The thing I didn’t want to think.

Actually, no: the thing that hadn’t really occurred to me.

I had a completely unfamiliar thought Tuesday night. It was the bottom of the sixth, with the Rangers trailing the Yankees by a run. Bedeviled by Cam Schlittler through five, Texas had a really good first five pitches of the frame: an ambushed first-pitch single by Brandon Nimmo and a four-pitch Josh Jung walk. The tying and go-ahead runs were on base with no outs, and Corey Seager was up.

The irritating thought:

I didn’t want Corey Seager up.

He’s unquestionably the Rangers’ best hitter. His career OPS is .868, and coming into the season it was higher with Texas than it had been with the Dodgers. At Globe Life Field, it’s .923. He’s been an All-Star in three of his four Rangers seasons, an AL MVP candidate twice, a World Series MVP once. Twice, actually, if you widen the lens.

He’d obliterated a double early in the game, shooting it 109.3 mph inside the right field line.

I didn’t want Corey Seager up.

Uncomfortable with the intrusive, unwelcome flash of doubt, I tried shaking it.

Couldn’t.

Mostly because it stirred up another unfamiliar, unwelcome, sinking jolt that had drilled me up and in over the last week or so.