I remember seeing the Rangers get to the playoffs three times in the late 90’s and being really excited about the future of the franchise. Then I remember living through a decade where the Texas Rangers were really bad, consistently winning 75 games or less and always finishing in third or fourth place. I remember saying to friends that no matter what the record was at the all-star break, I knew that they would meltdown after the break and finish with a dismal record. and for almost a decade, that’s what happened.
Then came Ron Washington, Jon Daniels and Nolan Ryan. The team started winning, started winning more, and then, as we all remember, went to back to back World Series and back to back to back post season births. And that brought in a whole new slew of Rangers fans, fans that did not follow the Rangers very closely during the early 2000’s, fans that can’t believe that this team is playing so bad in September. There were fans that jumped off the bandwagon last season when the Rangers failed to secure the West, and there will be fans that jump off this season if the same thing happens. I do not blame them. It is hard to watch losing baseball if it is something you are not used to. Rangers fans of the early 2000’s got very used to it, and we have really enjoyed the last three plus seasons.
Now please don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that this season is lost, far from it. They are a game and a half out with 20 to go, including three against the Athletics and three against the Astros, and five more against the Angels. Please don’t think that all hope is lost, because it isn’t. The Rangers have a great shot of winning the West. They just need to snap out of this current old style September meltdown and get back to the pitching that took them to a 20-7 September. Time will only tell if that will happen.
