Blue, red and white The Rangers were ranked 27th in the league. At $55 million.
The argument as to whether you can buy success is not a black-and-white thing. Either the Philadelphia Phillies or San Francisco Giants will face the Rangers in the World Series. They had the fourth and ninth highest payroll when the season started, respectively.
Then again, division winners Tampa Bay and Cincinnati were ranked 19th and 20th, respectively.
This is why the Rangers making it to the World Series is a win for America. It's about the little guy. David slaying Goliath.
It's hope for everyone. The person in debt to their ears. The fan of the Kansas City Royals or San Diego Padres. The person not given everything to them on a silver platter.
Those of us that have to work. Those of us that get as much enjoyment out of the simplest, smallest things in life (like a claw or antler) as we would the big, grandiose, expensive things.
This is for all of those who hate the New York Yankees. Or Los Angeles Lakers, Detroit Red Wings or Dallas Cowboys. Or Boston Red Sox or New York Knicks.
This is for all of the people that don't live on a coast and don't understand why anyone would really care about New York City or Los Angeles.
The Rangers play with simplicity. They move runners over. They get infield hits, play good defense and slide into first base. They go from first to third, from second to home. They double steal, steal home, hit-and-run, turn two, get picked off and keep running. They slide, dive, leap, sprint, spit, collide, stretch and wear their socks up to their knees.
They are Lettuce, Murph, Hambone, Cliffie, Nefty, Vlad, Tiny E, Crush, TnT, Mitch, Nellie, Colbyashi, Ceej, Frankie, The Darrens, Ollie, Big Game, Nip, Dutch Oven and Scooter.
They bring a guy over from Japan and start them. They stand by a manager who snorted coke a summer ago and can't speak proper English.
They stand by a fuck up and threw away five years of his life for drugs and alcohol. They stood by a young 20-something as he got his feet wet in the world of general managing in the Majors. The same guy thanks his scouts and development guys as the first words out of his mouth in front of 50,000 insane fans and millions more on TV.
They stand by a couple of Dominican kids, who got caught up in a visa scam and were blocked from entering this beautiful country.
For fans of the Texas Rangers, all is right with the world.
For the rest of the world, everything is right. If you don't have a soft spot for the Texas Rangers, then you're ability to feel is questioned.
