From Heroes to Zeroes in 3 Steps

Over the past 50 years, the MLB postseason format has changed drastically and finishing the season with the best record no longer guarantees that a team will advance to the World Series.  The 2016 Texas Rangers understand this all too well as they saw their dreams dashed in consecutive games in the American League Division Series by, this year’s AL Wild Card winners, the Toronto Blue Jays.  Despite their American League leading win/loss record (95-67), the Rangers were riddled with flaws that were easily exposed by the stiff postseason competition.  

So why exactly did the Rangers fail to live up to their hype in the 2016 postseason?  Here are the three reasons the Rangers are at home in Arlington - and not to host an ALCS game.

Bad Pitching

The regular season numbers don’t paint a picture of just how underwhelming the Rangers pitching was this season, considering they led the American League in Wins and Saves.  However, they were also among the worst in the league in ERA (4.37) and WHIP (1.369) as a team and their relief pitchers combined for 17 blown saves.  Certainly, the Rangers have to be pleased with the production from Cole Hamels in his first full season with the team (15-5, with a 3.32 ERA and averaging a strikeout per inning), and Yu Darvish - even with his short DL stint - coming back from Tommy John surgery looked to be the same dominant strikeout pitcher.  Still, the Rangers’ weakness was evident in their ALDS matchup as their pitching staff gave up an average of 7 runs a game to the Toronto Blue Jays and failed to close out Game 3 losing in extra innings.

Trade Deadline Mishaps

Pitching was, as it always is, a hot commodity at the trade deadline and the names that ended up in Texas were not among the coveted options on the market.  To be fair, there weren’t a lot of aces up for grabs, but the Rangers could have found help.  Matt Moore was traded to the Giants and threw a no-hitter, as well as a solid playoff game for them; Ivan Nova threw 3 complete games for the Pirates and went 5-2 in eleven starts after being acquired from the Yankees; and Rich Hill just pitched six innings of two hit ball to lead the Dodgers to a 2-1 lead in the NLCS over the Cubs in Game 3.  The Rangers did improve their offense at the trade deadline acquiring Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Beltran, but the offense wasn’t necessarily the problem as the team ranked 6th in both Runs and RBIs over the first half of the season - and both Lucroy and Beltran are free agents this offseason meaning their half year rental was for naught.

Poor Management

Prince Fielder started 89 games for the Rangers in 2016, and, as good as Prince has been, that was 89 too many games.  Prince was clearly not himself all season long - slugging a measly .334 with just 8 home runs - and was eventually forced to retire for medical reasons, and yet the Rangers kept going back to him time and time again.  It’s hard to bench a guy that was an All-Star and an MVP candidate just one year ago, but the Rangers were clearly headed to the postseason and they had an heir apparent waiting in the minor league wings in Joey Gallo.  However, the Texas Rangers are stubborn and while they continue to tell teams that Joey Gallo is off limits as each trade deadline approaches, they failed to take advantage of a perfect time to get his bat into the lineup.  Of course, to their credit, the Rangers did find 90 games for their other brilliant prospect, Jurickson Profar, but that was mainly due to injuries to Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo, and Mitch Moreland as well as the defensive versatility that Profar brings to the club.

Despite winning their 95 wins, the Rangers have to be disappointed in their 2016 campaign and they’ll need to make a big splash in free agency this offseason if they don’t want to continue that trend in 2017.

The Toughest Guy in MLB?

So ... I was doing my daily MLB check-in, browsing all of my favorite websites (see links on the right panel of the blog), and I came across an amazing page! MLB.com has a sub page dedicated to tracking milestones in baseball from the seemingly small (Tyler Flower’s upcoming 500th game) to those destined for the hall of fame (Albert Pujols’ soon to pass Frank Robinson for 25th on the all-time RBI list).

MLB.com — Milestone Tracker

As you can probably imagine, if you’ve been keeping up with the blog, this information sent me down a rabbit hole reminiscing past milestones and freeing up my schedule so I can watch live as some history is made this season.  

Anyway, as I was perusing, I expected to see the names David Ortiz, Carlos Beltran, Albert Pujols, but dominating the page was a player that I believe is often forgotten. Adrian Beltre is 37 years old and finishing up his nineteenth season in MLB, and I feel like he’s rarely grabbing the headlines despite an incredible career. To be fair, as I began to write this blog post I came across a piece that Sports Illustrated did on Adrian Beltre in March of this year (SI Profile — Adrian Beltre), so I guess I’m not the only one who is making this realization. In any case, Adrian Beltre deserves far more praise than he’s received in his nineteen years in MLB.

The milestones, in case you were getting curious, that Beltre is approaching are the following: 1,600 RBIs, 500 HRs, and 3,000 Hits. Currently, there are only four players in MLB history that have accomplished that feat: Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro. Let me say that again, only FOUR people have managed to accumulate these stats since the RBI became an official stat in 1920. Now, I am getting a little ahead of myself because Beltre is certainly going to have to do some work to reach these stats (he currently has 2,915 Hits, 439 HRs, and 1,559 RBIs).

**Disclaimer: There will be plenty of videos in this blog post and I suggest you try to watch them all**

We asked 100 people to name …”People who are Durable”

Averaging 142 games/season in his nineteen year career, Beltre has garnered the praise of teammates and coaches for being one of the toughest guys in baseball.

Beltre came back from this injury suffered in Game 1 of the 2015 ALDS to bat .444 in the final three games of the series.  

In June of last year, Texas recalled Beltre from the DL following just one batting practice session and without a rehab stint sparking Jon Daniels, the GM of Texas at the time, to call him a “freak”. Beltre IS a freak and his desire to be out on the field and help his team win games is at the very heart of what makes baseball great (along with wearing high baseball socks or stirrups).

The Answer is …

Adrian Beltre. The answer is Adrian Beltre. Seriously, if you are ever in a pinch to answer a baseball related trivia question just guess Adrian Beltre and you’ll probably be right. For instance, you’d be right if you answered Adrian Beltre to any of the following five questions:

1. Name one of the five AL 3B to have seven 20-homer seasons. (Graig Nettles, Adrian Beltre, A-Rod, Eric Chavez & Gary Gaetti)

2. Which player from the Dominican Republic has played in the most career games? (Adrian Beltre)

3. Name the two active players with 400+ HRs and 100+ SBs. (Adrian Beltre, Albert Pujols)

4. Name the two active players with 300+ HRs and 4+ Gold Gloves. (Adrian Beltre, Mark Teixeira)

5. Name the four players who have hit for the cycle a record 4 times. (Bob Meusel, Babe Herman, John Reilly)

He’s ALIIIIVEEEEE!

Beltre is a statistical monster! I won’t reiterate the obvious stats above, but on top of those unfathomable benchmarks Adrian Beltre has won countless awards and be on the precipice of a few more. He’s finished in the top 15 of the MVP voting seven times, including each of the last six season; he’s won four Silver Slugger awards; he’s won four Gold Glove awards; and he’s been selected to the All-Star Game four times. The only thing that has continued to elude him for the past two decades seems to be a World Series title. Could this be the year? Texas is finally going all in this year and has surrounded Beltre with the supporting cast to possibly pull it off. On top of that, Beltre is certainly pulling his weight (Elias Sports Bureau tweeted on Wednesday, “Adrian Beltre has scored in 12 straight games — longest streak by a player 37 or older since 1944.” - the streak ended Wednesday although he has reached base in both the past two games).

And the Academy Award goes to …

Speaking of awards, Beltre is one of the funniest guys in baseball, and his constant commentary on the game should be awarded an Oscar. Here are some examples of his hysterical antics:

Beltre uses a broom to avoid a Gatorade shower and then helps the grounds crew.

Beltre, facing Pat Venditte (an ambidextrous pitcher), tries to decide which side of the plate to hit from.

Beltre’s best moments — this one is priceless!

Possibly my favorite story of Beltre’s sense of humor dates back to last year in April when Beltre broke three bats in a game against pitcher Garrett Richards — the next day, Beltre sent a $300 invoice to Richards to cover the replacements.  

Back to the milestones, it's clear Beltre will easily reach 1,600 RBIs and 3,000 Hits, but 500 HRs will be a lot tougher. Although, with two years left on his contract in Texas and at least another year after that somewhere as a DH, I think he will do whatever it takes to reach that club. I’m certainly rooting for him!