Texas Rangers All In as Regular Season Approaches

With one week to go until the start of the regular season, the Texas Rangers must find a way to get over the roadblocks that have vexed them in years past.

The last couple of years of Texas Rangers baseball under manager Jeff Banister have produced many delirious moments of awesome. Furthermore, the good times came when they weren’t even considered the best team in their own division. For proof, check out SI.com’s 2015 season preview. 2016’s preview fared a bit better, but the Rangers were still pegged to finish second place in the American League West.

True to form, the 2017 Rangers are slated to finish behind the Astros in their division. Who knows? Maybe Banister, Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, and company go old school. Maybe they read an actual newspaper and clip a prediction here, a snide comment there. Perhaps they tape them to a mirror, if only to provide that cliched reminder. As a fan, that’s what I picture. Yeah, it’s hokey, but it helps me envision a battle-tested club girding their loins for yet another charge at the proverbial castle.

In any event, like any team, they adopt the personality of their leader. For mostly the better, this bunch plays hard. They play with passion, and they play with a flair for the dramatic. It makes for some highly entertaining theater. Whether it’s Beltre making a bare-handed, off-balance throw look routine, or second baseman Rougned Odor launching a long-range missile in extra innings, this team has been a joy to behold. They are tough and willing to grind on any given night. They exude an aura indicative of a squad with a massive chip on their shoulder.

For the fans and local press, it makes them extremely likable. The DFW metroplex is notorious for being a winner’s town. In other words, if you’re winning, we will come. If not, indifference settles in pretty quickly. For most of the past eight years, we’ve been treated to the finest stretch of Rangers’ baseball in their up and down history. It hasn’t produced a championship, but it has produced relevance. There’s something to be said for that.

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But what is also noteworthy is that it has created a certain level of expectation. As a fan base, we’re drawing from a memory bank that’s mostly positive. Yet we’re also a stone’s throw away from that one-strike-away dread. Consequently, it feels like we are waiting for that other shoe to drop at all times. For all the laughs that accompanied the last two division titles, the sudden disappointment of losing to the hosers from Toronto quickly drained any sense of accomplishment. The fear is that perhaps the Texas Rangers are the best team in a mediocre division.

Of course, winning a weak division relegates them to also-ran status once the postseason tournament commences. Moreover, there is no guarantee of a playoff appearance this season. They will have to build upon the foundation they’ve established the past two years. Save for a few different faces, this is largely the same group. While no one doubts their abilities, we still remember how the Blue Jay lineup murdered our two aces en route to a first round sweep. It’s a sour taste, and we have every right to question whether or not this year’s team can change that.

Additionally, we need to come to terms with the collective fates of prospects Joey Gallo and Jurickson Profar. As the years pass, and as each player seemingly takes a step forward and two back, the club will have to decide which direction to take. As the legendary Darrell Royal once said, “Potential means you ain’t done it yet.” Clinically speaking, this is precisely where Gallo and Profar find themselves at this particular moment. You either do it or you don’t. If they can’t, it’s time to move on.

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Nevertheless, for as many questions as there are entering the new year, there’s no reason to think the Texas Rangers won’t contend in the American League. These guys have been through the battles and know how to beat the Houstons and Seattles of the world. That much we know. What remains to be seen is how far they can go with the hand they’ve been dealt.

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