“Don’t leave home without it!”
The Cleveland Indians (yeah, I said it) are finally in the race for the pennant and, as a result, they get to star in their very own credit card commercial. The main reason that I love this scene is because, even when appearing in a commercial, each member of the the team still has their own personality and style.
From Major League, one of the greatest baseball films ever made:
Last night, I was tying to not scream in frustration. Tonight, I’m cheering!
After last night’s humiliating loss, I had to share our victory today. It wasn’t necessarily a pretty victory. The Astros never should have gotten within three runs of tying up the game. But it’s a victory all the same. It’s a win and I’m happy!
Go Rangers go!
I haven’t really sad much about the Rangers this season because they’ve really been struggling and I haven’t had much happy news to report. Right now, everyone is down on the team’s prospects, even though we haven’t even played the All-Star Game yet. There’s a lot of baseball left to play and you never know when a team might turn their fortunes around. That’s one of the things that I love about this game. A team can always make a comeback and I’ve seen the Rangers make plenty.
Still, when I see something like this:
Oh, Rangers! Why must you break my heart?
I still have faith in my team. I always have faith in them. That’s why they’re my team, no matter how many times they left me screaming into a pillow and hoping no one gets the wrong idea. Rangers, I love you! Even when you lose to the Astros!
Please don’t do it again.
Last night, I watched Major League baseball’s Opening Night on Netflix.
As a baseball fan, streaming the first game of the major league season on only one service didn’t really sit well with me but, with the way things are going, everything is eventually going to be exclusively on streaming and Disney, Prime, and Netflix will probably all merge to become one gigantic, extremely expensive streaming service. I did feel bad for the baseball fans who might not have or even want Netflix and who didn’t want to have to get it for just one night. The Home Run Derby and the Field of Dreams Game are going to be Netflix exclusives as well.
The game was blow-out. The Yankees won 7-0 and, after the second inning, it was pretty clear who was going to win the game. The Giants didn’t have it last night but you should never try to predict an entire baseball season based on just one game. Take it from someone who has spent many seasons getting way too excited just because the Rangers won their first few games. Baseball isn’t like football. In football, you only have to survive a handful of games. Baseball requires endurance, commitment, and patience.
I liked Netflix’s production of the game, even the parts that were a little corny. The Giants jumping over a trolley to run out onto the field? The Yankees surrounded by taxis as they were introduced to the crowd? It’s baseball. It’s the American pastime. It’s okay if it’s silly sometimes.
So far, seven runs have been scored in the regular 2026 baseball season and they were all scored by Yankees. That’s going to change later today, though.
Go Rangers!
Today’s scene is just in time for opening day! From 1989’s Major League, this is the way every baseball game should end. Tom Berenger wins the game not with a home run but with a bunt. That’s what baseball is all about.
Only more day to go until opening day!
I’m so excited that I’m going to share one of my favorite moments as a Rangers fan, the day that Rougned Odor punched out Jose Bautista. This happened nearly 10 years ago and I still remember it like yesterday. Watch Bautista’s glasses fly! It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
In Dallas, that moment was preserved in a mural. Some people didn’t like this mural but baseball fans understood.
by Juan Velasquez
Here’s hoping for more classic baseball moments this season!
Go Rangers!
by Chester Bloom
It’s almost opening day!
It’s almost time!
The regular baseball season is almost here!
Spring Training is nearly over. Opening Day is March 26th. That’s just two more days! Some people have the Super Bowl. Some people have the Oscars. I’ve got baseball and, even more importantly, I’ve got the Rangers Sometimes, the Rangers break my heart. Not every season has been great. But I can still remember how happy I was when they won their first World Series in 2023. No one gave them much of a chance but the Rangers proved all the doubters wrong. I hope they’ll do it again this year.
Whichever team you cheer for, I hope they bring you a lot of happiness over the upcoming months.
Go Rangers!
Play ball!
Who Killed The Montreal Expos? is a documentary about the first major league baseball franchise to be located outside of the United States. From 1969 to 2004, the Expos played in Montreal, Canada. The documentary shows how the Expos became a source of pride for the people of Montreal and how it also became a source of one of their greatest heartbreaks when, after years of financial mismanagement, it relocated and became the Washington Nationals.
I guess one reason why I could relate to this documentary was because, before they got the Nationals, Washington had two baseball teams known as the Senators. The first Senators moved to Milwaukee in 1961 and became the Twins. The second team to be known as the Senators relocated in 1971 and became my team, the Texas Rangers. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to believe that my beloved Rangers once had a different name and played for a different city. I can’t imagine how much it would hurt if the Rangers ever announced that they were leaving Texas. But, as the Expos showed in 2004 and as the Chicago Bears are showing right now, even the most storied of franchises can relocate.
Who Killed The Montreal Expos? offers a lot of theories of what led to Montreal’s team leaving from Washington D.C. A players strike in 1994 ended a season that could have taken the Expos to the World Series. In 1995, several bad trades led to the Expos going from being the best team in the league to the worst. The team was in need of a new stadium but could never seem to raise the funds to build one. The documentary puts most of the blame on the second-to-last owner, an American who a lot of people think was planning to move the team all along. In the end, it doesn’t seem like there was just one reason for the Expos leaving Montreal. It was a perfect storm of hardships and mistakes and, unfortunately, it was the baseball fans of Montreal who suffered.
I don’t know who’s to blame. I just know it hurts when your team leaves. Montreal, I hope your Expos return soon! And I pray my Rangers never leave Texas.
As you all know, I don’t really do sports but I just jumped out of my chair and started cheering when I saw Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse defeat the Italian team in the Winter Olympic semi-finals for mixed doubles curling.
The other night, during the Super Bowl, I was talking to some friends about how nothing seems to really unite people anymore. Even the Super Bowl entertainment divided people this year. The once legendary Super Bowl commercials have become bland and boring because there really aren’t universally beloved celebrities any more. It used to be exciting seeing your favorite actor shilling for junk food or car insurance. Now, when an actor shows up in a commercial, we immediately remember all the stupid things they said during the previous election cycle. (The Budweiser commercial was an exception. One reason why everyone loved that commercial with the horse and the eagle is because we all know that neither one of them is going to start spouting off about politics on Twitter.)
Even at the Winter Olympics, the same press that will never ask Eileen Gu about the Chinese government sentencing Jimmy Lai to life imprisonment is all too eager to demand that American athletes denounce their country. Some people say that that goal of the media is to divide us. Personally, I think the goal of the media is to make money and the easiest way to do that is to generate controversy which will then generate the clicks that are needed to survive. Getting people angry is less a subversive plot and more a business model.
But as I watched Korey and Cory — two people from Minnesota who Duluth, Minnesota — come from behind to defeat the very strong Italian team, I felt more optimistic than I have in a long time. Beyond the fact that Cory is a lab technician and Korey is a realtor, I don’t know much about who Korey and Cory are when they’re not on the ice and quite frankly, I don’t need to know. I don’t need to know how they vote. I don’t need to know how they feel about this issue or that. I don’t need to know what movies they watched or what music they listen to or anything else. All I need to know is that they’re good at curling and they’re representing America in Italy and doing a great job of it. Whenever the camera switched to the watch parties in Duluth or to Korey’s family in the stands, I felt very proud of both them and my country.
As individuals, we may not always agree on everything but, as Americans, we can all cheer for Korey and Cory and, in doing so, we can be reminded that we’re not really as divided as the media’s business model and social media’s algorithms would like us to believe. Tomorrow, they go for the gold against Sweden. I’ll be watching.
Through the Shattered Lens 