The Texas Rangers are going to the World Series. They took down the Houston Astros in an epic seven-game series that went the distance. They will face the winner of the NLCS which has a game seven of its own on Tuesday night.
One thing that was clear during the ALCS was that the Texas Rangers are everything that the White Sox said they were going to be. Rick Hahn made it seem like they were going to be doing some spending to supplement their core.
The White Sox probably built an even better group of prospects than the Rangers did but they didn't spend money wisely at all. Their payroll increased but it was on relievers and Yasmani Grandal/Andrew Benintendi.
The Rangers supplemented their young core with a free-agency core of veterans. Guys like Marcus Semien and Corey Seager were signed for a lot of money and they have both been everything that Texas expected and more. They both played huge roles in them getting to where they are right now.
The Chicago White Sox are so far from being the Texas Rangers right now.
The Rangers lost 100 games two years ago. Now, they are in the World Series. Can you picture the White Sox (a 100-loss team) making the World Series in 2025? Yeah right.
It is a shame that the White Sox did nothing to better their future once they had a nice core built. Guys like Marcus Semien, Manny Machado, and Bryce Harper amongst others were all targets for the White Sox and they missed on them all. Bad decision after bad decision led them to where they are right now.
The Rangers didn't have a Luis Robert Jr. on their roster to build around either. If a guy like that won't be built around, it is hard to see the White Sox ever doing the right thing. If he were on a team with players like Semien and Seager, who knows what he'd be capable of?
We can only hope that they become the Texas Rangers at some point soon but don't count on it. Lots of things will have to change for that to be the case.