San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Team takes field as champs for first time
SURPRISE, Ariz. — Friday morning dawned just like all the others over the last 10 days in the desert. It was crisp, clear and with hot air balloons rising on the horizon. The lone difference: It was the first morning on which the Texas Rangers would play a game as defending world champions.
Or as a T-shirt in the Rangers’ FanShop at Surprise Stadium stated: “First Swing to Repeat Starts Here.” A silhouette of a cactus cut through the saying. Yours for only: $37.49. Baseball is back, baby. The merch never left.
It’s a good time to be a Rangers fan. They will celebrate all spring and, at the very least, early into the season. The party goes on.
On the concourse Friday, Phil Schirmer of Hot Springs, Ark., walked around in his custom Nike AirForce 1s, emblazoned with a sketch of Adolis García on one side and “Astro Eliminator” on the other. Fans waited patiently to take photos in front of the World Series championship logo now affixed to a decorative brick wall.
A few minutes before 1 p.m., Cal Kost of Pantego, a Rangers usher for the last 30 years and a fan for longer, raised a Rangers world champions banner for the very first time. He got almost weepy, calling the Rangers his “family.” They have treated Kost, 85, and his late wife, Shirley “The Cookie Lady” Kost, as such.
But enough feel-good stuff. There are real baseball issues to sort out like the depth of the rotation and half the bullpen slots. Still no sign of Jordan Montgomery by the way, unless he’s picked up a side gig as Outback Steakhouse’s Bloomin’ Onion Man, who threw out the first pitch ahead of a 5-4 Rangers win over Kansas City. Maybe Bloomie can get in the mix for the fifth starter’s job.
The Rangers had more runs than hits (four), which either says something about their offensive efficiency or the fact that it was a Feb. 23 scrimmage. Not that any of the 5,850 in attendance, a bump of 1,000 over last year’s gusty, cool opener, minded.
It is time to start to answer the important questions of spring training. Such as: Could hitting prized prospects Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford 2-3 in the batting order be a real possibility and not just a first-day-of-spring whim?
And: What’s up with the pants?
On the second, this was a real, honest-to-goodness question asked of manager Bruce Bochy on Friday morning.
We should know. We asked it. Wasn’t really sure how to broach the biggest uproar of spring training so far, new uniform pants designed by Nike and manufactured by either Fanatics or Frederick’s of Hollywood. We’re not sure which. They’re a bit flimsy or filmy.
Maybe even see-through. A number of pictures from team photo days over the last week have surfaced on the internet in which — gasp! — you can see the jersey tucked into the pants. In some cases, even more was visible.
Players griped about tiny letters on the uniforms, clingy cuffs on the shirts and the pants. Fans griped they looked cheap. Tony Clark, head of the Major League Baseball Players Association, griped. This is all being very seriously investigated now by MLB’s Slacks Czar Brick Tamland. On X, the website formerly known as Twitter, baseball writer Joe Sheehan summed it up best.
“The NFL: Taylor Swift” he wrote. “MLB: Tailor whiffed.”
In case you aren’t sure, this is all beyond ridiculousness. But the baseball world doesn’t have the World Baseball Classic or a lockout to lose its mind over. So instead, you’ve been extended an invitation to the pants party.
Quite frankly, it hasn’t been that big a deal at the Rangers camp. When you are the reigning world champs, guess you aren’t bothered by such stuff.
“I know they are looking at it,” Bochy said to the pants question, stifling a laugh at the absurdity of the whole thing. “So, let’s see where they end up.”
Now, back to Carter-Langford. They are likely part of the present but represent the core of the future. They will hit in the top third of the order. Eventually. But maybe not right now, not when Marcus Semien and Corey Seager are in their prime.
“I think it should excite everybody,” Bochy said. “They are tremendously talented. To get a firsthand look at them back to back and see the future of the Texas Rangers is pretty cool for me, too.”
Carter and Langford combined to go 0-for-4 on Friday with a sacrifice fly (by Carter), a walk (by Langford) and a stolen base (by Carter). Even on a meaningless day, it’s clear they will contribute to this team.
“It was great,” Langford said. “It was a beautiful day, getting to play baseball again. I had three pretty good at-bats. I’m happy with what I accomplished.”
Which was nothing and everything. The game didn’t matter. It was simply about getting out there and facing major league pitching in a jersey with “TEXAS” across the front.
The fit didn’t matter.