Through six innings tonight, the Rangers had zero hits. They had drawn zero walks against Oakland starter Kendall Graveman. The Rangers hadn't reached via an error or dropped strike three. The Rangers were, in fact, facing the possibility of having the A's toss a Perfect Game at them on the night they could clinch their back-to-back American League West title.
That's so 2016 Rangers. You know what else is 2016 Rangers? Carlos Gomez got the first hit for the Rangers to lead off the 7th even though he was an Astros a little over a month ago. As he got that hit, his old teammates were watching the Angels score six runs in the top of the 9th to eliminate them from division contention.
Ian Desmond followed Gomez with a single even though he wasn't a Ranger until about a week before Spring Training. He also wasn't a center fielder. Now he's an All-Star center fielder.
The Rangers scored the first run of the game on a Carlos Beltran groundout. Beltran wasn't a Ranger until August 1. Now he's responsible for the game-winning RBI of one of the best games in franchise history.
But then there's Adrian Beltre. Adrian Beltre is also so 2016 Rangers. Adrian Beltre is everything. Beltre hit his 31st home run to really break the game open as he, Elvis Andrus, Colby Lewis, Yu Darvish, Jonathan Lucroy, Hanser Alberto, Jayce Tingler, and this entire eclectic group of luck-fueled weirdos are sipping champagne (or, who are we kidding, wiping cheap beer from their eyes) right now.
As cool as it always is and always will be to see the Rangers clinch the division, it might not even be the most important thing that happened tonight. Perhaps the most important thing was Cole Hamels got back on track. Hamels went seven innings, allowed zero runs on six hits and struck out seven to just two walks.
For the second consecutive season, Cole Hamels was on the mound shoving for the Rangers as they clinched the AL West crown. For the second consecutive season, Hamels will pitch in October for the Rangers.
For just the seventh time, the Rangers are American League West champions!
Player of the Game: It's tempting to go with Hamels as looked like the Hamels of old tonight but it's gotta be Adrian Beltre who hit the division-clinching dong and made the spectacular look routine in the field as he has done forever. It fills me with pride knowing that Adrian Beltre is celebrating a return trip to the postseason right now.
Up Next: The hangover Rangers will send Yu Darvish to the mound against RHP Raul Alcantara for a 3:05 pm CT start time. Let's get Joey Gallo in the lineup, whataya say? :)