Three Current Pursuits - Part III - Texas Rangers baseball

***EDIT***** Girls, if you have zero interest in reading about Rangers baseball, scroll down to see what we got at our first wedding shower yesterday - much more interesting. (-: Boys, read on. *****

The most light-hearted of my new pursuits is renewing my interest in Texas Rangers baseball. My status as a fan has been mostly dormant since about 1993 (about the same time Nolan Ryan retired). As a whole, I enjoy live baseball but am not that fond of TV baseball. It's a stretch to say I have even a passing interest in MLB, but there's no time like the present to change that.

It's putting it mildly to say that the Rangers have historically been a poorly-run franchise. Despite having many major stars grace the field for them in Arlington, they are the only MLB franchise to have never won a playoff series (dating back to 1961), and that includes all the new franchises that somehow were able to do in less than ten years what the Rangers have been unable to do in four decades.

However, they have new leadership that is focused on building the franchise from the farm system up, and that gives me reason for optimism--at least enough to get started again. They have been in and out of first place so far this season, but I don't expect that to last as it seems to be somewhat of a fluke. I will be happy if they finish with at least 81 wins in their 162 games.

~Mark