You can’t see it but there is something completely different about the Texas Rangers
Other than some decorations, and eating options, nothing has really changed about Globe Life Mall, but the place feels different. There exists an unmistakable vibe here now that didn’t previously.
The last time fans walked out of this place for a real game was Oct. 28, 2023; they left a bit down, having watched the Rangers lose Game 2 of the World Series, 9-1, which tied the series.
When the Rangers returned to Arlington, and to their stadium, it wasn’t for a game. It wasn’t to clean out their lockers. They were there to prepare for a parade. The parade.
The 2023 World Series lasted six days, but those 144 hours permanently altered a franchise that has existed since 1961.
“It changed the culture,” Rangers third baseman Josh Jung said this week at his locker. “There is a new standard here.”
Jung is only 26. His age makes it hard for him to fully grasp what that accurate statement entails.
If any one person alive knows what this means, it’s a man who was here from the beginning, Tom Grieve.
Few have lived every part of the Texas Rangers like he has. He was with the team when it moved from Washington D.C. to Arlington in 1972, and is a Rangers lifer. Player. GM. Broadcaster. Ambassador.
“It’s hard to put your finger on exactly what it means, but it’s different,” he said this week in a phone interview. “Right before they got the final out I was watching it and my wife said, ‘You don’t even look happy.’ The feeling was relief. We finally won it.
“They can say whatever has been said about our team, but forever no one can say that we aren’t a championship team. I don’t walk around with my chest out because I wasn’t a part of that (World Series team), or even in the organization any more. But as a former player who devoted my life to that franchise, I feel different now because we won. I can imagine the fans who showed up for so long feel the same way.
“The sense of pride; you can’t calculate what it means.”
For the people who identify with the Texas Rangers as “theirs,” and have for decades, it means everything. It means something that they identify in their life as a positive is the best. First place. Please don’t apply logic because supporting a sports team is illogical; it’s entirely about feeling and emotion.
Before Corey Seager hit his two-run home run to tie Game 1 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Rangers were just another fake tough guy playing a part that their history said they weren’t.
Before Jose Leclerc registered the final out to win Game 3 in Arizona, the Rangers were one of 38 major professional sports franchises in North America to never win a title. There are 124 franchises between MLB, NHL, NBA and NFL; the Rangers were one of the 31 percent to be ringless.
The Rangers were the Clippers, Pacers, Lions, Bengals, Sabres, Canucks, Mariners and Padres.
Before reliever Josh Sborz struck out the final batter to clinch the World Series in Game 5, the Rangers were one of six MLB franchise to never win a World Series.
“I can only speak for myself but I felt that in (2010 and 2011 when the Rangers made the World Series) that was our chance and we didn’t cash in,” Grieve said. “It’s so hard to get to the World Series let alone win the World Series. So many little things factor into it, like the weather.
“I found myself thinking that maybe we won’t get back there in my lifetime. From starting out at the old stadium when we first got here, to where we are now, it’s an entirely different feeling.”
No one who followed, or played, in MLB last season can say that the Texas Rangers were anything other than deserving of the World Series trophy. They were good throughout the regular season, and historic in the postseason.
Of the many feats the Rangers reached in 2023, their postseason run is one of those that may never be equaled. In the postseason, they finished 2-4 at home and 11-0 on the road. Those things don’t happen.
The Texas Rangers made had never happened previously a reality.
Opening Day for 2024 is here, and while you won’t be able to put a finger on it, it all feels different now for the Texas Rangers.
This story was originally published March 28, 2024 at 4:45 PM.
