Did you ever have a car that was so temperamental you had no idea what it was going to do from day to day? Was it going to start on its own? Were you going to have to push start it? Did you accidentally flood it? Or it it going to be like most days and just not start, no matter how much you crank the engine?

You curse at it, rue the day you got it, and dream of the day you can junk it and get a new, reliable one.

That’s the 2025 Texas Rangers. They will go four or five games in a row where they cannot buy a hit, they cannot start no matter how many times you turn the key, pump the gas, and and scream at it. Then, out of the blue, they drop a game like last night’s 13-1 whipping of the Angels, where they start right up and run like a charm.

Of course, it helps when you are gifted nine walks. But the Rangers have been so utterly clueless at the plate so many times that it seems like they cannot even score on a bases-loaded walk. Somehow, the runner gets lost on the way home.

It looked like it was going to be one of those typical Rangers games when their first batter, Josh Smith, reached base on a walk, only to be erased by a double play. Then, the first Angels batter hit a routine grounder to third and Josh Smith, usually sure-handed, sailed the throw into the Pacific Ocean, putting the Angels leadoff batter at second, where he scampered home on the softest of base hits to put the Rangers down 1-0 early. That’s usually when they pull up the stakes of the tent and go home.

The Rangers got the leadoff hitter on in the second, then three straight outs, as per usual. Even more Rangeresque was the third when all three Texas batters struck out. The Angels Jose Soriano hadn’t given up a hit through three. That’s typical of the Rangers. Everything was looking like another game where the engine wasn’t going to start, then, like magic, after two leadoff walks in the fourth, followed by an out and another walk, Wyatt Langford got the offense started with a two-run double, and the hits kept coming. Along with the walks. A lot of walks. Three walks led to five runs in the fourth. Three more walks led to four runs in the fifth. And when it was all over, the Angels threw up the white flag in the seventh by inserting a position player to pitch the final three innings. He did better than the real Angels pitchers, walking nobody, but giving up two home runs.

In the end, the Rangers won 13-1. This is the game that will turn them around. This is the game Rangers fans have been waiting for. This is the game where it can be declared the offense is finally back. This is the game they finally turn the corner.

Until it’s not. Like they have done so many times in the past.

The car started today. You got to work on time. Don’t count on it tomorrow. Because, well, you’ve sat there too many times, hopeless praying it would start, knowing it won’t.

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