This Texan's World Series Dreams: Maybe One Day

Frustration is about all a Texas baseball fan ever experiences when rooting for his/her favorite major league team. The only baseball bragging rights we've had so far, other than a certain local high school team winning a state title, belong to those who root for two prominent college teams, the Texas Longhorns and the Rice Owls. At least, they have tasted national success. And by the way, I'm a Longhorn fan, so I can take solace in that fact. They know what it's like to win the Big One.

Not so with our two major league teams in Arlington and Houston. The Texas Rangers began as the expansion Washington Senators in 1961, and the track record is certainly among baseball's bottom ten. It is a team that has won one playoff game overall in three years of trips to the playoffs in that period of time, with three division titles under their belts. They have never had a trip to any World Series. By contrast, the Houston Astros began in 1962 as a home-grown state product right there in Houston, Texas, and was one of the first National League expansion teams (the other one was the New York Mets that same year). It took them a good eighteen seasons just to win a division title, and since the mid-1970s have had a respectable run of success with Hall-of-Fame players and some of the most exciting playoff games ever played in major league history. The Astros enjoyed their most thrilling playoff run in the mid-2000s, with one World Series appearance coming in 2005. They claim seven division titles and two Wild Card berths.

So, now, this question: What gives as a Texas baseball fan? We've been waiting for a World Series title since 1962, so who do I think will actually go all the way to win, and if so, when will it take place? I can't answer the when question, as it may not happen this year, but I can probably answer the who question a little more clearly. It comes down to this: I believe the Astros will eventually win their first-ever championship before the Rangers can ever get there. They are the one Texas franchise that has already experienced the feat of even going to a WS, so my bet will be placed on them going on and, thus, winning all the marbles. Houston has personnel who are rebuilding their minor-league system and constructing a team with quality draftees in hopes that the players will have a legitimate chance for success at the big-league level. And this is coming from a Ranger fan who has suffered enough, watching the best of the American League for many years, but with a team that always manages to come up short. I grew up with the Rangers, but have since adopted the Astros as my team of choice in my home state, and it's been that way the last twenty or so years. Sure, the Rangers have former big-league pitching great Nolan Ryan (and a proud fellow Texan) working as the team's president, but even that will not be enough to overcome decades of futility in Dallas-Fort Worth.

But can I be truthful with you? I'd give anything to see an all-Texas World Series every bit as much as wanting to see an all-Texas Super Bowl. Wouldn't that be something? Perhaps. Some teams have been able to overcome dreadful, painful nightmares by enduring the occasional good memory (see the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays if you don't believe me). Maybe something like that can happen one day.