It's (about) Time!

It's been a long 11 years since the last time the Rangers were in the playoffs. In October 1999, I was a senior at Cleburne High School. I had only had my car 2 months. I had not decided where I wanted to go to college. It would be almost 5 years until Jenn and I got married, and over 8 years until Joshua was born.

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Back then, the Rangers had won their division 3 out of 4 years (1996, 1998, and 1999), and it looked like we could get used to this kind of winning atmosphere for a while. Ninety percent of my wardrobe in high school consisted of Rangers division championship t-shirts and sweatshirts. Unfortunately, out of the 10 playoff games they played in the '90s, they only won a single game, the first one on October 1, 1996 when John Burkett beat the Yankees in New York. By 1999, it seemed the Rangers were intimidated by the Yankees when the playoffs rolled around and we always got matched up with them. It was fun to win the division, but heartbreaking to not go further.

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After 1999, things changed. They switched from red to blue uniforms. Tom Hicks took over as owner right around that time. The man that built the winning Rangers teams, General Manager Doug Melvin, was fired and replaced by John Hart, who Hicks would control like a puppet. The best manager ever to sit in the Rangers dugout, Johnny Oates, stepped down and was replaced by his third base coach, Jerry Narron. Oates passed away a few years later. Teams led by Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, and Rusty Greer were replaced by Alex Rodriguez, Chan Ho Park, and either lots of washed up veterans or too many young players not ready to win. Rodriguez's contract disallowed the team to bring in other valuable players who could have pushed the Rangers over the top. To be fair, the Angels, Mariners, and A's have all fielded very good teams over the last decade, which made a difference in the Rangers holding down the lower spots in the division. For a loyal fan like me, I've stood by waiting, hoping, knowing that one day the drought would end and happiness would soon fill the Ballpark again.

In spring training this year, the Rangers started putting out commercials with many different players simply saying "It's Time." The point was that the time has come to stop rebuilding, to stop making excuses, to stop telling fans to just wait a little longer. Not only could fans hope to see the Rangers win in 2010, they should expect it.

But 2010 has been a crazy year.

The manager, Ron Washington admitted to failing a drug test during spring training, but his employers and players all stood by him and decided to keep him as the leader of the team.

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The prospective ownership group led by Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg, who thought they would take over the team by Opening Day in April, weren't in control until a crazy auction to buy the team and fight off Mark Cuban and company ended in the middle of the night in a court room in Fort Worth during the first week of August.

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The top two pitchers on the team coming out of spring training, Rich Harden and Scott Feldman, would both pitch themselves out of the rotation by the middle of the year and be left to eat up meaningless innings late in the season. The leadoff hitter, Julio Borbon, would be batting 9th a month into the season. Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz, and Josh Hamilton would all miss significant time because of injuries. That would be enough to cripple the last 10 Rangers clubs.

But this year has been different. When players failed or were hurt, others stepped in and took over successfully. When there was a hole at the top of the starting rotation, management went out and got the best pitcher available, Cliff Lee, even though the team was in bankruptcy at the time. And again, to be fair enough, the Angels, Mariners, and A's did not run away with the division title as they had in some previous years, so the door was open, and the Rangers marched right in.

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On Saturday afternoon, September 25, 2010, the Rangers beat the A's in Oakland to clinch the American League West division and seal their spot in the playoffs. Instead of being an excited young high school kid enjoying more success from his team, I celebrated as a hopeful fan, husband, and dad, excited that my wife and son could be with me to enjoy this time. And then Joshua had an accident on the couch. Life has changed.

 

Will this post-season be any different? Who knows? The Rangers might beat the odds and go all the way to win the World Series. Or they might get swept in the first round again. But either way, baseball is fun again in Arlington. People are packing the ballpark, wearing goofy claw and antler shirts, and you even see more Rangers caps on people around town. And what makes me most hopeful is that Chuck Greenberg, the new owner, has said there won't be any more rebuilding years. He expects to have teams that get in the playoffs, or at least close to it, every year. If they don't have what it takes early in the season, they'll bring in someone who can turn it around if they can. So what's exciting is that this should not just be a flash in the pan appearance by Texas, but just the start of something to get used to...winning baseball in Arlington, Texas.

It makes me happy that if Chuck stands by his word, Joshua will get to grow up and see his team win a lot more than I did. Every year when the World Series ends and a new team is crowned champions, I tell Jenn that one day that will be us piling up on the mound celebrating. That time is getting closer every day.