Three Thoughts on Rangers at Astros, Gm 7

Those Texas Rangers swept every last game in Houston to shut down the Astros.

Three Thoughts on any and all playoff games for DFW’s teams is one mandatory feature of #SturmStack. In tribute to our Substack leader, the late Grant Wahl.

They did it.

The Texas Rangers won the American League Championship Series and the pennant by beating down their rivals in a resounding fashion. They defeated the Houston Astros for the fourth straight time in Houston, this time by a margin of 11-4, and finished off the best-of-seven series by winning each and every single road game and the series, four games to three. It is the club’s third American League Pennant as they pursue their first ever World Series crown.

These are my Three Thoughts:

– When they say “it is always darkest before dawn”, think of how everyone felt on Friday afternoon. The Rangers came all the way back and won the series after one of the darkest days in team history. Let that sink in.

I don’t know the odds of winning a series when you are wounded the worst and your opponent is mocking you the most. I don’t know how unlikely this whole situation was in quantifiable way. But, I do know that most everyone I talked to on Saturday that could muster the courage to talk about the Rangers and what appeared to be the end of the dream had some long looks on their faces. They didn’t want to say much and they sure didn’t want to face their fates. The team had one more chance in them and beating them three times sure did not equal beating them four. But, doggone, they looked dead and their fans looked like they knew it.

And yet….

It is difficult to say what a greatest victory truly looks like. I would imagine striking out Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees to send the Rangers to their first World Series in 2010 is still a pretty big moment and we should try not to become a prisoner of the moment. But, this is the Houston Astros. These are our neighbors and co-workers and maybe even family members and the way they have always seemed to look down at this organization might be what puts this one over the top as the greatest moment of them all.

Finally getting over on your biggest rival is a sweet moment and one you won’t forget. Especially if it leads to your very first parade if you can navigate one more series before collapsing from exhaustion. It seems to hard to believe. You go into Houston where they have planned your funeral and even you are sort of sure it probably ends there. Instead, the plucky little Rangers unleash Hades on that city to the tune of 9-2 and 11-4. A 20-6 margin with the chips down and everything on the line drove the final stake into that franchise. It wasn’t easy and you wouldn’t want it to be, but you also found Monday’s Game 7 to be wildly stress free on a relative basis. The Rangers won the series with their work in Game 6. Game 7 might have been the caving in of a number of factors all at once. Who can say?

But, they left absolutely no doubt and now will host the World Series. You witnessed Texas baseball history and something tells me this crew is determined to put an end to the memories of 2011 – even if they are just chasing out the demons of a previous generation.

– Adolis Garcia and Corey Seager were not going to be denied in this Game 7.

It started with Seager jumping on 1-0 fastball that was launched deep into the right field stands to set the tone, but from there Adolis Garcia just kept doing what he has been doing. No player in baseball history had driven in 15 runs in a series, but now the amazing El Bombi can say he is the first. He won the ALCS MVP and had an amazing stretch with a Home Run in Games 4, 5, 6, and then two more in Game 7.

I don’t think I have ever seen anything like this guy and I have certainly written plenty about what I believe he means to the Rangers. But, I am awfully taken with the idea that the Astros put forth on Friday that Garcia would regret poking the bear and the worst thing he did was wake up the Astros. What they didn’t fully realize is that he is the bear. Or as our friend Walter White would say, “You think I am in danger, but, no. I am the danger.”

Seager and Garcia combined in this game to go 7-for-10 with five runs scored, six runs batted in and three home runs. We talked a few days ago about how your best players have to be your best players and how the Rangers big bats need to not finish 2nd to Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman, and Jose Altuve. Well, in these most decisive games in Houston, they did more than that.

Let’s just say this – Garcia will be living rent free in Houston for as long as he wears a Texas uniform. They will never forget the last eight days.

– I am so happy for you diehards tonight. I realize that there are thousands of good sports fans in DFW and the surrounding areas who consider themselves baseball fans over anything else and Rangers fans over any other team. You deserve this.

Once upon a time I wrote a passage in a long lost blog about how sports will rip your heart out and make you wish you never cared about a team of guys who don’t even know you exist. How sports is often a one-way street of misery that is often too difficult to understand why we are so eager to pledge our time, money, and mental energy to a team that let’s us down so often. I will post it here to remind you of what I am speaking of:

Well, tonight, Dear Rangers fans, I want you to know that this is for you. It is time for you to dream the impossible dream. You are now close enough to that potentially rewarding moment in the journey that now those around you are cheering for your wish to come true. You are going to the World Series and that will give you a one-in-two chance at being a real champion of the sport in your lifetime.

The journey is not done yet at all, but you are now dangerously close. That should both thrill you and terrify you. That is ok. Because, to get this close is a risk of your heart. The team is going to try to make this happen for you, but the road will still seem incredibly difficult. Because it is.

There is now the possibility of victory or agony. But, it is what you wait for. Enjoy it because it is rare, as you know. This is what it is all about. Also, enjoy it because on your side are some guys who know something about being champions. Max Scherzer, Bruce Bochy, and Corey Seager are all champions, for instance. They are all doing heavy lifting here and they know a lot about pushing through the final wall.

Many of us are taking this walk of the final mile with you because we are thrilled, too. But, deep down inside we sort of know we have tagged along when it caught our interest. And that is why we happily concede that this is more about you guys. The true loyalists of a franchise that has been mocked and ignored way too long are the ones who deserve this the most. Chuck Morgan, John Blake, Tom Grieve, and many more who have served that franchise. We also know many friends and I have a list of media folks that are obvious: Jamey Newberg, Ty Walker, Sean Bass, Grubes, and yes, old buddy, Mike Rhyner, come to mind. The guys who would tell you they would trade any number of Cowboys moments for one single Rangers trophy are those diehards that must feel like I did when the Milwaukee Bucks finally won it all.

It is a rare treasure in life that sports very occasionally delivers. Soak it in.

You won the pennant tonight and I know you are smiling from ear to ear. But, you are still four big wins away. We hope you guys get it. Because if you do, you will never, ever forget it.

But, enjoy a few days of smiling first.