Sports

Rangers Deserve Better National Recognition

June 27, 2016 / 9:56 AM CDT / CBS Texas

By: Gavin Spittle

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DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - After another Rangers series win, I wanted to see how the national media would respond to this past weekend. After all, the local nine was playing the Boston Red Sox. Clearly Boston is a huge baseball market so this game will be stacked at the top. Three Red Sox players are leading their positions in All Star Voting. Especially since this Rangers win ties them with the Giants for the most wins in baseball, you would think there would be some discussion on the national shows.

I didn't want to miss anything so I taped both ESPN's Baseball Tonight: Sunday Night Countdown which is their baseball preview/highlight show leading up to Sunday Night Baseball as well as MLB Tonight on MLB Network.

I started with ESPN. I had to go through the hour, start over and watch the show again to make sure I didn't miss Rangers highlights.

They started with Miami and the Chicago Cubs. This was followed by the Washington Nationals/Milwaukee Brewers. What? Highlights showed an empty Brewers stadium. That's okay, no worries, Rangers/Red Sox must be next right? Nope, Cleveland continuing their hot streak against the Tigers. This was followed by the Chicago White Sox hosting the Blue Jays. The next highlight package featured the Houston Astros which are a full 10 games back of the Rangers losing to the Royals in Kansas City. Angels come back to beat the Athletics. Glad they are showing the rest of the AL West. The Colorado Rockies with a walk off win against the Diamondbacks. Wait, you are telling me that Rockies/D-Backs is stacked higher than Rangers/Red Sox?

That was it for Baseball Tonight. Clearly there was room for a Rangers package. How do you do a one hour show and not show highlights of a game?

No problem, I also taped MLB Network's MLB Tonight.

We start with a live look in on Oakland/Angels. This is followed by Seattle hosting the Cardinals. Once again, the rest of the AL West is covered except the club with the best record. Live look in on Arizona/Colorado. 36-41 vs 35-39. The next highlight was San Francisco hosting the Phillies. The Giants are red hot right now and deserve to be at the top of the highlight board. After more live look in's highlights were shown of the Marlins/Cubs, Twins/Yankees and then the Indians/Tigers. Then, highlights were shown of Pete Rose getting his number retired in Cincinnati with Reds/Padres. A 33-win team vs. a 29-win team. Orioles/Rays are next up. Then it was the Braves/Mets and White Sox/Blue Jays.

By the way, I hope I'm not boring you, just trying to be factually accurate.

Nats at the Brewers again. Kansas City beating the Astros And finally, drum roll please...they show Rangers/Red Sox highlights. At least MLB Network showed them, but that was after 42 minutes.

I'm sure the Rangers like being under the radar. They don't want teams eager to take them out. They want national writers to call them 'lucky'. They like the underdog role. They don't care if their highlights are played.

The only way to change this is to win and win big. Do damage in the playoffs. After seeing the crowds this weekend, I'm convinced more than ever that this certainly is a baseball town. The Rangers are 10th in attendance and are averaging 34,000 per game.

It's time for the national media to give the Rangers their due. Count me in on the national media conspiracy theory after today. I just don't get it.