the Rangers’ 17th come-from-behind win of the season and their second walk-off win of a 4-2 homes (2-1 vs. the Angels and the Astros).

The Rangers’ schedule is favorable the remainder of the season, though the next five series are against contending teams. Three of them are division leaders, and the other two are against AL West foes Seattle and Houston.

Those five series lead to the Aug. 3 trade deadline, and the front office needs to see the team hang around before making deals. The Rangers, though, feel as if they have some momentum, or at least some happy thoughts as they scatter for the All-Star break.

“You want to feel good going into the break,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “For our club, if you blow a lead late and then lose a game like that, it doesn’t feel great, even though you have three or four days of rest to kind of forget about it. You just don’t want to think about it for four days.”

Help is coming for the rotation, with left-hander Jordan Montgomery potentially back in the next two weeks. The bullpen needs immediate help, but it might be hard to find with so many teams feeling as if they have a chance to grab at least a wild-card spot and unwilling to trade now.

The Rangers are going to have to keep surviving. The offense has been much better, bailing out the bullpen throughout the homestand. The rotation needs to log more innings to allow Schumaker to lean on the small group of relievers he does trust.

It’s not going to be easy, but nothing has been easy so far for the Rangers. At the All-Star break, though, they’re in first place. That’s not insignificant.

_{Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com}