[darkhorse]

The Rangers were fecking awful in 2018 limping across the finish line at 67-95, the team's worst record since 1985.

1985 is the year I went from a Rangers fan to fanatic after the mid-season hiring of Bobby Valentine and promotion of a handful of promising rookies, Oddibe McDowell, Steve Buechele, Geno Petralli, and Jose Guzman with many more young talents gleaming down on the farm. The following year Pete Incaviglia, Ruben Sierra, Mike Stanley, Jerry Browne, Edwin Correa, Bobby Witt, Mitch Williams, Dale Mohorcic, and Kevin Brown made their big league debuts. Texas was the most improved team in MLB adding 25 to the win column and posting an 87-75 won-loss the club's best record in a decade. The sky seemed the limit at that point but, as things often do in Rangers land, that potential was never fulfilled, as Valentine never again won that many games in a season in the following 6 years in charge.

After being shut out of the postseason for its first 35 years of existence, Texas finally clicked in 1996 and would make the playoff 3 times in 4 seasons but would get thumped by the Yankees in all three of their appearances with one win versus 9 crushing defeats. Still, it beat being a spectator for all those soul numbing years.

Texas took another decade long hiatus from the playoffs before playing in back to back World Series in 2010 and 2011 with the latter being the most brutal example of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Between 2010 and 2016 there were a dizzying 5 postseason appearances in 7 seasons. I've never cared much for the Rangers GM, Jon Daniels, but all of that happened on his watch so some credit must be given.

2017 and 2018 saw the club slip out of relevance and the folly of the last season seemed almost certain to continue in 2019. Texas made only two changes to the everyday lineup and both were downgrades as C Robinson Chirinos (career 104 OPS+) fled to greener pastures in Houston to be replaced by ex-Angel Jeff Mathis (career OPS+ of 51) and Ian Kinsler-Falafel (81 OPS+ in his rookie campaign). At third base, Adrian Beltre retired after 8 superb seasons that made him a club legend and one of the most beloved players ever. The Rangers grabbed 33 year old Asdrubal Cabrera off the scrap heap to fill that spot. Cabrera hit .228 with a 79 OPS+ for the Phillies last year. The Rangers posted a horrific 89 OPS+ as a team in 2018 and now looked even weaker.

On the pitching side, Texas was below average in 2018 with a team ERA+ of 96. There were wholesale changes in the pitching staff with Cole Hamels fleeing for his life to the Cubs, Doug Fister retiring, Bartolo Colon released, and Martin Perez leaving as an FA to Minnesota. The bullpen saw an equally dramatic reshuffling with Jose LeClerc and Chris Martin the only notable returnees.

I was not unhappy to see skipper Jeff Banister let go at the end of the 2018 season. The new hire, Chris Woodward, doesn't seem to be getting in the way of success, so that is a positive. New hitting coach Luis Ortiz might be the hire of the offseason for all of MLB as that awful lineup has improved from a team OPS+ of 89 to a robust 107. Joey Gallo, Hunter Pence, Elvis Andrus, Shin-Soo Choo, Logan Forsythe, and Danny Santana have far exceeded reasonable expectations with Gallo playing like a superstar MVP candidate through the first 47 games of the season.

The pitching staff has posted the same 96 ERA+ to date as happened in 2018, but Mike Minor is pitching like an All-Star while leading all of MLB in WAR with a total of 3.3. Justin Verlander is 2nd at 2.6. That 0.7 gap between first and second is larger than the margin between 2nd and 10th. There've been some positive upward trends in the Rangers rickety pitching with Jose LeClerc, who got off to a horrendous start, now ringing up strikeouts at a frightening pace again and posting clean frames. Shawn Kelley is back from neck surgery and that is a very good thing. Lance Lynn has been a decent option as the #2 in the rotation. Filling those last three starting slots with adequate pitching will be a major challenge and go a long way toward determining whether this 24-23 record with wins in 7 of the last 8 games is substance or smoke.

Gallo and Minor's heroics have definitely raised the entertainment value of watching Rangers games and given a sliver of hope that Texas might become a factor in the 2019 wild card race.