What A Season!

No one thought the Rangers would end the 2010 season where they did. In fact most baseball analysts picked the Rangers to finish third in their division a division that only has 4 teams. What the Rangers did this season was simply amazing. They overcame such huge obstacles that just making the playoffs was a major accomplishment.

At the beginning of the season manager Ron Washington admitted to the Rangers front office that he used cocaine once during the 2009 season. He apologized to the front office and to the team and went through treatment. The front office and the team supported and stood behind Ron Washington when any other team would have fired him or had no respect for him. Speaking of firing a manager when the Rangers hired Ron Washington back in 2007 the other candidates for the job went on to manage other teams and ended up being fired by those teams this year. Only Ron Washington retained his job. After Ron Washington announced to his team about his one weak moment from 2009 it seemed to draw the team closer together as tight net unit. Again if this was any other team Ron Washington would have been fired and the team would be in shambles.

Also at the beginning of the season there was promise that Rangers president Nolan Ryan and business partner Chuck Greenburg were going to buy the team from owner Tom Hicks. Tom Hicks bought the Rangers back in 1998 and basically ran the team in the ground. He spent 252 million dollars over 10 years on one player Alex Rodriquez who was traded three years later. Tom Hicks had ran up a huge debt with creditors that put the sale of the Rangers to Nolan and Chuck in jeopardy. To help speed up the sale process Nolan Ryan filed a lawsuit against the Rangers and then the Rangers filed for bankruptcy. The sale of the Rangers eventually ended up at a auction in bankruptcy court between two groups, Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenburg's group and the Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's group. All had hoped that Nolan's group would win but everyone worried that Cuban's money would be too much. Most fans worried that if Cuban's group won that he would turn the team into a circus. Only signing superstars who only care about money and not winning. After a 15 hour auction marathon Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenburg won the auction and the Rangers. During the whole sale process which lasted much longer than excepted I think any other team would have let the off the field stuff play into the on field play. The Rangers never did let it get into their heads, they kept their focus on the field.

During the season three of the Rangers star players Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz missed time due to injuries. The Rangers were able to fill those spots with the right players and the Rangers never missed a step. With other teams the replacements may not have work out and fell out of the playoff race. The Rangers had the right guys at the right time. The Rangers left spring training with Taylor Teagraden and Jarrod Saltalamacchia as their catchers. Later in the year Saltalamacchia was traded and Teagraden was sent to the minors. The Rangers brought in Matt Treanor and Bengie Molina as their catchers and they both helped the Rangers in big ways. The Rangers went with Rich Harden and Scott Feldman as numbers 1 and 2 in the starting pitching staff. Both never reached the expectations the Rangers had for them. Tommy Hunter stepped up big for the Rangers knocking out Scott Feldman of the starting pitching rotation and into the bullpen. But when the Rangers made the trade for Cliff Lee on July 9th a trade that no one thought the Rangers could make. Everyone thought the Yankees were going to get Cliff Lee. When Cliff Lee joined the Rangers Rich Harden was cut from the team. The tweaks the Rangers made to the team worked only brought the team closer. The tweaks helped the Rangers get to were there are.

The Rangers win their division and make the playoffs and face the Tampa Bay Rays in the first round. Everyone thought the Rays were going to knock out the Rangers. The Rangers win the first two games surprising everyone. When the Rangers dropped the next two games everyone thought the Rays were going to knock out the Rangers in game 5. The Rangers won game 5 and won their first playoff series ever. The Rangers were set to face the New York Yankees In the American League Championship series (ALCS). The Yankees were the defending world champs. The Yankees payroll was over 200 million while the Rangers payroll was only 55 million. The Yankees have knocked out the Rangers the last three times they faced them in the first round playoffs in 1996, 1998 and 1999. The odds were stacked against the Rangers. But the Rangers overcame the odds and beat the Yankees. 4 games to 2. If it weren't for the small hiccup in the 8th inning of game 1 of the ALCS the Rangers would have swept the Yankees. The Rangers won the American League pennant for the first time in their history. The Rangers were set to play in the World Series for the first time. Yes, the Rangers ended up losing the World Series to the San Francisco Giants 4 games to 1 but the Rangers fans have no reason to hang their heads. The Rangers have overcome the odds all season long and to get to where they ended up was absolutely amazing.

Heartbroken, yes. Bummed, yes. Am I disappointed? NO!!! We won the American League west division. We won our first playoff series by winning the division series. We won the American League Championship Series by beating the Yankees to become the American League champions and to get into our first ever World Series. I am very proud to be a RANGERS fan. GO RANGERS!!!