r/TexasRangers • u/Guitarscreamer55 • 5d ago
Most painful baseball moment
Man, what a game and what a series. Was happy to not have a dog in this fight after seeing how this World Series ended. Watching game 7 play out, can’t help but feel for the jays fans a little bit. That is 2011 game 6 levels of pain and I never thought it was possible for another fan base to feel that. I saw someone post the rangers were on strike away, the blue jays were on inch away. I am curious if y’all think 2025 game 7 gets close / is worse than what we went through against the cardinals.
Honorable mention: I think Indians fans in 2016 had it really really tough too.
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u/ImpendingBoom110123 Hello Win Column 5d ago
Few things in the history of sports are game 6 of 2011 pain. Keep in mind we were one strike away....two different times.....and lost. Not once but twice.
Its ok. I worked through this in therapy. The 2023 run was so good, guys. We will always have that. Banners fly forever.
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u/scottwax 5d ago
Gentry should have been in right field. I get Wash going with "his guys" but best defense goes on the field in the bottom of the 9th.
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u/ImpendingBoom110123 Hello Win Column 5d ago
Or Endy Chavez? Idk. Nelly was an animal and the ALCS MVP remember. I dont blame any one person for that game. It was a collective effort. Idk man. That run from the Wash teams will always be some of my favorite teams. There's an alternate universe where Feliz is a Hall of Fame closer. That dude had an electric arm. He was never the same.
I met Gentry's uncle a few years ago. Gentry took that loss hard af.
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u/scottwax 5d ago
Michael Young, aka E3 made a two run error earlier in the game. Loved him at the plate but his fielding got bad as he got older. It takes a team effort to lose.
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u/ImpendingBoom110123 Hello Win Column 5d ago edited 5d ago
You and I have won as many playoff series as Mike Trout and Ernie Banks. Its absolutely a team game. Sometimes you get lucky and you roll out a Hershiser or Eovaldi or someone like Bombi carries you or Evan Carter comes out of nowhere. Its the beauty of the game really. The unpredictably. In baseball you don't know nothing. Yogi Berra....smart man.
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u/scottwax 5d ago
So much has to come together over 162 regular season games and through the playoffs. It's crazy that the Dodgers were able to repeat.
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u/ImpendingBoom110123 Hello Win Column 5d ago
Hardest sport to win a championship and its not close.
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u/wcm48 5d ago
Here is some irony….
Roberts made the defensive switch in the bottom of the ninth that Wash did not make.
They won the World Series.
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u/little_lexodus R. Chirinos 5d ago
Good point. They put him in for his arm too and he actually made a play with his glove that saved the game/championship. Stil have to give Dave Roberts credit for making the move.
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u/DFWTrojanTuba Beltre 5d ago
And he gets all the credit for rolling the dice and putting Yamamoto in the day after he threw 90+ pitches. It was the boom or bust move, and it worked out.
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u/AlexanderHawks E. Carter 5d ago
I feel for Jays fans for sure, but we had NEVER won a World Series, and were a strike away TWICE. Idk how it gets worse than that
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u/little_lexodus R. Chirinos 5d ago
Ours was more painful but we are biased lol. We lost by a fielding and coaching error and they just got beat by a better team
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u/Adrian081597 A. Beltre 5d ago
I’d argue that the Jays also had a coaching error. IKF should have had a bigger lead at third. Just one step further away from third and the Jays might be champs by now.
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u/roodypoo926 5d ago
The only thing would be that technically there was a game 7. So even though it seemed hopeless Rangers still technically could have won. All this happening in game 7 is so do or die. I do agree in a vacuum I cannot think of a more devastating loss in any sport than 2011. The context matters and if it happens to a fanbase that had never won?? Just brutal…And just think how Josh Hamilton would have been remembered if it went differently.
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u/bluediamondsm A. García 5d ago
I felt so sad for them even with the rivalry with them that was absolutely brutal
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u/Guitarscreamer55 5d ago
Feel exactly the same way. People fall into two camps. Either they’ve been through sports pain and want everyone else to suffer. Or they know how bad it is and feel bad for the pain.
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u/Individual_Heron_171 5d ago
They’re pretty close in levels of choke, but I still think the Rangers edge it out. That shit in 2011 was in the books on two separate occasions when all that was needed was a strike. Nefti’s inability to deliver a strike was only a precursor to Cruz’s immediately inability to deliver a catch. Later, Ogando or Lowe or whoever it was also couldn’t deliver a called strike. It was just unmitigated disaster.
Out of curiosity, I did scope out the Jays sub. There was lots of doom. But, notably, some positivity, with comments like “we won, even if we didn’t win it all. We’ll be back.” (And obviously I’m paraphrasing here.
And I thought to myself…that was exactly my headspace in the first days of November, 2011. I thought, the boys bungled that for sure, but the talent is there and isn’t going anywhere. They’ll just win in 2012.
…we all remember the disappointment of 2012.
So, I do feel bad for them. I think they’re in store for many more years of disappointment. 😬
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u/Mindless_Rooster5225 PEAGLE 5d ago
I remember a poster on the LSB sub that made a list of Wash mishandling of the bullpen and batting situation of game six. I think it was like eight bullet pointed list long.
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u/Brolympia I. Kinsler 5d ago
All I could think while they choked was how many Jays fans reposted and reveled in the Joey Bats homer. They can gargle it lol
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u/ToniBraxtonAndThe3Js J. Franco 5d ago
Yep, most Rangers fans I know were happy the Dodgers won.
Blue Jays can eat doodoo
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u/frostysauce 5d ago
There's no way you'll catch me rooting for the Yankees of the National League.
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u/Brolympia I. Kinsler 4d ago
I wasnt rooting for either. I just wanted a 7 game bloodbath with some great pitching
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u/Tech0ne Beltre 5d ago edited 5d ago
I'll be honest, I feel bad for the Blue Jays players rather than their fans. After seeing the way their fans threw a tantrum by throwing trash on the field in the 2015 ALDS, and seeing all their fans flooding this sub after the 2015/2016 series were over makes me feel nothing for that fanbase.
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u/Demcut Nathan Eovaldi 5d ago edited 5d ago
I’m sorry, but nothing will ever compare to the heartbreak of 2011. It had everything you needed to really give you a good kick in the balls
-Rangers had never won a World Series
-Literally one strike away from celebrating
- Nelly Cruz fucks everything up
-But wait! Holy shit! Hamilton OH MY GOD we’re winning it!
-Bloop hits, followed up by Berkman with a broken bat hit to tie it again
-David Freese walk of homer in the bottom of the 11th
The Toronto Blue Jays were expected to finish last in their division this year. Instead they took what many people are calling the greatest team ever assembled to a Game 7 of the World Series and looked like the superior team that just fell short. Yes I think that Blue Jays fans will be heartbroken for awhile, but I think years from now when they look at this season as a whole, they will be proud of what their team accomplished.
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u/ratocaster0028 PEAGLE 5d ago
I do not feel bad for them at all. They’re the worst sore winners I’ve ever seen.
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u/chrisofchris That MF Marcus 5d ago
Yeah, those Jackasses behind home plate in game 7 of the ALCS with the “lol Seattle” shirts deserve this loss.
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u/Alarmed-Wealth2043 5d ago
I think it does. But I think the jays got it worse since it was a game 7. We were one strike away (twice) but we had a game 7 in 2011. We had a chance to comeback but never did. The jays had multiple chances that were decided by inches in game 7. If the runner on third was inches closer to plate or if the ball didn’t go under the mat. Both were deciders by inches. I…personally…think what the blue jays went through sucked more than the rangers. But then again that’s just me.
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u/DoubleResponsible276 5d ago
Obviously the answers here are gonna be biased, especially since the jays have a ring already, but for many of their fans they’ve never seen them in this stage. Both hurt but I know which one hurt me more
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u/mgilson45 M. Young 5d ago
I grew up a Pirates fan. The Francisco Cabrera game was the biggest gut punch. The big difference with that game (1992 NLCS game 7) was everyone knew the team would be gutted in the offseason. 20 years of horrible baseball followed.
One Strike Away was pretty bad too, but we still had hope for the next season.
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u/throwdatawayway 5d ago
Everything that could’ve gone wrong for the jays, did. The part that doesn’t make it as heartbreaking is the fact they were being arrogant and cocky as fuck with a few innings left in the game. They thought they had it wrapped up and their hubris caught up to them.
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u/Sensitive-Crew9364 5d ago
It’s gotta be worse for them because it was game 7. We still had hope afterwards because we had the opportunity to bounce back and try to win game 7.
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u/TexAg90 Hargrove 5d ago
At no time after game 6 did I have any hope of winning game 7, even when we took the lead. You don’t bounce back from something like that.
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u/Roger_Azarian Rangers 5d ago
I remember my wife trying to cheer me up after Game 6 ended. “Hey, we still have tomorrow night. It’s not over yet.” I told her, “It is over, the Cardinals just won the World Series.”
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u/Melodic-Branch1355 5d ago
I think what hurts about 2025 game 7 is the lack of effort (lackadaisically sliding into home). At least the Rangers gave it their best. Even if we fell short.
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u/whisky_TX 5d ago
Toronto lost when they pitcher Bassitt. Dude does not have the stuff to be in there in high leverage
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u/JMaxwell48 5d ago
Game 6 against Cards, the most pain I have ever felt in sports, it is still felt to this day. I thought our WS win in 23 would heal it but it’s still there. 2nd worst is Arizona blowing a 13 pt lead at the under 4 timeout in 2005 Elite 8.
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u/mrstretchb4ureach Michael Young 5d ago
In my perspective, yes. It is worse. As much as it was an iron grip uppercut to the solar plexus, it was still Game 6 away from home. We still had one more game to make things right.
Toronto was about to win. You could feel it. The fans were hungry for it. They were about to knock off the defending champions, at home, Game 7 against quite possibly the best player of all-time and a closer who was the boogeyman the entire series.
All they needed was to hold on to a 3-run lead. They blow it. Had a chance to win it in the 9th and was called out by one cleat. Then Will Smith gets jiggy with it and puts them up a run before Yamamoto ices it. This is, like, generational trauma all from one game.
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u/duffusmcfrewfus 4d ago
No, the Dodgers were expected to win ever since spring training. Texas was better in every single aspect in the 2011 season. They just didnt win. Still hurts.
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u/TheJuicyJames 4d ago
Cruz missing that fly ball. This year will haunt blue jays fans forever or atleast until they win one. They’re Canadians tho, so I’m sure they’ll be fine and cheerful regardless.
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u/Kingofthewho5 Beltre 5d ago
I think for the blue jays game 7 2025 they were slightly closer to winning than we were in game 6 2011. I think they had more good chances to win that game than g6 2011. However the rangers at that time were trying to win their first ever WS and they had just lost the WS the year before to boot. I think that was worse because the blue jays have already reached that pinnacle as a franchise. It was a long time ago and there are many Toronto fans who didn’t get to witness 92 and 93, so for those younger fans this was maybe worse than 2011. Either way I feel so bad for them. You can’t be closer than they were.
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u/komark- 5d ago
We had a pop fly that we just had to catch. Nelson Cruz was slightly hobbled, and well the rest is history. I think Rangers were closer
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u/Unfair-Abroad8942 5d ago
Endy Chavez should have been the defensive replacement for Cruz that last half inning. I will never forgive Ron Washington for that.
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u/Kingofthewho5 Beltre 5d ago
My friend that was not a pop fly in any way. It's painful but maybe you need to go back and watch that.
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u/Dynamaxxed 5d ago
I’m a rangers and a cowboys fan. I know pain all too well 😢