Globe Life Park nears the finish line, leaving a tough act for the new place to follow
Whatever is going to happen Sunday on the field at Globe Life Park won’t matter nearly as much as the field and ballpark themselves.
The Texas Rangers will never play there again.
It’s the place where they went to the playoffs for the first time, where they celebrated both of their American League championships, where they became relevant in the late 1990s and again this decade.
The hope that sprang eternal in each of the field’s 26 seasons hosting games was realized with seven AL West titles and eight postseason appearances.
Pudge, Adrian, Michael, Josh, Juan, Nap, Colby, Nellie, Kins, Murph, Tex, Derek, Elvis, Raffy, Will, Rusty, Choo and Yu played there.
Who will ever forget Wash in the dugout and Nolan in the ownership group that saved the Rangers from bankruptcy?
Game 6 (no, not that one), Game 4 and 5, Game 2, the perfect game, Beltre 3,000, ginger-ale celebrations, that Matthews Jr. catch, that Odor punch.
When the Rangers were at their best, there was no louder ballpark in baseball.
It will be a tough act for Globe Life Field to follow.
The penultimate game at Globe Life Park was played Saturday against the New York Yankees. First pitch for the season and ballpark finale is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Sunday.
It could be the final Rangers game ever played with temperatures in the 90s.
Beginning March 31, the Rangers will be playing their home games on the south side of Randol Mill Road, under a retractable roof most of the time and all of the summer.
The grass won’t be real, but the air-conditioning sure will feel good.
And baseball will be played as scheduled, rain or shine.
The quality of the baseball is to be determined. The star power is lacking after Joey Gallo, Elvis Andrus, Mike Minor and Lance Lynn.
Depending on what happens in the offseason, the next Rangers playoff team might not arrive until 2021. The next set of core players — perhaps catcher Sam Huff, third baseman Josh Jung, center fielder Leody Taveras and right-hander Hans Crouse and Cole Winn — might not all be in place until 2022 or 2023.
While the baseball might not be a draw, Globe Life Field will be. Fans will want to see it and all the trinkets inside. They will want to see how it feels to experience a Sunday day game when it’s 72 degrees instead of 172.
They will leave with something to report to friends and family, win or lose.
That should buy the Rangers another year to finish out of contention before the novelty of the new ballpark wears off and some fans stop coming if a winning product isn’t on the field.
The Rangers know this. They built it into their rebuild plan.
Hope, though, will appear again next spring and, presumably, for more than just 26 seasons.
For $1.2 billion, it better.
New star players and new trophies, maybe even the ultimate one, will come.
Even though Globe Life Park will close without a World Series title, it has seen its share of big moments, quality baseball and bright stars.
It will be a tough act for Globe Life Field to follow.
This story was originally published September 28, 2019 at 8:15 PM.
