Beyond baseball: The Rangers’ magical season holds special lessons for all | Opinion
Entertainment is often fleeting — a dumb reality TV show, a rom-com, detective stories with interchangeable plots and characters, and, yes, much of the sports that we watch. An age of free agency, omnipresent sports betting and mix-and-match uniforms waters down that special feeling of fandom.
But like a great masterpiece film or prize-winning novel, a special team with a magical run hits differently. This isn’t just a few hours of background noise or an excuse to eat nachos on the couch. It grabs your heart. Each moment crackles with energy. Communities rally.
That’s the 2023 Texas Rangers. It’s easy — and true — to say that their World Series championship means so much because we waited 50 years for it. But this team, this time, resonates even more. Here are a few reasons why.
THE POWER OF RESILIENCE
As recently as two years ago, the Rangers suffered more than 100 losses. After a spending spree that paired a few top free agents with some promising young players and a veteran manager, this year’s team seemed at least competitive.
It sprinted out of the gate and looked dominant. Then came a rash of injuries, bad pitching and a late-season lull that threatened to leave them home for the playoffs. Same ol’ Rangers, right?
No. This team ate challenges for breakfast. It stuck to what it did best but made adjustments. It did what baseball demands — get up every day, respond without over-correcting and let a well-built foundation steady you in tough times.
That’s what life requires, too. Sometimes, we have to see it on the big screen to understand that. These Rangers told us a story of resilience, one we need to hear often.
A RESPITE FROM THE WORLD
Every generation thinks it’s survived tough times, but some national and world events now are particularly sobering and difficult — and life in America is harder than we’re used to.
The Israel-Hamas conflict has dominated the news, as it should, but images of heinous acts of terrorism are wrenching. The idea that it could spread and create a global conflict involving the United States feels disconcerting and realistic.
In America, our politics is stuck in a divisive rut, and many voters cringe that they may have no good option for president next year. Inflation is persistently high, and average families struggle to afford gas and groceries.
Sure, it’s only baseball; it’s not like the Rangers’ win has increased anybody’s take home pay or put food on the table. But sometimes, small joys give us temporary relief. The Rangers’ win helps us feel like even when times are hard, there’s always some sunlight peeking through the clouds somewhere. We just have to appreciate it when it does.
ARLINGTON’S IDENTITY
The city is always fighting outsiders’ perceptions of it — a big suburb, the city in-between, sleepy, sprawling, the entertainment capital of Texas.
How about: city of champions?
Going back to visionary Tom Vandergriff, without Arlington, there is no major-league team in North Texas. Without taxpayers willing to support entertainment and tourism — and yes, generously subsidize sports stadiums — there’s no happy parade or trophy to display.
Arlington takes snub after snub. National announcers and concert performers don’t say where they truly are, as if they can’t be bothered to learn more than the first word in the name of the airport at which they landed. At home, policy wonks (us included) harp on the city’s clear preference for large business and entertainment products over big-city needs such as mass transit.
Arlington’s slogan is “The American Dream city.” The thing about dreams is, they belong to you. Others don’t get to define them. That’s a model that Arlington has ridden to success for decades, and the world should take notice.
A MODEL OF TEAM BUILDING
Successful teams, in sports or otherwise, need a willingness to support one another, step up when needed and play a little bit bigger role than anticipated.
When superstars Max Scherzer and Adolis García went down in the World Series, Rangers general manager Chris Young and field manager Bruce Bochy knew they could rely on other stars to shine and role players to do a little extra. And that’s the key: Have a backup plan. Build trust within so team members understand what’s expected of them, in good times and bad.
It takes a mix of personalities, strong leaders at each level and a clearly defined common mission. When things went wrong for the Rangers, they fell back on all of that.
TEXAS RULES
The Rangers win made us wonder: Is Texas good at everything now? Hear us out.
Sure, Texas could have better healthcare and a steadier power grid. We’re not perfect but we are proud, and for good reasons.
Texas was just named the top business climate in the country, with more than 50 of the top Fortune 500 companies. This could be why people continue to move here. That and the lovely, mild winters.
You could make the case that the two best major-league teams play here, if you don’t mind giving the Houston Astros some credit. TCU is having a down year in football but still basking in the glory of a championship run. The Cowboys are consistently competitive, and even the Houston Texans are getting better.
A WIN FOR COMMUNITY
Ever since the COVID pandemic at least, it’s been easy to isolate, scroll social media and remain separated from neighbors, community and concerns.
But something like the Rangers’ run reminds us just how much we need each other and how much we have in common. We can put our differences aside and root, root, root for the home team. To see our Rangers win splashed all over the national news and send our kids to school in jerseys means that for once, we have something in common and it’s not a deadly infectious disease or quarantine. What a relief.
In many ways, the Rangers are what we all aspire to be, underdogs who rise to the moment. Let the sense of honor and pride be a much-needed kick in the pants to engage more, raise our standards and lift each other up.
This story was originally published November 4, 2023 at 5:35 AM.