3 Texas Rangers collapses that were at least as bad as this one

Coming out of the trade deadline this year, the Texas Rangers were the talk of baseball. They led the AL West fairly comfortably, had the best offense in the league, and were the most aggressive team a the trade deadline by a wide margin as they traded for Jordan Montgomery AND Max Scherzer. It is hard to be more all-in than that.

However, instead of taking the baseball world by storm since then, the Rangers have nose-dived in the standings and not only cost themselves the lead in the division, but they are now 1.5 games out of any playoff spot at all.

There are a lot of reasons why the Rangers have collapsed this season. The bullpen has been bad, injuries have taken their toll, and the offense isn't destroying everyone like it was in the first half. It is tough enough to keep things rolling when one thing like that starts to go wrong, let alone all of them.

For long time fans of the Rangers, this should be a familiar feeling as a look in the not-too-distant past reminds us that Texas is an organization that has broken plenty of hearts with some epic choke jobs.

Here are 3 Texas Rangers collapses that were as bad or worse than their current one

Sometimes when a team collapses, it is over a long period of time and feels like a form of water torture as the losses pile up and a lead slowly disappears. Other times, the pain is more sudden and short and is more like getting sucker punched which is also not great. The Rangers had the full range of collapses....and they did them in back-to-back-to back years!

Let's take a look at some collapses by the Texas Rangers that were as bad or worse than the one they are currently in the middle of.

The 2011 World Series was brutal for the Rangers

The 2011 World Series was particularly brutal for Rangers fans. It was supposed to be a chance at redemption after Texas got dominated by Tim Lincecum and the Giants the previous year. After handling the Rays and the Tigers pretty handily in the previous playoff rounds, expectations were high that the Rangers would finally be able to close the deal in 2011.

Things got off to a decent enough start. The Cardinals were playing them tough, but the Rangers had a three games to two lead through five games. Game Six, however, was a gut punch. Texas was up by two runs in the ninth inning with two outs and Neftali Feliz on the mound and the Cardinals had a pair of runners on. Feliz managed to get ahead of David Freese and St. Louis was down to their last strike, but Freese lined the next pitch to the right field wall for a triple to tie the game.

Undeterred, the Rangers offense would put up two more runs in the top of the 10th to again push the Cardinals to the brink of elimination thanks to a two run homer from Josh Harrison. However, despite being down to their last strike AGAIN, the Cardinals would tie the game yet again. After the Rangers' lineup came up empty in the 11th, the Rangers' bullpen would cough up the game-winning homer to David Freese and force a game seven.

The rest of the story is pretty well-known. The Rangers came out flat for the deciding game and the Cardinals won Game Seven handily to complete one of the worst World Series collapses in modern memory. This one is a reminder that sometimes it is better to not get that close to winning it all, because the pain from that World Series loss lingers even today.

The 2013 Rangers' season was a cornucopia of disappointment

Finally, we come to the 2013 season and the Rangers were coming off some of the more brutal chokes seen from any team the previous two seasons. However, the 2013 season is a bit different as the Rangers were never in a particularly dominant position.

Texas did have a lead in the division late in the season yet again, but the race was tight as they had just a two game lead over Oakland at the end of August. However, a brutal stretch in September saw that lead evaporate and Oakland take a commanding lead in the division and the Rangers' hopes turned to the wild card race.

However, the Rangers were SO bad in September that they ended up having to play a tiebreaking game 163 against the Rays to even have a shot at the last wild card spot. Such games had been exceedingly rare in baseball history and Texas went down in the history books in the worst way as they lost that game 5-2 and the Rangers failed to make it to the playoffs for the first time in years. The Rays would end up winning the one game wild card playoff before dropping to Red Sox in the ALDS.

There are some similarities to the 2023 season here as well as the Rangers' 2013 season also died a slow and painful death. Time will tell how closely the seasons will compare as there is still a lot of baseball left to be played this season. One thing is certain, though: it is clear that Rangers fans know better than most the pain of watching their team fold late in the season.

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