The Texas Rangers are World Series Champions. I hope you read that right. World. Series. Championship.
Past pain and suffering (2011) has been erased. All is right in the world.
After 52 years as the Texas Rangers, they have finally secured their first World Championship for the fans.
The Texas Club won 11 straight road games in the postseason to bring home the win. It was an historic run.
“Any World Series is great, but to be able to win it for Texas, that first one, it’s incredible,” said Nathan Eovaldi according to MLB.com. “It’s hard for me to put it into words. I feel like I’m just rambling. But it’s very special to me.”
Texas Rangers fans have waited a very long time for this, and it was an amazing moment for sure.
My Journey
My family moved around a bit when I was a child, but in 1988 we finally settled in Texas for good.
The love for baseball I have began with names like Geno Petralli, Steve Buechele, Pete Incaviglia, Ruben Sierra, Jim Sundberg and of course Nolan Ryan a few season later.
I remember the Rangers winning the West in the 1990’s. I remember Kenny Rogers, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, Mark MacLemore and others celebrating.
Yankees hate became a real thing after those post season appearances. Then came the lean years.
From 2001 through 2006 the Rangers won more than 80 games only 1 time. They would not do it again until 2010.
I began blogging about the Rangers in 2008, my first piece was on starting pitcher Kevin Millwood. It was terribly written and researched.
I started podcasting that same year with my friend Nathan Hague. We had a general sports podcast called “The Hague Sports Podcast”.
That gave me the podcasting bug and I began doing my own Rangers podcast called
The Ranger Fan Dieter Podcast”. Creative, I know.
In January of 2011, I decided I really enjoyed doing this a created my own website, called “The Ranger Report”.
That meant that my podcast name would also change. My first article here was on Adrian Beltre.
We went strong that season and of course were completely heartbroken after the 2011 World Series. I failed an 8 hour certification test the next day because of the Texas Rangers.
In 2013, I joined NolanWritin.com to cover the Rangers to a broader audience, but back surgery and a career change meant I would have to give that up.
I stopped the podcast for a while, but continued writing. I’d found it to be a good outlet for me.
After settling in to my new career as a teacher, I got back into Podcasting in 2018. The Ranger Report Podcast was reborn then.
I had made friends on that app formally known as Twitter. I had loyal followers who enjoyed reading and listening.
Expanding the Vision
In 2020, the COVID year, I decided that going solo was not the best option for me, so I put a plea out on Twitter (X) asking a simple question: Anyone want to do a Texas Rangers podcast with me?
January of 2021 I was joined by CJ Berryman. I was very excited to have a co-host to help me continue the show. We made crazy predictions, talked about everything from minor league logos to the Texas Rangers.
I was growing as a fan and as a podcaster, getting better at it (I hope). When the Ranger signed Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, I began feeling hope again.
We had not seen winning baseball in Texas for 5 years at that point. It was difficult to find good things to say during the seasons. But we pressed on.
As a long time Texas Rangers fan, I was ready for disappointment in 2023. In our preseason predictions show I had the Rangers finishing third behind the Astros and Mariners.
Winning became a repeated occurrence, and I began to have a little hope this team may be good. Still, I held my excitment.
The All-Star break rolled around and the Rangers had 6 players in the game. Five of them were starters (Jonah Heim, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Josh Jung and Adolis Garcia).
Nathan Eovaldi got into the second inning and the Texas Rangers had 6 players on the field at the same time. A Major League Baseball Record.
Rangers fans know that after the All-Star break is were the team usually fails us, and I was ready.
Failure Expectations
The team instead came out on fire after the All-Star break winning 6 games in a row. My excitement began growing, they finally had me believing.
They began August with 8 straight wins, and 9 out of 10. I finally believed that this team could be a threat.
As expected, the bottom fell out. They fell out of first place and lost 75% of their games over the next four weeks. I was ready to tell everyone “I told you so”.
All Rangers fans were discouraged. They looked ready to take the next step but once again disappointed fans.
After a weekend series in Arlington were the Houston destroyed the team and they lost first place to said Houston, they were all but out of it in my eyes. I was ready to begin my off-season podcasts.
Somehow, they scraped their way back into first place until the final game of the season.
The Seattle Mariners had been eliminated and had nothing to play for. Instead of rolling over, they played a brilliant game and held the number 1 offense in baseball to 0 runs.
Postseason was clinched but division lost, the Rangers had to fly to Tampa Florida and face off against he 99 win Rays.
The Amazing Turn Around
I knew it was over, but I tried to stay positive. In my mind I was ready for more disappointment.
At least they made the postseason, right? I had my end of the season article all ready to go.
The Rangers went to Tampa and swept the Rays in two games. I was shocked to be honest.
Next, the Texas team had to travel to Baltimore and face off against the 101 win Orioles. The Rangers took game 1. Then game 2.
The series moved back to Arlington, and the Rangers finally got to play in front of their home crowd.
They did not disappoint, sweeping the Orioles in 3 games and advancing to the American League Championship Series.
The only solace I took at this point was that the Rangers had never lost an ALCS. They had only played it 2 as a franchise.
Who else but the Houston Astros would also advance. The Astros owned the Rangers during the season to the tune of 9-3. Ouch.
Much to my surprise, the Rangers took both games in Houston, making their road winning streak 6 in a row. Could it be?
I didn’t let myself believe yet. I had been disappointed too many times before.
The series traveled back to Arlington where the Astros had owned the Rangers. The Astros owned the Rangers again, winning all 3 games in Arlington including a back breaking come from behind win in game 5.
The series headed back to Houston with the Astros up 3-2, and the Rangers season would come to an end at the home of the reigning world champs.
Adolis Garcia became an offensive force to be reckoned with and the Rangers took game 6. Game 7 loomed.
Garcia put the Astros away in game 7, making the Texas Rangers 3-0 in ALCS contests and dethroning he defending World Champions. They were headed back to the World Series.
Finally 2011 is No Longer A Painful Memory
The Texas Rangers took game 1 in Arlington against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Game 2 was claimed by the Arizona club, and the Rangers managed only 2 wins out of 6 tries in front of their home crowd.
The Road warriors traveled to Arizona and won game 3. Then they won game 4.
Game 5 rolled around and I still wasn’t able to have a lot of hope with Texas leading the series 3 games to 1.
For 6.1 innings, the Rangers were dominated by Arizona starter Zac Gallen. No hits through that point of the game.
My initial thought going into the seventh of a 0-0 tie was here come the Rangers. Just like 2011, they are going to blow it.
Frustration set in. They were going to lose that game and then the series.
The first hit, then the first run came. Hope.
The Rangers blew it open in the top of the 9th taking a 5-0 lead. I was once again cautiously hopeful.
I thought about my dad who passed away in 2013 and gave me my love of sports. He would have enjoyed this.
My mind continued to muse over friends I’d made online and in person. They were 3 outs away. Just thinking that gave me PTSD.
In the most iconic strikeout in Texas Rangers history, Josh Sporz ended the 52 years of disappointment and suffering for Rangers fans and Eric Nadel was finally able to declare the Rangers as the World Champions.
Emotion flooded me as I lost it, the realization hitting me that they had won it all.
Texas had come out on top. They were the World Series Champions. People who don’t watch or follow sports don’t understand the significant role it plays in our lives.
I had waited since 1988, many had waited longer. I sat there half watching the television for the next few hours. It was an unbelievable moment.
For the first time, 2011 didn’t bring back pain anymore, it was just an event on the way to an eventual World Series Championship. The wait was finally at it’s end.
Hopefully now I can watch sports with less cynicism and less negative expectations.
The enjoyment of this Championship will not end anytime soon for myself or Rangers fans.
You can read all of my Rangers related content at www.therangerreport.com
