For many Texans, April is the best month of the year. The leaves are back on the trees, the temperatures are as good as they get all year, the bluebonnets are everywhere, and spring is in the air. Most years, Easter is in April, and although baseball now starts in late March, we often celebrate the home opener in April. It is no coincidence that Easter and baseball appear in the same sentence. This year, the Rangers season begins with a forty-game stretch that just might be as taxing as the forty days of Lent.
When the NFL schedule comes out later this month, most fans will take a look and try to predict which games the Cowboys will win and which they will lose. That does not happen with the baseball schedule; there are too many games. However, if you take a look at the first 40 games of the Rangers schedule, you will see why the comparison to Lent works. In most Christian religions, the 40 days of Lent are a time of sacrifice, charity, and prayer. Over the next 40 days, Rangers fans may pray that the team does not sacrifice any chance it has at a winning season.
Early in my career, I had the chance to cover a team that went 35-5 in the first forty games of the season. Some of you may be old enough to remember the 1984 Detroit Tigers. That was the kind of start that had never happened before and will probably never happen again. For the Rangers, 20-20 after forty games would be a great start.
The Rangers will reach the forty-game mark on May 10. That Sunday will mark the last game of a three-game home series against the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs won 92 games last year and believe that they can win the NL Central this season. Between now and then, Texas will face a steady diet of teams that were in the playoffs and even face the two-time defending World Series champs on the road.
Twenty-seven of the first forty are against teams that had winning records last year. After the season-opening six-game homestand, they start a ten-game road trip in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. They also travel to Seattle during that roadie. In fact, the Mariners appear twice on the schedule in the first forty games. The same team that won the AL West last year, and if not for a dramatic game seven loss to the Blue Jays in the ALCS, Seattle would have qualified for its first-ever World Series.
There are also two series against New York. Yes, the damn Yankees. Since their playoff run was short, you may have forgotten that the Bronx Bombers finished the regular season with 94 wins, which tied for the most in the American League. The Yankees are here in Arlington at the end of April. In fact, the two teams play each other six times in a nine-game stretch at the end of April and beginning of May.
May actually begins in Detroit for the Rangers. The Tigers got no shot at starting 35-5 this year, but they do have a pitching rotation that might rival the Rangers in depth and talent. During that three-game series, the Rangers could face two-time defending Cy Young Award winner Tarick Skubal, Framber Valdez, and Justin Verlander.
There are two potential soft spots during this stretch; there are three home games against Pittsburgh, although they also have a Cy Young winner on their staff. The Rangers can only hope they miss Paul Skenes. There are also seven games against the Athletics, a team that won only 76 games last season. However, the A’s are loaded with young offensive talent, and since they are a division foe, those games will not be easy.
How important can these first 40 games be? In 2024, the Rangers were 20-20; last season, they were 19-21. So even a .500 record may not be good enough. As for me, I will enjoy April. I will get pictures of my granddaughter in the blue bonnets, I will celebrate Easter with family from near and far, and I will hope the Rangers do not need to start May on a nine-game win streak just to get back to .500.
