“Are we seriously putting them in a World Series conversation right now? I’m sorry, I feel like that’s kind of a joke.”
I uttered those fateful words when asked about the Texas Rangers on April 3. That day, I was a guest on the Zone Coverage podcast, hosted by my friends and fellow Tufts Daily columnists Sam Dieringer and Oliver Fox. I was invited to preview the 2023 MLB season because I’m supposed to know baseball. But this particular take might have undermined that supposition.
The Rangers proved me completely and totally wrong this year. A team I thought would finish with a losing record not only won 90 games but steamrolled through the playoffs and won the franchise’s first World Series in its 63rd season.
Why was I so wrong about the Rangers? Well, there were quite a few things I didn’t count on. I made the common mistake of underestimating Marcus Semien, who has been one of the best and most consistent players in baseball over the past five years. I didn’t see Corey Seager posting a monstrous 1.013 OPS after an underwhelming 2022. I didn’t see Adolis García slugging 39 homers and racking up 107 RBIs, nor did I see Nathan Eovaldi and Jordan Montgomery carrying the load for the pitching staff after Jacob deGrom was injured. And finally, I didn’t think the Rangers would go 11–0 on the road in the postseason. I guess I shouldn’t have underestimated manager Bruce Bochy, who has now won 15 of his last 16 playoff series.
Now, for the record, I’m far from the only one who laughed at the idea of the Rangers as World Series contenders back on Opening Day. ESPN’s preseason power rankings had them at 16th, Bleacher Report put them 17th, and MLB.com had them at 19th. That being said, I think it’s important for any sportswriter to be up-front about their takes. We all love to grab the glory when we get something right, but it’s harder to own up to the predictions that don’t end so well — like calling the future World Series champions a joke at the beginning of the season. I made fun of Dave Roberts last year for guaranteeing a Dodgers World Series win during preseason, but now it’s my turn to eat crow.
I’d like to take a more positive message away from the 2023 MLB season, so I’ll just say this — the fact that the Rangers proved me so wrong goes to show why sports are so amazing. I can spend hours and hours poring over stats on Baseball-Reference.com and following farm systems, free agency and trades, and I can still arrive at completely erroneous conclusions. The unknown aspect is why we watch sports, and it’s why I love baseball, a sport that defies logic in every way, in particular. Even the most learned sportswriters (myself not included) are frequently wrong. It would be too boring if we could learn the outcome of any game by listening to some all-knowing talking head. It’s much more fun to watch the games.
