I have never experienced anything like I experienced in Game 6 of last year’s World Series. Never have I felt so much joy and pain and joy and pain in such a short span as I did on October 27, 2011.
In the days after I was haunted by images of Nelson Cruz’s desperate leap at the last moment, of the ball falling just a few too many inches from his outstretched glove, of David Freese standing on third base and the score tied in the bottom of the 9th in St. Louis. I played it in my mind over and over and over and over and always with the same result.
People will tell you that it’s just a game and most of the time they’re right. It is just a game, until you become so wrapped up in a single game that you know you’ll live or die by the result. Game 6 was that way as I watched the Rangers climb to the top of the mountain before being pushed off twice in two innings.
Game 7 turned out to be a formality, as the Cardinals claimed their 11th championship and left the Rangers (and their fans) desperately craving their 1st.
For almost a month I pretended that there was no such thing as baseball. My RSS feed was stripped of anything related to the Rangers. I avoided major sports networks and stopped talking to my friends about the game I love. All of this to come to terms with my heartbreak.
On November 21st, the Rangers signed Joe Nathan, a 4-time All-Star closer. Bringing in Nathan facilitated moving Neftali Feliz to the rotation, something that I’ve been looking forward to since Feliz debuted in 2009.
We started to wonder if Texas would re-sign C.J. Wilson. We watched the club bid on and sign Japanese phenom Yu Darvish. We speculated about Prince Fielder and allowed ourselves to wonder what the lineup might look like with him in it.
Before long I was just as excited and hopeful as ever.
In 2012 we’re looking at one of the most complete Rangers clubs to ever enter a season. Top to bottom the starting lineup should be considered one of the best in the game. We’re also looking at a pitching staff with a veteran presence (Nathan and Colby Lewis) guiding the young talent (Feliz and Alexi Ogando, Darvish and Derek Holland) to the next level.
The scars from Game 6 will probably never heal completely, but there is still a lot to look forward to. The Rangers are a model organization stacked with talent and they’re far from finished.
Press on, Rangers fans.