A Letter to Myself

Dear Future Mike,

It’s me. Well, I mean…it’s you. I mean I am you…from the past. I’m writing this on September 14th and, at the moment, there are exactly 3 weeks (20 games) left in the regular season. With just a game and a half separating the Rangers and the Astros, a massive 4-game series is about to kick off in Arlington. It feels like playoff baseball came early in 2015.

I’m not sure exactly when you’ll be receiving this. It should be whenever it is that the Rangers’s season comes to a close, though I have no idea when that might be. It could be in 3 weeks after a late fade and a fall from contention. Maybe after the Wild Card game or the LDS or the LCS. It could even, against all odds, be after a parade, in which case feel free to disregard this letter completely and go get deliriously drunk.

The point is, you know better than I do how this whole thing will turn out, and chances are it won’t be with a parade. So, while you bitterly watch other teams continue the impossible climb, remember that you were never supposed to be sitting where I’m sitting now.

Remember that Yu Darvish’s season was over in March, after a whopping 12 pitches. Remember that Derek Holland threw just one inning before spending months on the DL. That the team went 7 and 14 in April. That they clawed their way back to .500 in late June, only to lose 7 of 8 as they stumbled into the All-Star Break. That Jamilton, Gallo, Hamels, and half a dozen others weren’t part of the original plan, but have all made meaningful contributions and put the team in position to make a run at the West.

Most of all remember how you felt on September 14th. Remember sitting around all day with that lump in your gut, the same lump from so many October days in 2010 and 2011. This wasn’t supposed to happen in 2015, but it happened. It is happening. Your team is in the thick of it with 3 weeks to go and it’s fun and it’s scary and I feel like I’m going to throw up and it’s all a wonderful, unexpected gift.

I know it sucks that the season’s over, but do your best to keep everything I’ve written here in mind as you prepare for long, cold nights without baseball. The season may have ended in disappointment, like so many others, but you got more from it than you ever had a right to hope for.

And who knows? Maybe you’re reading this 6 weeks from now, sipping champagne and laughing about things that I can’t possibly know will happen.

Either way, press on, Future Mike. Press on.

Should the Rangers Bring Jamilton Back to Texas?

No.

Drink in the Moment

Winter is over. Opening Day is finally here. It’s been a long time since baseball went away and now it’s back, and the chance to see our guys in a game that counts for something has me pretty excited.

Jamiltoning II

It’s been almost a year since I drove to Houston to take in a baseball game. It was Opening Night 2013 and the Rangers were playing the Astros. I was there, somehow feeling totally alone and disconnected among tens-of-thousands of people.

Most [Vaguely Defined] Player

Miguel Cabrera has been the American League’s Most Valuable Player each of the last 2 years. While Mike Trout may have been more valuable, Cabrera is Most Valuable because he won the award.

How the Other Half Lives (archives)

This ol’ diddy was posted to SDI a while back. Decided to archive it here.

Every once in a while – usually after the Angels lose a game to the Rangers – I like to check in on Halos Heaven, Anaheim’s SB Nation affiliate.

Moore Drama

Yesterday Jackie Moore poured a can of gasoline all over Twitter and set the thing on fire. Rather than overreact on the spot, I sat back and collected my thoughts.

The One Deadly Sin

Despite a lot of manufactured outrage from fans and media, Nelson Cruz was allowed to play in Monday’s winner-take-all game against the Rays. Perhaps a bit rusty, he went 0-for-4 and managed to be the game’s final out.

Jamiltoning

As I write this the last embers of the Rangers’ 2013 season have been snuffed out. It went all the way to game 163, but they couldn’t keep it rolling.

The whole thing started 6 months ago in Houston.

Football Season

This is not an article about the 16-game NFL season. It’s about another short season that kicked off last Thursday night.