CHAPTER ONE: WEEZER I still remember the first time I heard Weezer. I was 14 years old and my friend Brian put on the Blue Album while we played Nintendo at his house. To set the scene: we lived in an extremely rural area of Texas in this pre-internet era, and neither of our households […]
Did You—Yes, You—Break Austin Bibens-Dirkx?
Two things seem to happen every year: the first is that—once there is no reason to hide an injury report—a gaggle of injuries come to light. Mike Napoli’s leg, Rougned Odor’s ankle, and so on and so forth. This happens to every team in baseball, and probably every team in sports. The second seems to […]
The January 15th Upset Update: MLK, The Cranberries, and …baseball?
January 15th, 2018: We are precisely one month from pitchers and catchers reporting in Surprise, Arizona. It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and Dolores O’Riordan (the lead singer of The Cranberries) passed away this morning in London at the age of 46. That’s a lot to dig into, and a lot of emotion starts seeping out […]
Bridges Unburned: Rangers avoid arbitration with Kela, Diekman, and Profar
The streak now reaches 18. In 2000, the Rangers and Lee Stevens went to an arbitration hearing. Stevens had played 146 games in 1999, thanks largely to a knee injury that befell Rafael Palmeiro. Stevens hit .282 with 24 home runs and 81 RBI, and thought that worthy of a contract worth $4.7 million. The […]
What does 2018 hold for Ryan Rua?
Opening day, 2015. The Rangers and Yovani Gallardo are at O.co Stadium taking on the Oakland Athletics and Sonny Gray, who has allowed nary a single in seven innings. With the count 0-2, Ryan Rua smacks a ground ball between first and second base. The no-hit bid is over. Five pitches later, so is Rua’s […]
Shin-June Choohoun: Rangers OF/DH puzzle likely hinges on these two.
(Editor’s Note: We at the Upset are sorry for the unsettling photo. Also, the editor is me, Levi. Furthermore, I’m not actually sorry. I almost went Full Horrifying and added sea creatures, but decided this was sufficiently creepy for one January afternoon.) The whole scenario is a bit like a game of musical chairs. As […]