As of today, my beloved Texas Rangers sit at 71-73. There are only 18 games left in the regular MLB season. Usually, when the season is nearly over and your team is sitting on a losing record, you spend your time hoping that next year will be better. Luckily, the entire AL West has been struggling this season, so even though the Rangers have a losing record, they’re still in second place and only two games behind the Astros.

In other words, we’re still in this!

Baseball is a funny game. One of the things I love about it is that a team can struggle all season and still suddenly hit a burst of good luck at the end. On Saturday night I screamed for joy when the Rangers, after struggling for eight innings, managed to tie the game in the ninth. Then I screamed for a totally different reason when they allowed the Rays to score three runs and win in the tenth. But yesterday I cheered when the Rangers defeated the Rays 8-6.

The Rangers aren’t playing today. They’ve got Labor Day off, and I hope they’re preparing mentally to pull off a miracle over the next 18 games. We’ll be playing the Mariners, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, the hated Blue Jays, the Mets, and the Twins. If we can’t even beat the Mets, I’m going to be very sad.

Of course, the Astros are going to have to do their part and lose their next few games. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

Saint Rita of Cascia is the patron saint of impossible causes. Some people probably think the Rangers are an impossible cause this year. That’s the same thing they said in 2023, when the Rangers proved the doubters, the haters, and the northerners wrong by winning their first World Series. Saint Rita, advocate of the impossible, pray for us.

And go Rangers!