I said something at the Major League Baseball trade deadline on Tuesday that I have never said one time in my life. Ever. As the Texas Rangers traded for reliever Andrew Chafin, I said these seven words out loud: “We don’t need pitching! We need hitting!”

Those words have never once been uttered by a Rangers fan.

Never.

Being a lifelong Rangers fan has resulted in my being confounded in countless and surprising ways. But nothing ever like this. The team’s putrid offense this year makes zero sense. It’s beyond baffling in every conceivable way. This is essentially the same lineup that murdered MLB pitching last year on its way to our first ever World Series title. Other than switching Wyatt Langford in for the injured Evan Carter (Josh Smith is doing everything Josh Jung did at third base last season), these are the same guys who crushed everything offensively last year. This season, we can’t hit our way out of a paper sack! What is this?

Yesterday was mind-numbingly disappointing. The Rangers managed a lone run against Michael McGreevy who was making his rookie major league debut. He went seven innings. No rookie has gone seven innings in his debut this year and given up only one run. Texas lost 10-1.

Yesterday was the fourth time in the past five games the Rangers have scored fewer than four runs. But that’s where they’ve been all year. The Rangers have scored three or less runs in 54 of 109 games this year. They did that just 64 times all of last season, out of 162 games.

We need hitters.

As a Rangers fan, this is a weird place to be.

Peace,

Allan