You wouldn't think it possible that the inevitable passing over into the realm of the actual could infuse us with such unbridled joy, but hey, it did. We knew going into the day that the division was over, and that it was merely a matter of when they clinched, rather than if; most of us have been in this auto-pilot mode for weeks, if not several months. And yet no matter how much logic might dictate that our reaction should have been tempered as a function of that long-running certainty, and no matter how often you envisioned the celebration going down in your head, it was still an amazing sequence, from Nelson Cruz clutching the final out to the jubilant on-field convergence to the champagne showers. I soaked up every second of it. You think you're prepared for it, and it turns out you're not, but who really gives a damn, right?
Somebody recently reminded me of these two lists of bullet points I hammered out on Opening Day, one chronicling the best-case scenario for the Rangers (93-94 wins) and the other highlighting what would have gone wrong in a worst-case scenario (77-78 wins). I find it amusing that nearly as many events under the worst-case scenario heading ended up coming true as those under the best-case scenario heading, and yet the Rangers are going to finish in far closer vicinity to the latter than the former, likely bumping their win total up to 89-90 wins in this final week of the season. The Rangers, in spite of everything that went awry at the top of their Opening Day starting rotation and catcher and first base, and their health-related problems, and their year-long ownership quagmire, have clinched their division earlier than any of the other three playoff teams in franchise history.
Granted, a portion of this year's success has been a function of things beyond the Rangers' purview (flimsy intradivision competition and a record-friendly interleague schedule spring to mind), but I think about the ride that this team has taken us on this year, and then I think back to all of the irrelevant seasons we had to endure to get to this point, and all of the irrelevant players that we spent so much time discussing -- guys like Sammy Sosa, Brad Wilkerson, Richard Hidalgo, Kason Gabbard ... you get my point. And I grin a little inside, because as much as that 11-year interval between playoff appearances perpetually drained us and (particularly up through 2006) constantly challenged our faith in the organization's ability to correctly evaluate talent, there's no denying that it made yesterday's accomplishment all that much sweeter.
For reasons which I doubt can ever fully be explained, I've chosen to write about this team through four entire seasons, and I've been fortunate in that each of those seasons has been a little more enjoyable than the one that immediately preceded it. I don't know what I'll do with myself if/when that trend reverses, but I do know that it's been a hell of a ride, and that it's been a privilege to share it with you all.
Original Story:
http://www.bbtia.com/home/2010/9/26/p...
