Texas Rangers

Months before Stephen Strasburg's name (and elbow) was mentioned in the same sentence as Tommy John, the hype surrounding him and the anticipation of his arrival into Major League Baseball rivaled fans consumption of Fernandomania in the 1980s.

It isn't like they are baseball neophytes. They aren't a bunch of nobodies with no history. The baseball world at large may look at the Texas Rangers as a glorified Triple A team, never a threat, no great players, sub-par management.

And why not? After all, it did take the Rangers 38 years (49 if you count the time the franchise spent in Washington, DC) to win a postseason series.

The Texas Rangers and their fans, the long-time ones at least, spent the night celebrating the team's division series win for the first time in franchise history.

With the win and straight Cliff Lee dominance, the Rangers pushed the Dallas Cowboys to page two for the first time in, well, a long time.

The Texas Rangers will face the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

Yes, you read that correctly, the Texas Rangers! One of just two teams coming into the season to never win a postseason series are now four tough wins away from a World Series birth.

Those wins will definitely be tough to come by, as they face off against the reigning World Series champs in the Yankees.

That is not to say the Yankees don't have question marks because they certainly do. They still have to decide whether or not to pitch the often erratic, sometimes brilliant A.J. Burnett.

There will be joy in Texas, for mighty Ian Kinsler has hit a homerun.

The Texas Rangers, facing elimination in game five, and yet another first round postseason exit, were able to finally muster up some magic for a franchise that has not had much to get excited about. In 1996, 1998, and 1999 the Texas Rangers won the AL West, but each time they would fall to the Yankees in the ALDS, winning only one game in three postseason appearances.

Nearly 50 years of baseball. The last 39 of those years in Arlington. One of only three teams to have never been to the World Series. The Texas Rangers were not exactly a team with a rich tradition. However, when B.J. Upton popped out to left center to end the ninth inning, Texas fans finally had reason to celebrate.

The American League Division Series has now concluded, and the New York Yankees are set to face the Texas Rangers in the ALCS. While the Yankees had a relatively easy time of advancing by sweeping the Minnesota Twins, the Tampa Bay Rays took the Rangers to the limit, making it a five game series.

The Texas Rangers held what looked like a typical clubhouse celebration after winning the ALDS on Tuesday night in St. Petersburg. However, if you watched closely, the Rangers’ first postseason series victory in franchise history had one major difference during the locker room scene on TV: they were partying with pop instead of champagne and beer.

In two days, the Rangers had over 100,000 total fans flooded into the Ballpark in Arlington hoping to see the Rangers make history. Texas had a chance to win their first home playoff game in franchise history, thus winning their first playoff series in club history.

All 100,000 of those fans left the ballpark disappointed after watching their Rangers squander away a 2-0 series lead. 

In a baseball season frequently dubbed "the year of the pitcher" because of the sudden proliferation of dominant mound performances seemingly helping to shut the door on Major League Baseball's notorious "steroid era," we are being treated to an encore presentation in the 2010 postseason.