Opening Day

The next baseball season is as fresh and pristine as newly-chalked foul lines. Opening Day is here again, finally.

The next baseball season is as fresh and pristine as newly-chalked foul lines.

Opening Day is here again, finally.

Thirty teams are vying for immortality. And for the first time, my favorite team, the Rangers, doesn't have to dream about the impossible. They already lived it.

Today, the team is unveiling its first championship banner.

No team has repeated as World Series champions since the 1998-2000 Yankees. It's the longest stretch without a back-to-back champ in the game's history.

I don't know what's in store for the Rangers, whether they're a 75-win underperformer or 95-win powerhouse. I don't know whether they'll return to the World Series or fall short of the postseason. The pitching rotation resembles a typical Rangers staff of yesteryear — a few key arms short, at least until Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom can return. But the lineup can mash, and the rookies are exciting, and for the first time, there's a sense of true contentment in the Metroplex.

As the Rangers started to show the makings of a winning team over the past few seasons by adding free agents like Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, bringing on manager Bruce Bochy, and drafting future stars like Wyatt Langford, I had the feeling that 2024 would be the Rangers' season.

I figured they would still be a few pieces short in 2023.

But then they snuck into the playoffs and went and took it.

Maybe 2024 will still be the year. Or maybe it will be the year for another team.

No matter how it goes, I'm just thankful that Opening Day is here again.