As much as the Texas Rangers did their best to stay in the conversation for an American League postseason spot, the conversation is now over. On Tuesday night at Globe Life Field, the Rangers lost to the Minnesota Twins 4-1.
Adding insult to injury, the Cleveland Guardians battled back against Detroit pitcher Tarik Skubal and defeated the Tigers 5-2. All that added up to sending the Rangers home after Game No. 162 happens.
Texas lost its eighth straight game on Tuesday night. That's not going to be a winning recipe as other teams either keep on winning or some just keep on losing. The Rangers fell into that latter category.
Yes, they had injuries throughout the season. Not as many as their American League West Division counterparts the Houston Astros, who were losing late in Sacramento against the Athletics. The Rangers had a group of young players that fans fell in love watching do their best. They evened earned a nickname of the "Little Rascals."
Rascals they were, performing way above what they might have been expected to do.
After the loss, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy had a simple message for his team: Play hard.
"Play hard," Bochy told Rangers reporter Kennedi Landry for MLB.com. "That's all I'm looking for. In a time like this, it reveals character. It’s up to us to go out there and continue to play hard. We’ve got some games left, and pitchers trying to win ballgames.
"These guys are trying to win games," Bochy said. "Just play for each other, play as hard as you can out there and see what happens.”
"We want to come out and try and win every single day," outfielder Wyatt Langford said. "Play hard. We're all lucky enough to be out here and to be in the Major Leagues. We're still going to go there and give it our all."
Langford ended up leaving Tuesday night's game with tightness in his left side. He never returned and, well, neither did the Rangers from being down to the Twins.
It's probably a bittersweet ending to a season that had a lot of promise. There are five games left in the season for Texas. Maybe they can find a way to not finish the season on a losing streak. Maybe they also can give Rangers fans one more reason to cheer them on before making plans to hit Cancun or some other vacation spot for a bit.