Many Thoughts on Rangers at D-Backs, Gm 5
The Texas Rangers are World Series Champions for the very first time. It is real.
After every single Rangers playoff game this unbelievable month, I have given you my three primary thoughts as a way to summarize each game in a timely fashion. But, I am going to deviate from that template because this one requires more. Much more.
I don’t know what I could possibly write on this amazing day for the legions of people in this area who have given their time and attention to the Texas Rangers franchise for their entire sports consciousness, but I at least want to try. I also, don’t want to sleep on it. I want to give it my best shot to summarize the historic day that featured a 5-0 victory in a Game 5 in Phoenix. Your favorite baseball team is now the champion of the baseball world for the very first time with a four games to one win over the Arizona Diamondbacks which included another three straight road wins.
These are my many thoughts:
– This is one of the best sports stories I have ever been able to witness up close. There are many ways to finally be crowned champion and you never really know which one will be yours. Frankly, you don’t care as long as it comes with a trophy and a crown. But, here in DFW, we have now seen both ends of the spectrum. The last one we enjoyed felt like a decade long epic with a number of false endings where it felt like the personal story of one man’s rise to the very top and ended in an unthinkable conquest and subsequent statue.
But, this one didn’t feel that way, because the Rangers weren’t teasing their fans for a decade. They were doing quite the opposite. They were perhaps driving their fans away with what appeared to be a directionless path through the anonymity of a rebuild that wasn’t even televised. It was certainly a very odd trip that included a pandemic and an opening of a new stadium that nobody could attend, but it also caused many to finally lose hope that there could ever be redemption for the last close call over a decade ago (and counting).
Then, just when you think it will never happen, you see a year like this. One where our wildest dreams felt like a .500 season and a flirtation with a wildcard appearance. Just make the playoffs this year and nobody would dare call it anything but an unqualified success for 2023. Gratefulness for having a winning record would get everyone back on the train for the chance of contending in 2024 or 2025.
Instead, they got off to a great start in April and the entire season was a reward for the faithful. It was a rollercoaster ride, but every down was married to an up. It was sports at its finest. Dreams and pain. Hope and grief. It had it all. Then, in the post-season, the ability to not only appear, but start buzz-sawing through every opponent with authority and strength. Next, a face-off with the bully rival who mocked you repeatedly as they marched through Arlington several times over and stole everyone’s spirit.
But, starting with Game 6 in Houston through Game 5 in Arizona, a stretch from October 22 through November 1 that encompassed ten days, the Rangers won six of the last seven games they played. It was ten days that will never be forgotten by anyone who loves this franchise.
In ten days, 52 years in Texas seemed to all make sense. Ten days of rising up against other teams that believed they were on a date with destiny. Ten days of dealing with a rival that would not let you pass, lifting a belief that the franchise was cursed, and ten days that felt like three months due to the exhaustion of riding the emotions.
From the start of that Game 6 in Houston until the Josh Sborz strikeout to end the World Series, the Texas Rangers rose to the occasion over and over again. In the end, you finally get to watch your guys celebrate in the middle of the diamond as champions.
That’s right. Your guys are champions. Not of the division or even of the American League.
No. These guys are champions of the World Series. The real one. The big one. The final stage. Your Texas Rangers have won it all. I have many photographs to prove it.