I’d been thinking all week that tonight was going to be the symbolic end of a five-month celebration — not that it will ever really end, of course, but since the standings odometer rolls back each year on this day, once and for all, the pregame festivities would operate to give us one final, prime-time opportunity to celebrate . . . and then shift gears.
I don’t know how intentional it was, but I know Chuck Morgan well enough to bet it was no accident: when the staff and player chalk-lining introductions began, Chuck kicked it off by saying: “And now, introducing the 2024 Texas Rangers.”
Not “the World Champion Texas Rangers.”
I liked it.
Bruce Bochy and Josh Sborz bringing the trophy out to home plate and Bochy then addressing the crowd was very cool. The unfurling of the banner: long awaited and hair-raising, But the moment that really got to me was the video that played right before those two things, a montage of 2023 moments and emotion interspersed with images of the trophy being polished. I got a legit lump in my throat and the eyes got cloudy. That was incredibly well done.
OK, on to the first installment of Three Up, Three Down — some quick outtakes from Texas 4, Chicago (NL) 3.