The Texas Rangers franchise started in 1972. It went 25 years before making the playoffs. It’s highly unlikely that in that quarter century, the franchise wasn’t profitable.

There was simply no incentive to win.

After a bit of success in the late 1990s, they went ten years before they made the playoffs again. Once again, a decade of losing resulted in the franchise being sold at an astronomical profit. 

So, the current long, extended streak of losing shows no sign of letting up. What is the incentive to be good?

The Rangers are in year five of being totally irrelevant as a major league franchise. If past performance is any indication, there is no reason to expect a winning franchise in the near and not so near future. If they succeeded by going 25 years without a playoff appearance once, why can’t they do that again?

There is no indication that the Rangers have any plans of fielding a competitive team in the near future. They have so many holes and so few ways to fill those holes in their system. When they do get anyone of value, they look to trade them for prospects. They are selling hope wrapped in a never-ending cycle of mediocrity.

Perpetually rebuilding leads to never being competitive.

Texas is now twenty-one games under .500. The last time they were this far under this early into the season was 2001, their first year with A-Rod. From that point, it took nine seasons for the franchise to dig out of a hole. There’s no reason to think this franchise can get there any sooner. There simply is no talent at the major league level and not much at the minor league level.

That’s the blueprint for how this franchise went its first 25 years without making the playoffs. And it’s very likely it could very easily do that same thing again.

Without incentive to win, what’s the reason to be competitive?

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TODAY’S GAME: