Starting in 2016 I started watching baseball again. I had taken a nice 20 years hiatus. At the time I remember thinking "Why in the &^@#* have I NOT been watching baseball all this time?" Since I couldn't come up with a decent answer, I decided to watch every Ranger game I could. The first game I watched during my baseball renaissance was the game on May 15, 2016 between the Rangers and the Blue Jays. That is the game when Rougned Odor punched José Bautista in the face. Here is the way the incident is described on Wikipedia...
"During the May 15, 2016, game against the Toronto Blue Jays, there were two benches-clearing incidents. Following a contentious meeting in the ALDS the previous season, many people thought the Rangers would target Jose Bautista for his controversial bat flip in the ALDS. However, the first six games of the season between the clubs were played without incident. Finally, in the last regular season game between the clubs, Rangers reliever Matt Bush hit Bautista in the ribs with a fastball. On the ensuing play, Bautista slid hard into Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor. Odor, taking exception, pushed Bautista, then proceeded to punch Bautista squarely in the face. This fight caused both benches and bullpens to clear. Bautista, Odor, Steve Buechele, and Josh Donaldson were ejected after the brawl. Later in the game, Blue Jays pitcher Jesse Chavez hit Prince Fielder with a pitch causing the benches to clear again, although this time no punches were thrown. Chavez and DeMarlo Hale were ejected following this incident. Odor would serve a seven game suspension for his actions. Toronto manager John Gibbons and Chavez would serve three games suspensions while Bautista and Elvis Andrus served one game suspensions."
Odor lands a beauty!
It was a lively reintroduction. I was hooked. My old team had spunk. And surprisingly, they were first in their division. So they eventually won the AL West in 2016 with a record of 95-67. Then they lost in the playoffs. Oh well.
2017 was a tough year. They didn't do too well. They finished tied for 3rd with a record of 78-84 [tied with the Mariners]. There were 16 blown saves. So we should have finished 94-68. But we didn't and that's that.
2018 - So now here we are 78 games in (as of this writing) and we are in LAST PLACE in our division. Darn!! We are at 34-44. But we currently have a 7 game win streak going (we just whipped the Twins today 9-4)
I don't know what this season holds, but we shall see. I will update the blog as we go.
Bottom line... I AM A HUGE BASEBALL FANATIC!!!! Go Rangers!!!!!
Update: The 2017 season. We finished 4th with a record of 78–84. It was the last season for Carlos "Gomi" Gomez, Mike Napoli, Yu Darvish, and Jonathan Lucroy. We acquired Willie Calhoun. Beltre hit his 3,000th hit.
Update #2: 10/26/18 - The rangers finished the season with a poor 67-95 record. Yuck! It was so bad, Rangers manager Jeff Banister lost his job. Oh well. Maybe next year!!!
Update #3: 9/27/19 - We have 3 more games to go and our season is over. It was a good season. We actually reached .500 at one point. Surprising as we are in a rebuilding year.
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