Since the heartbreaking halting end of the 2011 season with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Texas Rangers have grown to be a household name in Texas. But as families and long time fans rallied around the Rangers toward the end of the regular season, it was already too late. After 93 wins, the Rangers ended their season on an ugly 5-1 loss to Baltimore in the Wild Card game.
The Rangers slowly and painfully spiraled out of structure as they lost 10 of their final 14 games going into the 2012 post season. The roster oozes with talent. They have played more baseball than they ever have in these past three seasons (six post-season series in 2010 and 2011). That’s going 33 of 38 possible games deep. With approximately an extra month of baseball combined with an extreme load of intensity and pressure, the ‘experience’ didn’t prove to prepare.
It’s hard to believe that just two months earlier, the Rangers lead the American League division and sat 5.5 games ahead of Oakland. So with the solid 162 for these past three seasons, it’s clear. October is the problem.
In 2010, I attended the American League Championship Series game vs. the Yankees. The Rangers won, giving them their first World Series bid in club history. Dallas, and much of America, lived and died with the team that season. They were the most spirited, hungry team I had ever seen. It was the same story in 2011.
There wasn’t a team to live and die with this year. Individualism, failure to stay sharp, lack of unison, no energy, and mental errors astonishingly took ultimate precedence.
For now, Rangers fans everywhere are nursing wounds and scratching heads, deciding which item listed above was the ultimate weight that sunk the season. For now, we work in disbelief to accept underachievement. Next, we’ll talk about free agency and who .
