The Texas Rangers finally put an end to what was the second-longest World Series title drought in Major League Baseball in 2023, qualifying for the postseason as an American League Wild Card and going on to win the championship by defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks â who had qualified as a National League Wild Card â in five games. Going back to their founding in 1961 as the Washington Senators â who moved to Texas in 1972 â the franchise had never won a title, and prior to 2023 had reached the World Series only twice.
Those appearances came in 2010 and 2011, when they lost to the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, respectively.
The Cleveland Guardians still own the longest World Series dry spell, failing to take home a title for the last 75 seasons. They last won the World Series in 1948, under their original name, Cleveland Indians. That was so long ago that their opponent, the Braves, still played in Boston.
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But the Rangers are now off the hook, and one of the most important players in helping them end the 62-year curse was outfielder Adolis Garcia, a Cuban-born player who defected from his home country while playing for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Central League. The Cardinals signed him after the 2017 season, his second in Japan, for a $2.5 million bonus.
Six years later â and two years after breaking in as a 28-year-old rookie â Garcia was named MVP of the American League Championship Series, blasting five home runs and driving in 15 as the Rangers vanquished the then-defending World Series champion Houston Astros in seven games.
But in the World Series, after three more hits including another homer, Garcia was scratched after Game Three with a strained left oblique muscle.
Now, as the Rangers look ahead to their campaign to get back to the postseason in 2025 and rebound from a mediocre 78-win season last year, Garcia is dealing with the same issue. The two-time All-Star was scratched from the lineup for Tuesday’s Cactus League matchup against the team formerly known as the Oakland Athletics â but now simply called the Athletics â after telling the Texas training staff that he felt “soreness” in the oblique muscle, according to a report by MLB.com. He was sent for an MRI exam to determine the extent of the injury.
âHeâs gonna miss a little bit of time,â Bochy told MLB.com. âWeâre hoping not much. I canât tell you until we get the results from that MRI.â
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Garcia had not reported trouble with the oblique since the 2023 World Series, but something was clearly bothering him throughout 2024, a season in which he posted career lows in home runs (25), RBIs (85), batting average (.224), on-base percentage (.284) and slugging percentage (.400). But he played 154 games, second-most in his career, so if an injury was the problem, it did not keep him off the field.
Another important Rangers player is also struggling with an oblique muscle injury, though in the case of second-year outfielder Wyatt Langford the problem was described as “mild.” Unlike Garcia whose Opening Day status is now in doubt, Langford â who had not yet appeared in a Cactus League game â is expected to make his spring 2025 debut later this week.
Langford ranked among the top college players in the country in his junior year with the Florida Gators. His eye-opening performance â 21 home runs in 64 games with a 1.282 OPS and .373/.498/.784 slash line â prompted the Rangers to draft him the with the No. 4 overall pick in 2023. After a rapid rise through the Texas minor league system, Langford placed seventh in 2024 Rookie of the Year voting after hitting 16 home runs with a .740 OPS in his debut season.
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