SEATTLE, Washington — We have gathered here today to lay to rest the 2018 Texas Rangers season.
In the late 1990s, or maybe the early 2000s — the precise details are lost to a Google search I have neither the desire nor patience to undertake, but it was sometime in the era of the frosted tips — a shoe company released a series of T-shirts that said “Basketball is Life.” with a picture of a basketball on the front. On the back, it said, “the rest is just details”.
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Before long, or maybe simultaneously, the message spread from basketball to baseball, football, and the other sports, eventually losing steam as it made its way to things like marching band, knitting, and just about any other activity you can imagine.
But the baseball shirts always made me pause. Even as a child, the more baseball I watched, the more I was able to make sense of life. Off-speed pitches taught me about diversity. Stealing bases taught me discernment and psychology. Jinxes were our desire to control what we can’t, curses were (eventually) about redemption, and all of it — all of it — taught me how success can breathe in the tiny spaces between failure’s raindrops.
Maybe Baseball isn’t life, but it’s the same shape.
And even in a season that featured a lot more losses than wins, there was still air.
You just had to stop looking at the sky.
I compiled a nearly-200-article best-of last week, featuring our writers’ favorite stories from this season, around the league. There’s a lot of great stuff there, enough to keep you entertained all winter, if you want.
But for Rangers fans, I thought it would be a good idea to recap some of our favorite Rangers coverage from this season. It was The Athletic DFW’s first year, and my first time to be teammates with Jamey Newberg. I’m proud of our coverage, so here are some of our favorite stories from this year.
FRONT OFFICE & SCOUTS
They’re the engines that keep the machine in motion. We covered some of the logistics, people, and plans at the top of the Texas Rangers food chain.
Want to know how draft preparation works? Sometimes you try a new strategy, and other times it doesn’t go the way you hope?) What factors went into choosing the return for their July trades? Have you heard the story of when Tom Grieve signed Nolan Ryan? Are you curious about a hypothetical scenario in which the Rangers didn’t make a single trade for ten years? Of course, they did make those trades. How’d they work out for the other guys?
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Jon Daniels might not be calling it a rebuild, but hopefully, 95 losses is a floor. Or rather, a foundation. Part of the rebuild won’t just be on the field — the Rangers need to do a better job of developing pitching. Maybe their new pitching development partnership with Driveline Baseball (here’s a three–part series) will help.
Former Rangers scout Roger Coryell passed away in April. Don Welke, too, in September.
MINOR LEAGUES
We covered the minor leagues, which are fun for the same reason indie bands are fun: it’s the pure unadulterated joy of the thing. Sometimes you discover a star before everyone else. Sometimes you discover a galaxy. Joe Palumbo continued his recovery from Tommy John Surgery and made it to AA Frisco by year’s end. I’m not even sure how to set up this story about Mason Englert’s family, other than to say: you should have a kleenex nearby before you open it.
The Rangers picked up Taylor Hearn from the Pirates in the Keone Kela trade, and Willie Calhoun spent another season (mostly) in AAA.
And they should all be paid more.
COACHES
Hickory Crawdads manager Matt Hagen lived in an RV that he renovated himself. Roy Silver spent a lot of time with Yohander Méndez, guiding the young lefty back to the big leagues after being sent to High-A Down East for a team rules violation. Tony Beasley helped Rougned Odor climb out of the crater of his awful 2017. Jeff Banister managed until he was told it was no longer required of him, and his interim replacement Don Wakamatsu is trying to end child hunger.
THE PLAYERS
The hope of Opening Day soon gave way to the disappointment of a tough year for the Rangers, sellers for the second year in a row, and winners of far fewer games than they lost. They need more (and better) pitching, and we might have seen the last of Martin Pérez, Texas Ranger.
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But this is a eulogy, and there’s no need to speak ill of the dead season. So let’s remember it as it was: frustrating, but hopeful. The flailing and the dancing, the growth, and the pain.
The #Funbad.
Bartolo Colon became a Ranger in 2018, 21 years after Doug Melvin tried to bring him to Texas. He struggled down the stretch, but he was remarkable in the first half. He almost threw a perfect game!
Shin-Soo Choo and Rougned Odor each had extended and remarkable hot streaks. We had not one, but two articles about Nomar Mazara’s adjustments at the plate. Elvis Andrus hit the DL for the first time in his career, joining Rougned Odor there, and giving some other people an opportunity to play a bit up the middle.
The rookies showed us a lot in 2018. Hawaiian Army Knife Isiah Kiner-Falefa was a revelation in his rookie season, playing third base, shortstop, second base, and catcher. His fellow rookie Ronald Guzmán has also succeeded, reaping the benefits of overcoming adversity. Carlos Tocci had a rough first half, but hit .282 after the All-Star break. C.D. Pelham played in the futures game, then got a September call-up.
We profiled Jose Leclerc, Michael Young, Joey Gallo, and Ronald Guzmán.
Robinson Chirinos hit a career-high 18 home runs, fought with Matt Kemp on what was maybe the strangest game of the season, and got hit by a bunch of pitches. The Rangers turned a triple play!
Kevin Jepsen didn’t last for the whole season, but the fact that he made the team at all was a cool story. We watched Tim Lincecum overcome grief and return to baseball, and we watched that comeback fall short of the big leagues. We saw Brandon Mann make it to the big leagues after 16 years in the minor, independent, and foreign leagues. The fact that it happened on Mother’s Day was also an important part of the story.
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Father’s Day had its own beautiful story as well.
The trade deadline was wild, as the Rangers shipped off Jesse Chavez, Cole Hamels, Jake Diekman, Keone Kela, and — just a couple months after trading for him — Cory Gearrin. But perhaps equally as significant as who they did trade was who they didn’t:
He has been one of the biggest stories of the season, and now that it’s over, the curiosity over whether he will retire or come back in 2019 will only be magnified.
Whether he does or not, he’s been having fun in the last week, continuing to remind us that baseball, even in a season like 2018 is just a game that we love, a game that will continue to give us moments that we will remember forever.
And of course, in any 162-game season, there are going to be moments where you’re certain that your brain has broken, so you just have to lean into the weirdness. This season was no different.
And now we will take a moment, close our eyes, breathe in the memories and breathe out the disappointment. We will lay the 2018 season to rest, and begin to look forward to 2019: a new manager’s first year, a stadium’s final one, and the uncertainty of who will be manning third base on that final game.
But that’s another story.
