Texas Rangers Fans High Expectations

Rangers Celebrate 2011 World Series Clinch – Courtesy of MSN FOX Sports

Every major sports team in the DFW area has won a world championship in their respective sport except for one. The Cowboys have multiple, we all remember Dirk leading the Mavericks to one, and Mike Modano and the Stars won a Stanley Cup in the nineties. So that leaves the Texas Rangers, a team that have not been able to get the job done as of yet. But we all know that they have been and will continue to be closer than ever. We all remember the heartbreak of the 2011 World Series, a Series that the Texas Rangers were favored to win and should have won but didn’t. That is behind us now, it is time to look forward. The Texas Rangers have built a winning organization, not just a winning team. They are very deep in the minor league system, they have put together teams at the major league level that have competed for the post season four years in a row now, and they have the biggest fan base that the team has arguably ever had. And what do those fans expect? Championships, of course.  If you would have asked a Texas Rangers fan in the 1980’s what they expected, they would have told you not much. They loved their team because it was their team, not because they expected them to win. Then, in the 1990’s the Texas Rangers built a team that could out hit anyone in the league, and at the end of that decade the Texas Rangers went to the post season three times, but each time they were bounced by the New York Yankees. Then they fell on bad times. They had seven plus years of obscurity, ending in the team being bankrupt and Nolan Ryan and a group of investors buying the team. That same year (2010) the Texas Rangers franchised reached a new high by 1) wining their first playoff series 2) defeating the New York Yankees for the first time in the post season 3) making it to the World Series.The following season was even better, as mentioned above. In 2012 and 2013, the Texas Rangers took a small step back, but were still very competitive. But Texas Rangers fans expected more, and we saw both season as overall failures because the Rangers didn’t reach the Series. Yes, the Texas Rangers have raised the expectations of their fan base, and in line with that they have expanded their fan base as well. We now expect the Rangers will be in the hunt for a World Championship every season, unlike the Mavericks, Cowboys and for many years the Stars, although they seem to be rebuilding pretty well at the moment too. We not only hope the Rangers will be in the discussion every year, we now expect it. We expect the team to be one of the top American League teams year in and year out, and so far they have been. We expect them to compete in the post season, and they have in the past, and we get disappointed when they get bumped early instead of just being happy they made it to a play in-game or the Wild Card game. The real point is that I am okay with that. I am happy that after many years of knowing the season was over for the Rangers in August, I will take the heartbreak of being knocked early for the hope that there is real chance of a Championship in the Rangers near future. So Rangers, please continue to raise our expectations every season, all we can promise is we will continue to watch and continue to cheer on our favorite team.