What can Super Bowl starved Dallas Cowboys learn from World Series champs Texas Rangers?
After 52 years agonizing years, the Texas Rangers finally did it.
They are champions of the baseball world.
Not only did they do it, but they did the impossible and unthinkable if you remember 102 losses of two years ago and the 94 losses of last year.
The Rangers made history Wednesday night winning the World Series for the first time in franchise history with a 5-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks to clinch the series 4-1.
As the Rangers and fans across Dallas-Fort Worth continue to lose their collective minds in sheer delirium and prepare to continue the party with a championship parade in Arlington on Friday, it begs the question: What can the Dallas Cowboys — who make their home at AT&T Stadium, just down the street from Globe Life Field — learn the North Texas’ newest and latest champion?
Certainly, no team in Dallas-Fort Worth has the pedigree and tradition of the Cowboys and their five Super Bowl titles.
But the Cowboys haven’t sniffed a championship since 1995.
Since then, the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999, the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA title in 2011 before the Rangers in 2023.
The Cowboys have the history, but this current team does not know what it takes to be champions.
So what can the Cowboys learn from the Rangers?
Don’t be handcuffed or constrained by past failures
Much has been said about the Cowboys 28-year Super Bowl drought and the pressure to win hanging over the franchise like a dark cloud.
But consider the Rangers who had never won anything and the angst of Rangers fans with the memory of the team being a strike away from being champions twice in 2011 before having the rug pulled out from under them by the St. Louis Cardinals.
None of that mattered to their current Rangers team. They lived and realized their own destiny to be champions.
Don’t be discouraged by the ebbs and flows of the season
How many times did you give up on the Rangers this season after the hot start?
They blew the division lead. They blew the division title on the final day. They had to start the playoffs on the road. They blew an 2-0 lead against the Houston Astros by losing three straight at home in the American League Championship Series.
The Rangers never quit. They never stopped believing in themselves and they are the only team in baseball left standing.
In other words, the Cowboys can’t let a 28-16 shocking loss to the Arizona Cardinals and a 42-10 drubbing by the San Francisco 49ers define who they are and keep them from reaching their goals.
Be road warriors
The Rangers set a MLB record by going 11-0 on the road in the playoffs.
The Cowboys have been excellent at home with a 11-0 mark AT&T Stadium dating back to last season. But they will likely have to win on the road to get the Super Bowl and win the title.
The Cowboys 1-2 on the road so far in 2023 heading into Sunday’s showdown game at the Philadelphia Eagles. They have upcoming road games at the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins.
They have to take a page out out the Rangers championship journey and find a way to win on the road.
Go for it and never stop stop trying
The Rangers let you know they were series about spending and trying to win a title when they signed Marcus Semien and Corey Seager in free agency and hired previous three-time World Series champion Bruce Bochy, who now has his fourth, as manager.
They added to that haul when signed Jacob deGrom.
But the Rangers didn’t rest on their laurels and say we like our guys. They kept the pedal to the mettle.
DeGrom got hurt. So they traded for Max Scherzer and didn’t sit idle with that. They also added Jordan Montgomery.
And while it wasn’t the greatest move, they went an go Aroldis Chapman to try to shore up a shaky bullpen.
They never stopped trying. They never thought they had done enough.
Jerry Jones and the Cowboys can learn a lot from that attitude
Make sure your best play their best in the biggest moment
When it came to winning team, the Rangers biggest stars stood out.
Time and time again, Adolis Garcia showed up and showed out in the biggest moments in the ALCS and the first game of the World Series with the walk-off bomb that was heard around the metroplex.
And then Seager and Semien took over from there.
Certainly, the Rangers got clutch performances from the unsung heroes and the questionable pitching became a strength when it mattered most.
But the stars came through in the clutch.
Seager won his second World Series MVP title with a ninth-inning game-tying home run in a Game 1 win, three homers overall. He is now in Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson territory as the new Mr. October.
And Semien, who played in all 162 regular season games and 17 playoff games, shook off a playoff slump to rise to the occasion in the World Series.
Semien opened the playoffs batting .197 in 15 games.
But he came through when it mattered most by driving in five runs with a triple and home run in Game 4. He singled and homered in the Game 5 clincher.
Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence take heed.
Go and take it
The Rangers motto was simple. Go and Take it.
And they went and took it.
They didn’t wait for it to be their turn.
They didn’t care about the process or procession from 102 losses to 94 losses and thinking that what they accomplished this season was enough.
They seized the day and seized the moment.
That has been the Cowboys motto since the start of the season.
Coach Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys have adopted “Carpe Omnia”, meaning “Seize Everything”, as their slogan for 2023.
It’s one thing to say it.
It’s another thing to do it.
Or as in the Rangers case, go take it.
They went and took it. The Cowboys need to do the same.
This story was originally published November 2, 2023 at 10:38 AM.
