On panic and patience, where the Rangers have been, and where they go from here.

Pass the eye black.

There are things, believe it or not, that I’m not as good at as major-league baseball players. On some of them, though, I’m actually closing the gap.

At age 56, I don’t tap into panic mode, or a state of euphoria, as often as half-this-age-sports-fan-Jamey would have. There are notable exceptions, I’m happy to say — indelible, season-defining, sometimes franchise-defining or legacy-cementing moments (Game 6 in 2010, Game 6 in 2011, Games 1 and 5 in 2023, Game 7 three nights ago) — but those are the moments in which the players lose themselves, too. So I give myself a pass. For the most part, I think my sports-keel is more even than ever before, even if I know I’ll never find the equanimity that, somehow, Bruce Bochy and Corey Seager and Kyrie Irving and Mikko Rantanen emanate in low tones while delivering all that elite.

There’s another character trait, however, that I’m mindfully working on — but pinpointing a sports target, an example to follow, is a lot more elusive.

Patience is a tricky thing.

The people running the Cowboys frustrate me because they’re too patient. The temps running the Mavs ran me off because they were impossibly impatient. Where’s the acceptable medium? “Creatively aggressive” is a phrase I’ve leaned on for many years in this space, but that’s usually about being in a very good spot and looking to make it a historically great one.

But what about the other times?

I’ve been a little surprised — not stunned, but surprised nonetheless — by the volume and weight of the moves the Rangers have made over the last week, both on the field and in the dugout, a fifth of the way through the season.

Were they not patient enough with this group?

Were they too patient, for too long?