Texas Rangers showing us what real futility looks like

It’s not a huge surprise, but this year’s Texas Rangers hearken back to a time of lost summers and comically bad baseball.

We’re not even through April, but your Texas Rangers are 8-15. Moreover, they’re a cool eight games out of first place in a pretty brutal American League West. Assuming everything stays on schedule, they’re on pace for about sixty wins. Of course, this also means they’re on a path for around one hundred losses. It’s safe to say that it’s been a quite a while since we’ve experienced such a forgettable time at Globe Life Park.

Now, for the sake of full disclosure, I have to admit something. I haven’t watched every game this season. This year, I haven’t even watched a majority. This stands in stark contrast to seasons past where I varifiably watched 135-150 games a season from first pitch to last. No, the allure and intensity of the NHL playoffs typically has my attention as well, and they have fully wrested control of my sports brain.

What I do have, however, is the ability to check box scores. Also, I’m a big listener of The Ticket here in DFW. So between watching a game here and there and the aforementioned alternative sources, I keep up just fine. What is apparent is that this year’s iteration of Rangers’ baseball is a poorly constructed mass of ill-fitting parts. They can’t score. They give up runs by the bushel. Can they win at home? No. They’re 3-10.

As a matter of fact, they’re actually doing okay on the road as of right now (5-5). But even then, if they were anywhere close to .500 at home, they’d still be last in their division. This is what it’s come to: they can’t complete with the Oakland Athletics. This is a curious strategy for an organization that’s literally pouring the concrete for a new retractable roof stadium set to open in two years.

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And look, I guess I just got spoiled. For most of the last ten years, the Rangers have competed. They reached heights we’d never seen before. There was direction and purpose from the front office. Even during last season, they hovered in contention for the second wild card until it all finally unraveled in the last couple weeks.

This year is most definitely the beginning of the rebuild no matter what anyone tells us. As this marathon grinds along and the Rangers fall farther and farther into the rear view, you can bet that names like Cole Hamels, Adrian Beltre, and even Elvis Andrus will likely be gone. Sad to say, but it is probably the end of a very fun era.

I want to be wrong about Andrus, though. I think he’s still got enough left in the tank to be the elder statesman of a new Rangers’ contender three or four years down the line. It’s almost funny to remember how his current contract was lambasted a few years ago. Now it looks like a really good deal, despite his freakish broken elbow. Dude’s been a pretty a durable tank for his entire career, save for this season. It would be cool to see him bridge the gap to the next era.

But until then, we have to slog through this year. It’s frustrating because there seems to be a bit of obstinance in this team’s approach at the plate. They seem readily willing to swing their way out any situation when a small ball approach might suit them better. As someone who grew up in the age of George Brett and Rod Carew, it’s a bit infuriating to see a big league team so unwilling to adapt to what they’ve got on hand.

Now, to be fair, because of injuries, they’re being forced to change it up a little. So when you see the hustle of Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Ronald Guzman, it provides a measure of fun to an otherwise putrid campaign. In fact, Kiner-Falefa’s insurance single in the eight inning yesterday drew me off the couch with a yell and a fist pump. There haven’t been many of those thus far.

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Well, along those lines, I’d be remiss to exclude one Delino DeShields defensive gem in the sixth inning. While this year’s team leaves us wanting more, we still cannot deny their mettle. They want it. They’re just not that good. Unfortunately, that is probably an apt motto for the Rangers as this season drags along.

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