Five sleeps, and bunting.
In a few hours, Cole Hamels and the Rangers will face Corey Kluber and the Indians. It’s the Rangers’ final spring training game in Arizona this year.
Five sleeps.
Scott has made his junket to Surprise, as you’ve read about the last few days, and I made mine a few weeks earlier. Our heads are right with ball, and it’s getting to be that time, when he and I will be writing about games that count, in Arlington and in Frisco and in Hickory and more.
My eight-part prospect-ranking series over at The Athletic wraps up this Monday with the Rangers’ outfielders, an exceptionally deep group. If you’re not a subscriber, you can check out the installment on the organization’s right-handed pitchers, which I believe remains unlocked and free to anyone who wants to read it.
(If you don’t yet subscribe and are considering it, Newberg Report readers still have a week [through March 31] to take advantage of a free seven-day trial, followed by 25 percent off of the annual plan, by going here: http://theathletic.com/newbergreport.)
After Monday’s outfield prospect piece, I’ll be answering your questions in a “Batting Around” mailbag feature that we’ll do regularly all season. You can still send your questions in here — I’ll roll my answers out on Wednesday morning.
And I’ll be at The Ballpark on Thursday. It will be the next time Hamels takes the ball after today’s start in Surprise. The forecast says clear and 70. The bunting will be red, white, and blue. The teams will be tied in the standings for most of the day.
There are often few better sports days all year.
My next story, after the mailbag, will be a macro look at where things are with this franchise from a fan’s perspective. It’s a little different from anything I’ve written before. But the franchise, arguably, is in a place it hasn’t been in a long time.
Anyway, that’s probably a week-plus away, after the outfield prospect piece and the mailbag. There’s some exhibition baseball in the meantime, and some large equipment trucks and pickup trucks on the verge of being gassed up and heading this way.
And then bunting. The always-good kind.