The Texas Rangers have never won a World Series.
They have, however, been to the World Series two years in a row.
The first time they were vanquished by the Giants’ pitching rotation. The second time they were vanquished by their inability to get the World Series-winning out…twice.
Coming into this season, expectations were high. Very high. So high that “World Series or Bust” is probably an apt description of the general feeling here in Metroplex where I live.
And the Rangers started off the season well. So well, in fact, that they still lead the AL West by 3 games even after two months of pretty uneven play.
So, naturally, GM Jon Daniels felt he needed to do something at the trade deadline to give the club a jolt.
This hasn’t looked like a World Series-ready team much lately, but with a World Series title as a reasonable expectation for a club that’s lost two of them in a row, now is the time for pushing all chips to the middle of the table.
And so Jon Daniels decided to fortify the Rangers.
He decided to do whatever it would take to give his club the best possible shot to finally win the World Series.
So he traded for…two Chicago Cubs?
Allow me to speak on behalf of White Sox fans everywhere when I say:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Just let the irony sink in:
In a “World Series or Bust” season, the Rangers’ trade deadline solution was two bring in two long-time members of the franchise with the most notorious championship drought in the history of sports.
Hey, it might end up working. Dempster is a good pitcher, Soto was once a rising star at catcher, and the Rangers didn’t have to part with any of their top prospects, so the price was good. If I was Rangers fan, I’d pretty damn pumped at these two deals actually.
But that doesn’t make it any less ironic.
Desperate to win a World Series? Bring in some Cubs! Works every time.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to pore over the 1998 AL All Star roster and try to guess who Ken Williams was involved in last minute talks with as a potential bench bat for the stretch run…
About Jerod Morris
