There’s that space on a Monopoly board called Free Parking where if you land there, you get a reprieve. It’s a breather. A chance to drop your bags, get a cold one, unwind, exhale, and brace yourself for all the challenges that await on the next roll. The Chicago White Sox are baseball’s Free Parking ..read more

The Rangers are doing what they are supposed to do. Which isn’t always easy to do. And hasn’t been for the Rangers this year. They are beating the White Sox. As a reminder, the White Sox are fifty games out of first place. That means, everyone is beating the White Sox.  But they have beat ..read more

Rangers shortstop Jonathan Ornelas makes a jaw dropping throw to help secure the 3-2 victory. TGICWS Thank God it’s the Chicago White Sox. They are one of the few teams that scores fewer runs than Texas. For the second straight game, the White Sox scored one run fewer. That makes it three straight victories for the Rangers. All by one run. With last night’s loss, the White Sox are now on pace to lose 120 games, which would tie the 1962 New York Mets for most losses in the 162-game era. The Rangers hit the White Sox in the schedule at just the right time.  The Rangers jumped on Chicago ace ..read more

Rookie Wyatt Langford scores the tying run in the ninth, drives in the winning run in the tenth. Maybe, just maybe, there is a pulse yet ticking in these Rangers. Down 3-2 in the ninth, after the most unlikely of events—Kirby Yates being human and allowing a run in the top of the ninth—Texas did what it has not been able to do all year.  They came back.  This team had won one game all season when trailing after six innings. And hadn’t won a game at all when trailing in the ninth. But the luck of the schedule has the Rangers playing the worst team in baseball, one that is on the verge ..read more

Hall of Fame class of 2024, Adrian Beltre. Adrian Beltre was inducted into the Hall of Fame yesterday. He played twenty-one seasons, the last eight of those with Texas. They were also the best eight years of his career. Beltre seemed to get better with age. He put up one of his better offensive seasons in 2017, just one year before retiring.  But this isn’t a story about numbers. It’s a story about a guy who did everything right. Adrian Beltre never let us down. Not when he was at bat. Not when he was winning gold glove after gold glove. Not when he was exemplifying excellence on the fiel ..read more

Frustration: Nathan Eovaldi assumes the pose of so many Rangers fans. The Race to the Trade Deadline did not start well. The Rangers are racing to relevance. Do they have a team that can make the playoffs or don’t they? They started the second half like they had so many times in the first half. No offense. It didn’t help that Nathan Eovaldi had his worst start of the season, putting the Rangers in an insurmountable 4-0 hole before they even came to bat.  And the Orioles came to bat. Did they ever. Four in the first. Two in the fifth. Three in the seventh. They racked up eleven hits. The R ..read more

Tall task: Rangers general manager Chris Young has a short time to determine what his team really is. The official second half starts tomorrow. The Rangers have sixty-six games remaining on their schedule. But, really, the only games that matter are the next thirteen. Because the trade deadline is July 30. Texas plays thirteen games between now and then, and how they perform in those thirteen will determine whether the next fifty-three games matter. Rangers general manager Chris Young is going to have to make the determination whether he thinks his team has a chance to legitimately make the pl ..read more

Boston’s Jarren Duran slugs a massive two-run homer to win the All-Star Game for the American League. Guys in garish uniforms that said “American League” on them defeated guys in garish uniforms that said “National Legue” on them 5-3. Shoehei Ohtani did what he does best, he excelled with a three-run homer for the Nationals. The Americans got a 103.8 miles-per-hour pitch from soon-to-not-be Oakland’s soon to be traded Miles Miller. They got a game-winning two-run homer from Boston’s Jarren Duran. Rookie phenom Paul Skenes got future-Hall-of-Famer Aaron Judge to ground out meekly to end the fir ..read more

What a difference a year makes. The Rangers went from having five starters elected to the All-Star Game to having zero. Then, Jose Altuve got injured (he sure seemed fine the last three games against the Rangers) and Marcus Semien took his place. So, they have one now. Semien was last year’s starting second baseman. He recently snapped out of a long, deep, two-month slump. He had one home run and just sixteen RBIs in that time.  Last year’s starting shortstop, Corey Seager, didn’t make the team at first. He, too, recently made it because Carlos Correa is injured. Seager’s numbers are als ..read more

Josh Smith drives in all four runs with two two-run HRs in the Rangers 4-2 win over Houston. Even though it’s way past the 81-game mark, the first half of the season is over. The Rangers ended it on a high note, winning seven of their last nine. What looked like a disastrous season is suddenly looking like a confusing season.  What are these Rangers? Are they good enough to make a playoff run? Are they going to realize they aren’t? Are the going to go for it? Are they going to sell off prime assets and build for next year? After winning seven of nine, the Rangers are currently 7.5 games o ..read more